Football writing, thoughts and more by Gary James
City were keen to improve on their 1932-3 League position of 16th in Division One and managed to open the season with only 3 defeats in the first 15 matches. The best result of this period was a 4-1 victory over Sunderland at the start of November.
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On Friday December 3 2021 I staged an event at Hebden Bridge Town Hall to mark the centenary of the FA Ban of women’s football being played on FA affiliated grounds. The ban, which also meant that those working for FA affiliated clubs could be punished if they were involved in coaching or organising women’s football teams, lasted until 1970. The event included a presentation on the history of women’s football and interviews with former players from Manchester Corinthians, Manchester City, Manchester United, Doncaster Belles and England. Here’s a few details about the night.
Firstly I’d like to thank Margaret Whitworth, Margaret Shepherd, Lesley Wright, Jane Morley, Gail Redston and Issy Pollard for their contribution to the night. I’d also like to thank Geoff Matthews and his company Cansquared for sponsoring the evening.
Over eighty people came to Hebden Bridge Town Hall for this important event. During the evening I walked through the history of the women’s game, highlighting the development of the sport during the period from 1880 to 1914 – a time which saw high profile games and clubs become established in a number of locations (including Manchester and Liverpool).
The presentation moved on to talk about the developments during World War One and the establishment of several prominent teams, including Dick, Kerr Ladies of course and Huddersfield Atalanta. I also explained the extent of the game by 1921. Some often talk about a few high profile games and they are important but, for me, it’s the extent to which the sport penetrates down the levels that is most important. At the talk I explained about events in Hebden Bridge and other places where women’s football was openly discussed or promoted in 1921.
I discussed the ridiculous reasons the FA claimed for banning women’s football – health and financial mismanagement – and how they could easily have been challenged or investigated properly if the FA had actually wanted to promote the sport.
During the evening I also gave examples of men who were punished for coaching women’s teams – including a groundsman from the 1950s! This for me is important as it demonstrates that the FA did punish people and did want to kill off female participation.
The presentation saw the story of women’s football brought into the 21st Century but the best part of the evening for me was without doubt the interviews with the former players who were our guests that night. These interviews were with Margaret Whitworth (Manchester Corinthians), Margaret Shepherd (Manchester Corinthians), Lesley Wright (Manchester Corinthians, Manchester City & more), Jane Morley (Manchester United, Redstar & more), Gail Redston (Manchester City, Oldham & more) and Issy Pollard (Bronte, Doncaster Belles & England).
In the audience were several other footballers including Stacey Copeland and others who played for Manchester City, Redstar and other teams from Greater Manchester and Yorkshire.
Hopefully, I’ll get to post some of the interviews from the night here one day, but in the meantime follow the links below to read other features on the Manchester Corinthians, Manchester City etc. Don’t forget there are also a limited number of copies of my Manchester City Women: An Oral History book available via my shop page here:
https://gjfootballarchive.com/category/womens-football-2/page/2/
We’ve had 26 weeks of these now and so it’s time for an extremely tough one (but I also know that some who follow me on twitter support the club who still play at this ground)… Do you recognise this ground? If you’ve not seen this feature before then every week since June I’ve been posting an image of a football ground taken in the past for identification. Some have been relatively easy (did you spot Maine Road and Boundary Park?), others not so. You’ll be able to post your view in comments at the bottom of each page.
Each Friday I post the answer. So here goes….
Can you name the ground featured in the image above? This is a newspaper cutting from the opening of the new main stand when the club who play here decided to have a garden party to celebrate. Those 2 men were the club’s new players too! If you need any other clues see the clues in italics near the end of this page.
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I had planned to run ‘Historic Name That Ground’ only during the close season as in previous years, but it’s proving of interest so I’ll keep it going for a little while yet. If you have an old image of a ground that you think it’d be worth including in this weekly quiz then please get in touch. They don’t have to be from the 1900s to 1960s – even ground images from the 70s and 80s may prove a challenge to identify these days. You can email me at gary@GJFootballArchive.com Thanks.
Clues: The club still play at this ground, although all four sides have been completely rebuilt since the image was taken. The photo was taken in 1907. One of the players seen is called Ferguson.
On Monday I asked you to identify this ground. The clues I gave were: ‘This image is from before the Second World War. The ground is still in use and has hosted Premier League football. A couple of other clues… Believe it or not there is a river behind the stand on the left. Also, although almost everything in the photo has changed the building at the bottom of the image is, as far as I’m aware, still standing (or at least I’ve seen it on a similar aerial photo from about 7 years ago). That building has been remodelled somewhat though!’ The answer is…
Nottingham Forest’s City Ground. Search for aerial photos of the ground and you’ll see the building still standing at the bottom of the image.
Next ground on Monday.
While you’re here why not subscribe to my site and you can then access every article, interview, audio recording etc. already posted and those that will be posted during your subscription. It costs £20 per year (about £1.67 a month) or you can sign up on a monthly basis at £3 per month (you can cancel at any time, so you could sign sign up for a month, access everything you want and then cancel). You can subscribe below:
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The latest ground to identify. As usual you’ll be able to post your view in comments at the bottom of this website page and I’ll post the answer on Friday.
So here goes….
Can you name the ground featured in the image above?
This image is from before the Second World War. The ground is still in use and has hosted Premier League football. A couple of other clues… Believe it or not there is a river behind the stand on the left. Also, although almost everything in the photo has changed the building at the bottom of the image is, as far as I’m aware, still standing (or at least I’ve seen it on a similar aerial photo from about 7 years ago). That building has been remodelled somewhat though! Leave your comments below.
While you’re here why not subscribe to my site and you can then access every article, interview, audio recording etc. already posted and those that will be posted during your subscription. It costs £20 per year (about £1.67 a month) or you can sign up on a monthly basis at £3 per month (you can cancel at any time, so you could sign sign up for a month, access everything you want and then cancel). You can subscribe below:
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Thanks to everyone who attended tonight’s show. There were some excellent questions from the audience and some brilliant feedback too. Here’s a short video montage that gives an impression of the evening.
Thanks to all our guests. I’ll be posting more on this late next week. Thanks.
I’m really looking forward to tonight’s ‘No Man Could Stop Us!’ show at Hebden Bridge Town Hall. If you are coming then feel free to use the hashtag #FABan when mentioning it on social media. We have some excellent guests and I’ll be highlighting the history of women’s football from the nineteenth century through to the 1921 FA ban. I’ll then explain what happened to the sport over the following 50 years, until it was officially lifted in January 1970. We’ll be hearing from players who had lengthy careers with Manchester Corinthians, Manchester City, Manchester United, Redstar, Bronte, Doncaster Belles and England. It promises to be an excellent night.
Late next week I’ll post an article here on the evening’s events for those unable to make it. The evening has been sponsored by Geoff Matthews and his company Cansquared – thank you for all your support and enthusiasm.
On Monday I asked ‘Can you name the ground featured in the image above? This image is from before the Second World War. The ground is still in use and has hosted Premier League football.’ The answer is…
It’s Bradford City’s Valley Parade ground. Sadly, this is the stand that in 1985 was destroyed by fire, resulting in the deaths of 56 people. This photo was taken in 1929 during a visit by Prime Minister Baldwin.
Each week for the next few weeks I’ll post an image of a football ground taken in the past and you can see if you can recognise the ground. Some will be easy (believe it or not there are some grounds that have not changed much in all those decades!), others not so. You’ll be able to post your view in comments at the bottom of each page.
The following Friday I’ll post the answer.
While you’re here why not subscribe to my site and you can then access every article, interview, audio recording etc. already posted and those that will be posted during your subscription. It costs £20 per year (about £1.67 a month) or you can sign up on a monthly basis at £3 per month (you can cancel at any time, so you could sign sign up for a month, access everything you want and then cancel). You can subscribe below:
Read more of this content when you subscribe today.
We hear so much about the Premier League era and how the game has changed, so for today’s feature I’ve decided to take a look at the early 1990s and the birth of the Premier League. It’s almost thirty years since the structure of league football changed forever and during that time some clubs have benefitted from the new structure and others have found life difficult. City have experienced both extremes of course.
The narrative that we often hear about the Blues’ journey over the last thirty years is that they’ve gone from a struggling club to a hugely successful one and, while it is true City are highly successful today and that the Blues entered their lowest ever point in the late 1990s, it is wrong to assume that the position the club found itself in by 1999 was typical of the club’s full history.
So, here for subscribers, I’m taking a look back at the early 1990s and remind ourselves where the Blues were; who their rivals were; and the state of football at that time:
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If you think that it’s only in recent years that fans have been upset when their club has tinkered with their colours then think again. Back in November 1969, shortly after City had worn red and black stripes for the first time, City and local media outlets were inundated with fans complaining about the new shirts. Here’s just a taste of the complaints. These letters (apologies for the poor scanning on my part) were right to talk of City’s traditional away colours as being maroon of course, but it’s interesting how now, 52 years later, many fans believe red and black stripes are City’s traditional away colours.
For the record City have worn maroon more than any other main colour (other than blue & white of course).
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