FOOTBALL AND WOMEN
UNSUITABLE GAME FOR GIRLS.
The
English Football Association have decided to request the clubs under their
control not to allow the use of grounds for football matches between
women, mainly because the g ame is unsuitable for women. The following resolution was unanimously
passed:
Complaints
have been made as to football being played by women, the council feel compelled
to express their strong opinion that the game of football is quite unsuitable
for females and ought not to be encouraged.
Complaints
also have been made as to the conditions under which some of these matches have
been arranged and played, and the appropriation of the receipts to other than
charitable objects.
For
these reasons, the council requests clubs belonging to the Association to
refuse the use of their grounds for such matches.
A request
from the Football Association amounts almost to an order.
It has
been suggested that the chief drawbacks to the game for women were the
unmaidenly "barging" and hefty-kicking which the game entails.
Discussing the question, Dr Elizabeth Sloan Chesser said: "I do not believe in
placing a ban on any pleasure. If women want to play football, let them. On the
other hand, there are physical reasons why the game is harmful to women. It is a
rough game at any time, but it is more harmful to women than to men. They may
receive injuries from which they may never recover."
WOMAN CAPTAIN PROTESTS.
A
vigorous defence of women's football was made by Miss Long, captain of the
Strand Corner House Restaurant Women’s football team. "In my experience of
women's football matches," she said. "I do not remember any serious
injury to any of the players. I recollect one broken arm, but accidents happen
in all games. What people forget is that women footballers play women, and not
men. Our girls are wonderfully healthy, and thoroughly enjoy the game. We
sacrifice our holidays for the game and for the sake of charity. The decision
of the Football Association does not affect us very seriously unless our firm
decide to ban the game."
Speaking
of the way the game is played by
women, Miss Long added naively:
"Of course, we get some fouls
registered against us, but on the whole. I think women are cleaner players
than men."
An old
football ''Blue” who recently watched a women’s football match
writes: "It was an 'inspiring spectacle, and I came away with the opinion
that football is certainly not a game for women. If it is played
properly
it means a big tax on the physical strength of the players
. It also requires the least possible clothing. How the girls, although
they wore shorts and displayed bare knees, could stand heavy sweaters
combined with the violent exercise, beats me.
In a
letter addressed to the secretary of the Football Association, Major Cecil
Kent, of Liverpool, formerly secretary of the Old Westminsters Football Club,
protests against a ban on women’s football, stating that he
has seen about 30 football matches between women.
Major
Kent observes: "On all hands I have heard nothing but praise- for the good
work the girls are doing and the high standard of their play. The only thing I now hear from the man in the street is, 'Why have the Football
Association got their knife into girls' football? What have the girls done
except to raise large sums for charity and to
play the game?'
I know that no unnecessary expenses are ever
charged by the reputable girls' football clubs, and that the charities
alone benefit from the matches."
This article was syndicated to various newspapers in the UK towards the end of 1921, and was appearing in the colonial press in April of 1922.
