September 03, 2024

Women’s Football: Kicking back

33 minutes

The Lionesses’ Euro victory captivated English football fans – but this success was once unimaginable.

In 1921, the English Football Association banned women from playing on any of its pitches, a ban that would remain in place for 50 years. Who were the women who fought back? How did they defy all odds to get the women’s game to where it is today?

In for Ros Taylor, Jade Bailey talks to Jean Williams, visiting professor at the University of Reading, about the early pioneers of women’s football, the ban that prevented them from playing, and reasons to be optimistic about the women’s game.

“It’s really important that women’s football began as a professional entertainment, in the same way that men’s professional football was at the time.”

“In 1921, the FA says that no club that is affiliated with the FA should allow women to play on their grounds, which is every professional and amateur club in the country.”

“The business model of women’s football totally changes, and it invents a myth that women’s football isn’t as spectacular as men’s, and because people live with that myth for 50 years it still influences what we have today.”

“For me, female-owned, female-run, and feminist values are the future of women’s football.”

Buy Legendary Lionesses: The England Women's Football Team, 1972-2022 through our affiliate bookshop and you'll help fund Jam Tomorrow by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org's fees help support independent bookshops too.

Written, presented and produced by Jade Bailey. Original music by Dubstar. Artwork by Jim Parrett. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Jam Tomorrow is a Podmasters Production.

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