The ban was largely due to straightforward prejudice, and the worry that the men’s game was in danger of being completely overshadowed.

After the ban the remaining women’s football teams played at rugby grounds and other venues, and continued to tour abroad - however, the games no longer attracted the same large audiences as the male footballers who had returned to their traditional stadiums, and interest faded away.

In the following decades, the attitude to women in society changed dramatically, but a change in the Football Association came slowly - it took fifty years for them to finally lift the ban in 1971 after an English women’s team had become popular by taking part in an unofficial world cup in Mexico.

Within three years, the first England Women's International and the Women's FA Cup Final had been played at Wembley Stadium.

In 1983, the WFA was permitted to affiliate as a County Association and in 1993, the Women's Football Committee was set up to run the English game. Football had suddenly become the top sport for women and girls.


To be continued...