Op-ed: ‘Wiki Geeks’ locked in spiral of failure

 

Meet the small band of unfortunates who make up ‘Wikiproject Football’ – Wikipedia’s all-male cabal of soccer anoraks.

 

Perspective and Wikipedia ‘notability’: “These are small, the ones out there are far away”

 

There is an excellent Wikipedia ‘task force’ specialising in women’s football, with some talented and hard-working contributors. But their aims are frustrated at every turn by the handful of obsessed losers at the main project, who block-vote to rig deletion discussions and skew the inclusion criteria in favour of their pet subjects.
 Continue reading “Op-ed: ‘Wiki Geeks’ locked in spiral of failure”

Match: England 2–0 France, 7 November 1974, Plough Lane

Plough Lane – England 2–0 France

 

England beat France to secure eighth straight win

 

Classic match report: Southampton duo Davies and Lopez score to down Les Bleues at Wimbledon

 

In 1974 the British economy was in the toilet due to crackpot ‘austerity’ measures. Terrorism lurked on the nation’s streets due to disastrous foreign policy failures. While a feeble government colluded with backward Loyalist bigots from Northern Ireland. Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose! Still, at least in those days England could beat France at women’s football, which they’ve never managed since…

 Continue reading “Match: England 2–0 France, 7 November 1974, Plough Lane”

Match: England 8–0 Scotland, 23 June 1973, Manor Park

Manor Park 23 June 1973 – England 8–0 Scotland

 

England thrash Scotland in first ever home match

 

Classic match report: Lionesses rattle in EIGHT as roof falls in on sweltered Scots

 

 

England’s first official home match took place in the rarefied environs of Manor Park, Nuneaton on 23 June 1973. With England leading 2–0 at half-time, the peely-wally Scots ran out of puff. A final score of 8–0 remains their record defeat. Pat Firth’s debut hat-trick, braces from Pat Davies and moonlighting Scot Paddy McGroarty, and a late finish from sub Eileen Foreman undid Scotland, whose captain Mary Anderson had to go off at half-time.

 Continue reading “Match: England 8–0 Scotland, 23 June 1973, Manor Park”

Report: Scotland’s moral right to the Women’s FA Cup

The real story of Eric Worthington and the Women’s FA Cup

 

Annual Scotland–England match trophy was repurposed as English WFA Cup

 

Women’s Football Archive sounds the pibroch for footballing justice

 

Last hurrah: Eric Worthington’s Cup gets its swansong in 1997

 

England’s first ‘official’ match on home soil took place in the rarefied environs of Manor Park, Nuneaton on 23 June 1973. The failure to secure a Football League ground for the event – even in the off-season – was a measure of the lasting sabotage wrought on women’s football by the FA’s 1921 ban. Opponents Scotland had been edged out 3–2 in the teams’ first fixture the previous November. In contrast to that blizzard by the Clyde, Nuneaton was in the midst of a scorching heat wave. With England leading 2–0 at half-time, the roof fell in on the peely-wally Scots. A final score of 8–0 remains their record defeat. Pat Firth’s debut hat-trick, braces from Pat Davies and moonlighting Scot Paddy McGroarty, and a late finish from sub Eileen Foreman undid Scotland, whose captain Mary Anderson had to go off at half-time.

 Continue reading “Report: Scotland’s moral right to the Women’s FA Cup”

Report: Suffragettes of Football, National Football Museum, Manchester, 7 March 2017

Or, England’s Lost Generation tells us what it was really like

 

Our special correspondent ‘An Audience Observer’ writes from the front line of women’s football history…

 

 

As part of International Women’s Week, the National Football Museum and the BBC teamed up to present a discussion panel with regard to the pioneers of the women’s game. The list of attendees to the panel were Pat Gregory, Carol Thomas, Liz Deighan, Kerry Davis and Rachel Brown-Finnis, ably led by the BBC’s Eilidh Barbour.

 

The event opened with a short BBC film outlining the early history of the women’s game including contributions from the indomitable Gregory, Sue Lopez, Sylvia Gore and the champion of the women’s game of the day, in the form of Lawrie McMenemy, who coined the phrase the “Suffragettes of football”.
 Continue reading “Report: Suffragettes of Football, National Football Museum, Manchester, 7 March 2017”

Match: England 1–0 Sweden (3–4 PSO), 27 May 1984, Kenilworth Road

Kenilworth Road 27 May 1984 – England 1–0 Sweden (3–4 on penalties)

 

Linda Curl’s cracker levels the tie but Swedes edge it on penalties

 

Classic match report: Sweden win the first ever UEFA Women’s Euro, but brave England push them all the way

 

Photo from the much-missed Damfotboll.com

 

Women’s Football Archive Exclusive: the definitive account of England’s Euro 84 final clash with Sweden. Clunkily entitled the UEFA Competition For National Representative Women’s Teams, the inaugural continental showpiece went down to the wire in torrential rain at Luton’s Kenilworth Road. Playing 35 minutes each-way with a size four ball, the sides met in front of a record crowd at Sweden’s national stadium, the Ullevi in Gothenburg, two weeks previously. England’s gutsy 1–0 defeat left things delicately poised for this return match in Luton…

 Continue reading “Match: England 1–0 Sweden (3–4 PSO), 27 May 1984, Kenilworth Road”

EURO 2017 Blog: Will Scotland be Aye Ready?

Crumbs from the funding table too little, too late for Scots soccer hopefuls

 

Scotland women face an uphill task at the 2017 Euro Championships in the Netherlands

 

Embed from Getty Images

 

CARDS ON THE TABLE: we desperately want Scotland’s women to succeed at Euro 17. Okay, almost our entire knowledge of Scotland and Scottish culture comes from Irvine Welsh novels, Celtic FC books and online football forums. But no-one would be happier than Women’s Football Archive to see the Tartan Army triumphantly “giving it laldy” to the strains of their anthem Bits N Pieces in Holland this summer.

 Continue reading “EURO 2017 Blog: Will Scotland be Aye Ready?”

When Martin Reagan went in to bat for women’s football

Martin Reagan (1924–2016): The man who stepped up to save women’s football in England

 

Women’s football lost one of our own with Martin Reagan’s recent passing, but his deeds will never be forgotten

 

martin-reagan

 

In May 1984 the England women’s football team manager Martin Reagan returned from Gothenburg with a creditable 1–0 defeat for his team, and a blueprint for soccer success. Ex-pro Reagan knew exactly what England needed to do to reel in their continental rivals: copy the Super Swedes. In the days before women’s football was trendy he proudly shouted his support from the rooftops. But his sterling efforts were thwarted at every turn, by an unholy alliance of Football Association intransigence and – yes – sex bias, which was still firmly rooted in 20th Century British life.

 Continue reading “When Martin Reagan went in to bat for women’s football”

Sunderland and the WSL – professionalism in English women’s football

 

One step forward, two steps back: debt-ridden Sunderland axe pro women’s setup

 

Embed from Getty Images

 

Women’s Football Archive ponders the implications of Wearside giants Sunderland slashing their women’s team’s budget, at a time of make-or-break for the FA’s fledgling WSL project.
 Continue reading “Sunderland and the WSL – professionalism in English women’s football”