Let’s all learn more about the sporting activities of our mums and grans this International Women’s Day. I’ve been researching into the pioneering women who played for Manchester Corinthians and its sister clubs for years and years and their stories are quite remarkable. BUT some of them had previously kept quiet because of reactions they may have had or assumed others were simply not interested in their incredible exploits. In fact, during my research, I have met women who had not told their families that they played football and so asking the simple question ‘Did you play football, Nan?’ will sometimes bring out a wonderful aspect of your nan’s life. So, I urge you all to ask your mum, mam, ma, mātā, mom, madar, mama, nan, gran, nani, nana, nonna, granny, babushka, grandma (or whatever term of affection you use for your mother or grandmother) about playing sport.
Ask your mam or your nan if she played – you never know what you’ll hear! I have had players talk to me during my years of research into the Corinthians who had kept it quiet from their own families, so granny may well have been one of the club’s pioneering figures – or a leading light at another club whose story needs to be told – but just hasn’t talked about it!
If you find a Corinthian then get in touch. I really don’t want to leave anybody out of my book.
As well as asking your mam or your nan, how about helping the book get published by subscribing to it? You will get a copy of the book (posted before it appears in the shops) and your name will be included in a special roll of honour published within the book if ordered by 31st March 2024 here:
Manchester Corinthians: The Authorised History
The story of a pioneering women’s club as told to Gary James by those who were there
£19.95
Opportunities to buy multiple copies, sponsor the book or donate to ensure it’s published to the size and standard the women who played deserve exist. Please email Gary@GJFootballArchive.com for more information on those opportunities.
This book is a must for anyone interested in Manchester or women’s football and will consist of over 300 pages. It will be fully illustrated throughout and subscribers can order it now for £19.95 (including UK postage and packaging). All orders received before 31st March 2024 will have the purchaser’s name included within the special roll of honour at the back of the book. You can order the book for someone else – all details will be checked and confirmed before publication.
The book will be published this summer.
If you live outside the UK then please contact for details of additional postage costs.
You do not need to have a PayPal account to order – use the ‘Pay with PayPal’ button above and it will give you the option to pay by credit/debit card without creating a PayPal account.
The book will include the story of the club as told by the women involved, alongside a significant amount of archive material. Myths will be corrected and the facts of this pioneering club will be told in an easy to read format.
Guided by founder Percy Ashley, the club went on to represent Manchester, football and female endeavour for decades, winning major international tournaments in Europe and South America. The Corinthians are, without doubt, one of the most important football clubs ever to come from Manchester and they were a prominent and pioneering club in so many ways.
As well as the interviews and dozens of archive trips there’s been a concerted effort to compile as comprehensive list as possible on women who played for the club. I’ve managed to compile a list of around 300 women who played for the club. Objects and trophies have also been rediscovered. This is the type of detailed research I enjoy. It’s time consuming, difficult and often frustrating but occasionally you find a little gem that adds significantly to our knowledge. There have been quite a few of those.
I’m still keen to hear from any former player who can add their voices to the history of the club, though the research and writing stage will be ending soon, so please get in touch as soon as possible. Please email Gary@GJFootballArchive.com with your name, rough dates you played and contact details.
Those subscribing to the book will receive a copy signed by author Gary James and posted out to subscribers before it appears in any shop or is distributed to any retailer. This is the ONLY way to guarantee your copy.
Manchester Corinthians: The Authorised History will include interviews with players from every era of the club from a founding player back in 1949 through to those playing for the club in its final days over 40 years later (yes, that’s right – over 40 years later!). The book will finally tell the story of the club from start to finish via the voices of the women who played. Via these voices the entire history of the club will be explained with the key figures identified and remembered. There’s a remarkable trail of women linking the first game with the last.
The book will be published to a similar style and quality to the acclaimed Manchester City Women: An Oral History and is destined to be another landmark publication on a major, pioneering women’s football club. Dozens of former players have been interviewed for this book and their remarkable stories and memories will be supported with an amazing array of photographs, newspaper articles, match programmes, trophies and other items of memorabilia from every era of the club’s existence.
Alongside chapters chronicling the history of the club there will also be features on founder Percy Ashley, who dedicated his life to promoting women’s football, and on Gladys Aikin (a key figure not only with the Corinthians but also with the early years of the Women’s Football Association) and George Aikin, who continued to take the Corinthians on tours into the 1980s. There will be special features on the major tours of the 1950s and 1960s when Percy Ashley led the Corinthians to major international success.
The cover of the book will be worked on by the designer over the coming months but following feedback from former players the maroon has been replaced with a darker blue, more reminiscent of the colour most frequently worn by the Corinthians (based on the reports, programmes and other material found so far and the majority of comments from players). This may still change of course (‘The Authorised History’ will probably change colour too). The back will contain later images and wording.
If you’d like to purchase my earlier book on women’s football then a limited number of copies, signed by me, are still available. You can order that and other books here:
Gary James' Football Archive 