Football history buffs of the world, unite!

 

 

AUTHORITATIVE football stats site RSSSF.com has published a list of the oldest and youngest players to play and score for their countries.

 

Now the number crunchers behind the prestigious list, stattos of international repute, need your help to properly credit the women who should be on there.
 

It is thought that Maggie Kirkland (Pearce) and Linda Curl may have debuted for England before their 16th birthdays, and that Jeannie Allot hit the Scotland net at 16.

 

Frankly, if detail about such all-time greats is difficult to come by, how many other candidates are ‘hiding’ in plain sight?

 

Neil Morrison and his gimlet-eyed cohorts deserve unfettered praise for their efforts. For very few football history experts of this calibre give women’s stuff the time of day: never mind equal billing.

 

It has always been the case. As Pete Davies put it in I Lost My Heart To The Belles (1996): “the women didn’t keep track of their stats with the stamp-collector’s precision of the men”.

 

That MUST change for women’s football to put down roots, without which there can be no progress and no ascent. We all have our part to play.

 

Those in charge of promoting women’s football have long peddled tiresome baloney about explosions in participation numbers. Time and time again we hear that the game is on the cusp of its breakthrough.

 

The problem with this dubious narrative is that everything pre-breakthrough (ie. before now) is accorded lesser status.

 

The reset button is hit every two minutes. A long and proud heritage is ignored or, worse, denigrated when it ought to be the major selling point.

 

If any of you among this site’s small but discerning readership can aid RSSSF in their quest, then please… PLEASE chip in with any info – no matter how small.

 

Together we can put the women’s game on the record and end many years of shameful neglect. Thank you!