On this day in 1921 the FA banned women from playing football on FA affiliated grounds. A century later, in December 2021, I staged a talk at Hebden Bridge on this ban. The night was sponsored and supported by Geoff Matthews and his company Cansquared Ltd. It was a wonderful night and lots of attendees asked about the future and what they could do to help promote the stories of the women who played at a time when the FA tried to kill female participation in the sport. Well, after that night a lot has happened to recognise the Manchester Corinthians.
As part of my longstanding project into female participation and involvement in football in Manchester I have been researching and writing Manchester Corinthians: The Authorised History. This hardback book will be out soon (it’s at the printers).
A lot has been written on the Corinthians (see the section on women’s football on this site for a few examples) but not nearly enough, plus there are some inaccuracies out there that the book will correct (even now there are some that keep on being repeated – including both the start and end points for the Corinthians!). Basically, this team possessed a talented group of players who toured Europe and South America promoting football, female endeavour and Manchester.
I talked quite a bit about Corinthians at Hebden Bridge that night in 2021 and we were fortunate to have four Corinthians as guests that night. Margaret Whitworth, Margaret Shepherd, Lesley Wright and Gail Redston between them covered around 42 seasons of activity at the club.
I’ve been tracking down the names of other Corinthians to include in the book. It is now being printed with over 350 names. Earlier this year I had found 230 names, so a lot has been achieved. See:
The Hebden Bridge night was significant.That night I mentioned my idea of having a plaque erected for the Corinthians in a significant/related location in Manchester. Several members of the audience thought this was a wonderful idea and asked if they could support the wider promotion of the Corinthians – one more or less suggested we should march on Downing Street to persuade them to do something about it!
In 2019 I’d written articles for a variety of publications suggesting the same and urging the FA and others to recognise the Corinthians. In the Manchester City men’s match programme as well I highlighted my desire to get a plaque erected about their achievements.
Via Manchester Council I was put in contact with the Friends of Fog Lane Park and we ultimately set up a successful appeal in their name. The FA made a significant donation which funded the plaque and our fundraising efforts raised enough to allow the Friends to commission 2 murals and other tributes to the Corinthians as well.
Those present at Hebden Bridge in December 2021 helped raise the profile and that event was significant in highlighting the incredible achievements of its female footballers. Now, the authorised history of the Corinthians will tell the story of the club from its birth right through to the blue plaque appeal. It will use the voices of the women who represented Manchester and England in a positive manner and who won trophies in South America & Europe and who toured North Africa. They won a significant European competition before either Manchester men’s team yet their achievements were not recognised by the city until the blue plaque appeal started.
I am immensely proud of how this has all happened. The event at Hebden Bridge was free to attend and was made possible by the support of a locally based business, Cansquared (Geoff Matthews – who co-hosted the evening). We felt it was vital we made this free to attend to spread the word.
If anyone runs a bookshop, library or key Manchester venue and would like a Corinthians event then please get in touch. I’d be happy to promote the club and the book of course. The more we can do to promote their story the better.
Thanks for reading this. If you would like to find out more about the Corinthians then follow the tabs on this site or use the search function. If you’d like to know more about the FA Ban then you can download for free an article I co-wrote here:
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17460263.2021.2025415
You can find out more on the Corinthians book here:
A few copies of my book on Manchester City Women are still available. This tells the history of City Women via the voices of the women (and some men) involved. The book has been heralded as a model for oral histories by the Oral History Society.
Here’s a link you can follow to order a signed copy of the City Women book:
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