Goodison Park, Boxing Day 1920 · 53,000
The Dick, Kerr Ladies
The women’s game at its first peak, 1917–1921 — the munitionettes of Preston, the best-drawing side in Britain, and the 53,000 who paid at Goodison Park.
The record, plainly
Told honestly, as the record it is: in December 1921 the Football Association banned women from its members’ grounds, calling the game “quite unsuitable for females.” The ban stood for fifty years. The crowd is the evidence — nobody bans a failure.
The pieces in The Dick, Kerr Ladies
press photograph · 1920
The Dick, Kerr Ladies at Goodison Park
Boxing Day 1920: fifty-three thousand paid to watch the munition works’ team.
The gate receipts knew the truth first.
period photograph · c. 1921
The Dick, Kerr Ladies (team photograph)
The team in stripes and bobbed hair — factory workers who became the best-drawing side in Britain.
History keeps the team sheet.
the French sporting press · 1920
France v. England, November 1920
The women’s international as a magazine cover — the game’s first golden age, printed in Paris.
The magazines had already printed the truth.
press photograph · c. 1921
The Pre-Match Kiss
Dick, Kerr’s captain and her opposite number — the handshake the women’s game improved on.
The fixture ran on its own manners.
Agence Rol · 1920
France v. England, Paris, 31 October 1920
The women’s international in play — thirteen months before the English ban.
The ban was not a response to failure.
Agence Rol · 1920
The England Eleven, Paris, 1920
The touring side, in the standard pose — arms folded, ball in front, the year on it.
They stood for the same photograph, because they were footballers.
Agence Rol · 1920
The France Eleven, Paris, 1920
The French women’s side — a national team, four years before the men’s game noticed.
The record exists because somebody thought it worth a plate.
Agence Rol · 1920
The Kick-Off, Paris, 31 October 1920
A government minister starts the women’s international — the establishment, present and approving.
The establishment showed up. Then, deliberately, it left.