Match: Italy 3–1 West Germany, 26 August 1984, Stadio Armando Picchi

Hosts Italy crush West Germany to claim Mundialito

 

Picture from the excellent History of Women's Football on Facebook
Picture from the excellent History of Women's Football on Facebook

 

Classic match report: Three first-half goals secure Italy’s win over patched-up West Germany

 

In August 1984 Italy beat West Germany 3–1 in the 1984 Mundialto Femminile final. A capacity crowd at the Stadio Armando Picchi in Jesolo saw goals from vaunted front three Carolina Morace, Rose Reilly and Betty Vignotto put the Italians ahead, before West Germany reduced the arrears in the second half through Anne Kreuzberg.
 Continue reading “Match: Italy 3–1 West Germany, 26 August 1984, Stadio Armando Picchi”

Players: Liz Deighan

Liz Deighan: North-east football pioneer whose greatest legacy stands on Merseyside…

 

Deighan (left) making a splash at the Euro 84 final in Luton
Deighan (left) making a splash at the Euro 84 final in Luton

 

Born: c. 1953, Northumberland
Position: Midfielder
Debut: France (H) 7 November 1974
Occupation: Computer programmer (1981), electronic test engineer (1983), technical training tutor (1991)

 

Elizabeth “Liz” Deighan is an English soccer great. That a generation of Lionesses fans have grown up in ignorance of her footballing deeds is both a scandal and a travesty! On the pitch, midfield dynamo Deighan won 48 England caps and resembled (a scaled-down version of) her modern equivalent: fellow north-easterner Jill Scott. The lynchpin of the great St Helens team which reached four WFA Cup finals in the 80s, she also graced the Euro 84 final with England. Off the park she was a bright and innovative tactician who served as coach for the north-west region, England under-21s and the club she founded in 1989: Newton Ladies, who became Liverpool Ladies.

 Continue reading “Players: Liz Deighan”

Guest blog: Scottish football held back by “man’s game” delusion

…Or, A man’s a man for a’ that

 

Firstblast

 

A recent Edinburgh derby match gave ample insight into why Scottish football remains in the grubber.
 Continue reading “Guest blog: Scottish football held back by “man’s game” delusion”

Match: Arsenal 2–1 Doncaster Belles, 28 March 1993, Highbury Stadium

Belles beaten as Arsenal move to brink of first title

 

Embed from Getty Images

Wheelchair-bound boxer Michael Watson on the Highbury turf, surrounded by chart-toppers Aswad

 

Classic match report: nouveau riche Gunners edge out Belles before record Highbury crowd

 

December’s bumper 3,256 crowd at Brighton’s AMEX Stadium left women’s soccer stattos scratching their noggins. Was it a record? Well yes… and no. It was a record for the newly-reconstituted WPL, but definitely not an English women’s league record. That particular honour went to this epochal Arsenal–Belles clash at Highbury, which topped 18,000 way back in 1993. Arsenal’s Wylie and Ball scored either side of Coultard’s equaliser. Although beaten Donny roared back with a league and cup double the following season, this match arguably cast the die for Arsenal’s unhealthy long-term suffocation of domestic competition…

 Continue reading “Match: Arsenal 2–1 Doncaster Belles, 28 March 1993, Highbury Stadium”

Players: Clare Wheatley

Clare Wheatley: Buccaneering left-back who overcame injury to become an Arsenal icon

 

Embed from Getty Images

 

Born: 4 February 1971, Kingston upon Thames
Position: Left-back
Debut: Croatia (A) 18 April 1996
Occupation: PE teacher (1996)

 

Ten years as a player and ten more as an off-field exec have made Clare Wheatley part of the furniture at Arsenal Ladies. Women’s Football Archive looks back at the once-capped England international’s career, part of an ongoing quest to profile EVERY woman to have played for England…

 Continue reading “Players: Clare Wheatley”

Report: #SHEKICKSBACK 2, Doncaster, 23 November 2015

Walker, Smith and Coultard meet their public at Doncaster roadshow

 

On a rainy Monday night in November, the #SHEKICKSBACK roadshow rolled into Doncaster. Following an earlier event in London organisers chose Doncaster Belles territory for the second edition, in honour of the South Yorkshire giants’ proud history.

 

A joint venture between women’s soccer bible She Kicks and Women’s Soccer Zone, #SHEKICKSBACK aimed to correct the perception that women’s football is rootless by publicly grilling big name players. It was manna from heaven for women’s football anoraks!

 Continue reading “Report: #SHEKICKSBACK 2, Doncaster, 23 November 2015”

Mundialito Femminile ’84 – The Little World Cup

Martin Reagan’s beaten Euro 84 finalists square off against Belgium, West Germany and Italy in Jesolo and Caorle

 

Mundialito1984

 

In the days before the FIFA Women’s World Cup there was the Mundialito…

 

An invitational tourney along the lines of the latter day Cyprus or Algarve Cups, it was a much bigger deal than these annual seaside jollies: pulling in both bumper crowds and RAI TV coverage.
 Continue reading “Mundialito Femminile ’84 – The Little World Cup”

Right to Reply: Farmer on Stoney

Chelsea founder Tony Farmer sets the record straight

 

In March 2015, Women’s Football Archive published Casey Stoney: The Early Years. Now Chelsea founder and ex-boss Tony Farmer has taken the time to get in touch and point out some major shortcomings in the article. Tony hasn’t pulled any punches in patiently laying out the truth, dismantling a string of factual errors and calling out some downright baloney. His comments are reproduced here in full…

 Continue reading “Right to Reply: Farmer on Stoney”

Players: Debbie Bampton

Debbie Bampton: Highly-decorated midfield powerhouse

 

Embed from Getty Images

 

Born: 7 October 1961, Sidcup
Position: Midfielder
Debut: Netherlands (A) 30 September 1978
Occupation: Cashier (1981), Selector (1982), Courier (1987), Footballer (1988), Postwoman (2005)

 

Right… where to start with this one!? A Hall of Famer with an MBE for services to women’s football. Six Women’s FA Cup winner’s medals, the last two won as player-manager. Doubles. A treble. Ninety-five caps for England in a 19-year international career. A top-level club career spanning parts of four decades. Impressive numbers, which only scratch the surface on the story of this English football titan…

 Continue reading “Players: Debbie Bampton”