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| Dick, Kerr Ladies F.C. 1925 Source: http://www.donmouth.co.uk/womens_football/dick_kerr.html |
On December 5, 1921, the English Football
Association (FA) banned women’s football from club affiliated football grounds deeming
the sport dangerous to the health of women and utterly unladylike. The real and
unstated reason for the FA’s ban was the increasing popularity of the women’s
game and the threat it posed to the men’s leagues. The ban was aimed at one
women’s team in particular, the most formidable women’s team in England, Dick,
Kerr Ladies Football Club. The FA’s ban forced the women of Dick, Kerr to play
on unaffiliated grounds, which ultimately led the club to look for
opportunities outside of England, resulting in an American tour and a visit to
the nation’s capital, Washington, D.C in 1922.
Dick, Kerr Ladies was the most famous woman’s team
by the time of their United States tour. The outfit formed alongside many other
women’s clubs during the height of World War I as woman entered the workforce
at an unprecedented rate. Women inevitably formed football clubs as their male
counterparts had decades before. Alfred Franklin, an office worker at Dick,
Kerr, noticed that women indulged in the game along with their male coworkers
throughout breaks in the workday. Witnessing their ability, and sensing an opportunity
for the woman to contribute further to the war effort, Franklin urged the woman
to form a factory team and to play for charity. The women complied and competed
under the name Dick, Kerr Ladies F.C. starting on Christmas day 1917.
In front of over 10,000 spectators, the Dick, Kerr Ladies
made their debut in a 4-0 victory against the women of Arundal Courtyard
Foundry at Deepdale, the home of Preston North End. The women played the game
for charity aiding local wounded soldiers with the gate receipts, which became
standard practice for the women throughout the war. Over the next four years,
Dick, Kerr Ladies continued to rack up wins in the name of charity even after
the signing of the Treaty of Versailles. Dick, Kerr Ladies string of victories
included a 2-0 victory in the first women’s international match against a
French eleven in 1920. As the women’s club profile increased, contempt from men
grew, including those within the sport’s governing body. Dick, Kerr Ladies
involvement in several matches benefiting forcibly unemployed miners in 1921
further roused the ire of the FA, which culminated in the FA’s ban in December
1921. Despite the ban, the club
continued to compete on grounds unaffiliated
with the FA up until finding a tempting opportunity overseas.
Coming
to America
Under the direction of the Brooklyn Football Club,
Dick, Kerr Ladies F.C. planned to take part in over twenty games throughout
Canada and the United States during the fall of 1922. Several issues
immediately arose that shortened the club’s stay substantially. Upon docking in
Quebec, the women experienced their first set back as they learned that the
governing body of Canadian football, the Dominion of Canada Football
Association, did not sanction women’s football and refused to allow the club to
play within the country. Ostensibly banned from competing in Canada, the number
of games available to the club shrunk substantially as women in the United
States did not widely play the sport. The lack of available women’s clubs inevitably
forced Dick, Kerr to compete against men’s teams, many of whom recently joined
the professional American Soccer League (ASL). To further compound the club’s
already mounting troubles, the United States Football Association (USFA) had to
take over the club’s finances during their tour after the Brooklyn Football
Club proved fiscally irresponsible. Nonetheless, Dick, Kerr Ladies carried on and
made their United States debut against the men of the Paterson Football Club in
Clifton, New Jersey in front of over 5,000 spectators on September 24, 1922.
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| Lily Parr Source: The Washington Post |
The game in Clifton proved to be the first of just
nine games Dick, Kerr Ladies would play within the States. Due to the
unexpected level of competition and the numerous issues the women endured,
Dick, Kerr Ladies unsurprisingly lost their first game against Paterson 6-3.
Regardless, the women proved both a worthy opponent and somewhat of a novelty
with the abilities of several of the women, including outside-left, Lily Parr
garnering praise in the New York Times
the following day. (Parr would later become the first female inductee into
England’s National Football Museum in 2002.) The women drew their next game 4-4
against J & P Coats Football Club in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, and lost
their third game 7-3 in New York City to the men of Centro-Hispano in front of
7,000 curious spectators. It was at this point during the tour, the USFA
stepped in to take over the club’s management. The change in management also
brought alterations to the club’s tour as the USFA dropped games in many cities
from Dick, Kerr Ladies schedule. Dick,
Kerr Ladies meeting with an amalgamated eleven at American League Park (later
renamed Clark Griffith Stadium) in Washington D.C. was also affected by the
USFA’s takeover as their game was moved to October 8.
Soccer
in Washington and Dick, Kerr
In 1922, soccer in Washington was still a work in
progress. The growth of the game sputtered time and again and was an outlier within
the city’s sports scene, despite the city fielding one of the country’s first professional
teams in 1894. Lacking the industrial factory teams of the Northeast, the
British Embassy was consistently at the fore of the game in Washington as the
government entity sported a team throughout the early 1900s. While the game’s
powerhouses in the Northeast were creating the professional American Soccer
League in 1922, clubs within Washington were still attempting to create an amateur
league within the city, resulting in the formation of the short lived District
Soccer League in January 1922. By the summer, the city league was non-existent and
Washington’s soccer leaders were busy establishing a team to compete in the newly
formed - and USSF sanctioned - Southeastern Soccer League (SSL). Ultimately, the
creation of the SSL gave birth to the eleven that would represent Washington
and face the most famous women’s team in the world, as the Washington Soccer
Club picked its players from clubs who competed in the defunct District League.
Though the club officially got practice underway just weeks before Dick, Kerr
Ladies arrived in America, hype around the game had been building since local
newspapers announced the club’s visit during the summer.
Each of the city’s dailies periodically reminded
Washingtonian’s of Dick Kerr’s visit for months prior to the October 8 matchup.
Though they were erroneously referred to as the Newcastle United Ladies
Football Club prior to the game - with The
Washington Herald even referencing the team by that moniker on the day of
the the game - the matchup against the venerable women was excitedly promoted,
correct club name or not. The Washington
Post billed the matchup as “one of the most unique invasions into the
District’s sports realm,” while the Herald
considered the contest “one of the most unique international athletic
competitions in the history of District Sportsdom.” While the Herald and the Post were enthusiastically supporting the game, The Washington Times were chief amongst
the Washington press to cover the distinctive matchup and the de facto promoter
of the game. The Times had a
self-serving interest in promoting the game that would result in an alteration
to the Dick, Kerr Ladies game day schedule.
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| Alice Kell Source: The Washington Times |
Led by The
Times, the Washington press lauded the achievements of the women’s eleven,
noting their collective record and international results. In addition to
highlighting the achievements of the team as a whole, the dailies extolled the
talents of both Lily Parr and club captain, Alice Kell, featuring pictures of
both women in articles leading up to the game. The press, seeking to capture
the attention of those familiar with the game, emphasized the praise given to
the women by famed English centerback, Bob Crompton, while The Times specifically pandered to their more chauvinistic readers
by closing out their October 7 article thusly, “yes, some of them are pretty.”
While promoting the Dick, Kerr Ladies, The Times were also busy pushing another
unusual event taking place at American League Park during the month of October,
The Pantomime World Series. The newspaper went to great lengths to secure the
services of Marines from the Washington Navy Yard and the Marine Barracks to
reenact the 1922 World Series pitch-for-pitch in real time. The newspaper also obtained
a dedicated telegraph wire from the Polo Grounds in New York so the players
could enact the game minutes after the action took place in New York. The
pantomime game also featured a full sixty-piece marching band led by the U.S.
Navy Band’s founder Lt. Charles Benter. Despite the option to listen to the
game over the radio, around 10,000 Washingtonians opted for the free show and
filled American League Park to watch the shadow-ball World Series on October 4.
The first game was such a rousing success that The Times committed to continue the spectacle for the duration of
the real World Series, which inevitably coincided with the visit of Dick Kerr
Ladies F.C.
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| Ad for Pantomime World Series Source: The Washington Times |
After weeks of obstacles and alterations to the
Dick, Ladies tour, the women were set to meet the choice eleven of the
Washington Soccer Club at 3:00 pm on Sunday, October 8. The game’s kick-off coincided with Game 5 of
the World Series, which proved problematic for The Times as the paper was committed to staging each World Series
game live as evidenced by the paper’s full-page advertisements for their
sponsored enactments. The Times, wishing to further curry the
favor of its readers, requested that the women make one more adjustment to
their schedule, the kick-off time of their game against the Washington eleven. The
paper was so committed to its pantomime endeavor that it offered to pay both
club’s to move their matchup’s kick-off time. Both clubs acquiesced to the
paper’s request after the daily agree to pay each club, a fact that The Times made sure their readers knew
by advertising the lengths the paper went through to stage their show. Not
wanting to alienate any of their readers who happened to be soccer fans, The Times also invited anyone attending
the Dick, Kerr Ladies affair to remain at American League Park for the World
Series game as guests of the newspaper. Finally, after weeks of both problems
and promotions, the matchup between Dick, Kerr Ladies F.C. and the Washington Soccer
Club kicked off at 12:45 pm on October 8.
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| Ad for Dick, Kerr Ladies game Source: The Washington Times |
The women entered the game highly regarded and did
not disappoint (though the existing coverage of the game leaves much to be desired).
Prior to their game in Washington, press throughout the Northeast lauded Dick,
Kerr Ladies for their combination play and passing ability. The women leaned on
these skills to compete against the stronger and faster males of Washington as
they had throughout their American tour. In front of around 7,000 fans, the
women held Washington to a stalemate until the men scored the first goal in the
26th minute. Not to be outdone, Lily Parr evened the score for Dick,
Kerr Ladies just before halftime. After Washington quickly scored two goals early
in the second half, the game opened up and the women pushed forward seeking
goals. Subsequently, the game finished a 4-4 draw, but not after a dramatic
comeback by Dick, Kerr Ladies who scored two goals in the last ten minutes of
the match to secure the draw. Among the games stars were, of course, the
venerable Lily Parr who scored two goals from seven shots, and Dick, Kerr
Ladies keeper, Carmen Pomies who stopped eleven of Washington’s fifteen shots. In
the end, the game garnered far less coverage than the World Series Champion New
York Giants and The Times sponsored
pantomime of the fifth game of the World Series, though in the days following
the game The Washington Post printed
several photos from the game within the newspaper. In addition to the extra
money Dick, Kerr Ladies received from The
Times, the women also left Washington with another item of value: a soccer ball
signed by President Warren G. Harding.
Following their brief stay in Washington, Dick, Kerr
Ladies played five more games along the Atlantic Seaboard rounding out their
trip with 6-5 defeat at the hands of the Philadelphia Football Club. Overall,
Dick, Kerr Ladies finished their limited nine-game American tour with a respectable
record of three wins, three, draws, and three losses. The women sailed home via
the Port of New York on November 9, just one month after entertaining fans in
the nation’s capital. Once in England, Dick, Kerr Ladies continued to play for
charity despite the FA’s ban. The club changed its name in 1926 to Preston
Ladies F.C. and continued to compete under that designation for the next forty
years until 1965, just five years before the FA officially renounced their ban
and permitted women’s football in 1971. The FA formally issued an apology for
the 1921 ban in 2008. Paradoxically, as the women’s club was ceasing
operations, soccer in Washington was finally angling to compete at the professional
level during the late 1960s as the game experienced its first jolt of nationwide
investment.
Here are a couple of The Washington Post's pictures from Dick, Kerr Ladies visit to American League Park:
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In writing this article I relied on multiple primary and secondary resources. As always, for my primary resource material I consulted several newspapers including; The Baltimore Sun, The Guardian, The New York Times, The New York Tribune, The Washington Herald, The Washington Times, and The Washington Post. In addition to the many newspapers I used, I analyzed many websites and articles with Ed Farnsworth's article on Dick, Kerr Ladies visit to Philadelphia and its place within women's soccer history in that city chief among them. With anything dealing with Dick, Kerr Ladies F.C., one must certainly reference Gail Newsham's work on the club. Ms. Newsham is the club's official biographer and author of the book In a League of Their Own which definitively covers the club and the historical importance of the women. I also referenced the following articles and websites: Spartacus Educational's piece on Dick, Kerr Ladies, Donmouth's coverage of women's football, The 1922-23 Spalding Soccer Guide's coverage of the club's visit, and, as always, The American Soccer History Archives.
