Women's Soccer Matches In Australia Before 1921

On Sunday, on a whim, and avoiding the fact all the teams I support had lost or were losing, I trawled Trove with the keywords ‘girls’ and ‘soccer’,  limiting my search to before 1921. This was because the earliest confirmed game of women's soccer I was aware of was between Toowoomba Rovers and Toowoomba Cities in 1921.

That game is the first mentioned in the 2015 article ‘Not Merely an Isolated Game: Women’s Association Football in Australia' by Greg Downes, Ian Syson and Roy Hay. The trio also reveal hints of earlier games, but at no point assert a definite game took place.

For instance, they mention a ladies’ ‘football’ team forming in Candelo in 1908 and suggested free-kicks and referees may refer to soccer. Knowing Trove is forever uploading new newspapers, I had a poke around to see if extra information had been added since the article had been published, but I couldn't find anything extra about this team.  All we know is a ladies team formed to play some form of football.

Downes, Syson and Hay also mention a proposal in May 1903 to form a ladies’ team as part of the Clyde Engineering Sports Club. The source was an article in the Cumberland Argus, and looking at Trove now, I couldn’t find any additional evidence such a team was formed.

But I did find evidence there was a want of women’s football around the Parramatta region in 1903. 

A month after a ladies’ team was proposed, the Cumberland Argus reported:

 “Girls and Football!

Probably with a view of finding out their capabilities for playing the popular 'manly' game of football, some of the young ladies of Bankstown are already getting their feet into the way of hoisting the leathern sphere high above terra firma. Thursday being a very cold day we noticed two or three sprightly young ladies, apparently out of their teens, indulging in the health giving pastime, and, judging from the way they rose the ball high into the air, and the way they bustled for the ball, they would be very desirable members of the team that Mr. Lennox was  recently requested to form at Granville.”

Cumberland Argus and Fruitgrowers Advocate, June 27, 1903

So it seems such a team hadn’t been formed over the previous month, but women were definitely kicking a ball around, and someone in the media was agreeable to the idea.

Downes, Syson and Hay also refer to a West Wallsend Ladies Football team being formed circa 1916, though no more is said about it. This team's existence was sourced from Carole Baxter, ‘West Wallsend Ladies Soccer Teams c 1916’, Australian Family Tree Connections, April 2012. This, by all reports, is photograph evidence, and while it doesn't constitute a game, it is very strong. (Hint: for now, keep West Wallsend in mind.)

Re-reading ‘Not Merely An Isolated Game’ is actually putting the cart before the horse. I was reading it to confirm Toowoomba, 1921, was still considered the earliest reported women’s soccer game.

More recently, in September 2018,  an article from SBS in which  QUT academic was Lee McGowan of the “With the Ball At Her Feet” project was interviewed included a photo said to be the ‘first women’s representative match in Australia’. This was in Brisbane and took place after the game in Toowoomba. I'd seen similar writings by or interviews with McGowan talking about the same games. 

I decided the consensus was 1921 was still considered the first confirmed women’s soccer games in Australia, with a healthy dose of expectation earlier games existed.

I was checking current thinking on the matter because I had found on Trove three women’s games which existed earlier.

All three stories were untagged on Trove. I don’t make any claims these are the first women’s matches, or that I was the first one to find these games. These are the earliest I know about. I’ve spent some time trying to write up these games academically, then in an a journalistic style in which I am actually trained, but decided to blog about them instead to get them in the public sphere as soon as possible. Apologies, then, for the looseness of language.

Regardless, breathe easy, Toowoomba, you keep your crown as the earliest known game for now.

On August 1st, 1917, the Darling Downs Gazette reported:

“Yesterday the unusual spectacle of a football match played by teams composed entirely of girls was witnessed in the vicinity of Harlaxton. It was learnt that the match was between teams from the Souths Girls School and Harlaxton girls. The girls gave a good display of the 'soccer' code of football and the game was as interesting as it was unique.”

Darling Downs Gazette, August 1, 1917

The article treats the game as “unique”, suggesting it is the first women’s soccer match in the district. This would suggest South’s Girl’s School had no experience in the sport, and I can currently find no evidence which proves otherwise.

Harlaxton State School had soccer experience, at least in the boy’s game. The school, which opened on the northern edges of Toowoomba in 1901 and still exists, and played soccer as early as 1914, though there is no evidence of a girls’ match before 1917.

Nor does Trove currently suggest the 1917 game led to further girls’ soccer matches taking place in Toowoomba. It is unknown whether this game was anything other than a one-off, though it is tempting to consider whether it had an influence on the game held in Toowoomba in 1921. Could some of the students having grown up and formed clubs four years later?

While we know little about the Harlaxton game, a year later a pair of women’s games were given strong media coverage.

Now remember what I said about keeping in mind photo circa 1916 of the West Wallsend Ladies as mentioned in ‘Not Merely An Isolated Game’.

Well here, probably, is their story.

In 1918, the West Wallsend Girls’ League planned a soccer match to raise fund for its operations.

Girl’s Leagues existed to help the war effort, often by fund-raising, knitting clothes for soldiers or assisting the families of those who had fallen.

Before the fundraiser, the Girl’s League played a practice match which was covered by the Newcastle Sun:

“Girls at Football

The West Wallsend Girls' League have made arrangements to play a football match in three weeks, the proceeds of which go to swell the league funds. The 'first practice game took place on Saturday when teams selected, by the president and secretary opposed each other. Several players showed good form and with a little more practice should do better. In the first half the president's team scored one goal from a penalty by Miss Coates and led one to nil. In the second half the secretary's team attacked hotly but the splendid goalkeeping of Miss Shipp was too much for the secretary's team.

Miss Coates scored two more goals, one from a penalty. The game ended three to nil in favor of the president's team. For the winners Misses Coates, Fernie, M. Wilson and Shipp were best. For the losers Miss Menzies was splendid, but did not get much support from the team. Jack Smith gave satisfaction as referee.”

Newcastle Sun September 23 1918

On Saturday October 19, the main event was held. The day before the Sun announced the teams:

“The West Wallsend Girls' League will cater for the public on Saturday, when two teams selected by the president and secretary will oppose each other. The girls have been practising for some weeks, and show creditable form. The early match is between Westy Kerr Cup team and Woodpeckers. President's team: Mrs. Skllllngs, Misses Coates (2). O'Donnell, Johnston, Menzles. Wilson, Fernie, Smith, Brennan, Cowie. Secretary's team: Mrs. Sneddon. Mrs. Cowie, Misses Shipp, Boyle, Blackie, Muir. Wright Wilson. Coates, Cowie, Mrs. Chorry.”

Newcastle Sun, October 18 1918

The fundraising game itself was covered by Sydney newspaper Arrow:

“The West Wallsend Girls' League played a game for patriotic funds, on Saturday, teams being elected by president and secretary. A glance at the teams makes one wonder if footballers are born or made. In the president's team I notice the names of Mrs. Sklllings, who so brilliantly saved a penalty, and whose husband was actively connected with the N.D.B.F.A. for some years. Misses T. and D. Coates, whose brothers will play in the West Wallsend Kerr Cup final team: and Miss J. Brennan another name associated with West Wallsend Soccer.

In the secretary's team are the names of Miss A. Muir. who failed with the penalty kick — so different from her cousin, Peter of that ilk. Still, she was the star performer of the. day. The girls appeared to put their hearts into the game, and at times excitement was very high. The West Wallsend Girls' League is looking for matches, and would be glad to play any girls' league in New South Wales.”

Arrow (Sydney), October 25, 1918

In both match reports, two things are noticeable. Firstly, there is the level of detail given to the matches. Scorers were given, penalty saves celebrated and full squads, in the case of the main game, given. The games were largely given respect in and of themselves, with only minor comparisons to the men’s game. There is no mention of novelty or uniqueness here. Maybe it was not unknown for women to play soccer in Newcastle, if only informally.

The second is the fact several of the participants were closely related via marriage or blood to the men who played in the Northern District British Football Association competition. Could we assume the game could take place because the women had access to grounds and equipment to practice and were already part of the local soccer culture?  

There is currently no evidence known of further matches taking place in the district, nor whether the challenge to play other girls’ leagues was taken up. This may have been due to the ending of the war. West Wallsend Girl’s League seem to disappear after 1918, a fact suggested in an article Newcastle Morning Herald regarding its reconstitution in 1939.

The third game was in Murray Bridge in 1920. This was not strictly a women’s match, but a women versus “men in skirts” game in support of the local hospital. The importance of the game is the context given regarding female football, plus who took part:

“On Saturday, October 9, prior to the soccer match to be played- on the showground between two Adelaide teams for the benefit of the hospital funds, a match will be played between 11 girls of Murray Bridge against an eleven composed of local male soccer enthusiasts, who will be attired in skirts, the same as the girls. During the war the female munition makers in England took to the game of soccer in large numbers, and there were many exciting contests played between representative teams of munitioners in various parts of the country. Included in the local ladies’ team will be several girls who played the game in England, and the game, though much in the nature of a novelty, not be at all a one-sided affair.”

The Mount Barker Courier and Onkaparinga and Gumeracha Advertiser, October 1, 1920

The presence of experienced women players in Murray Bridge is an exciting revelation. How many other former U.K. ammunitions factory workers could have moved to Australia after the war? Did these women continue to play soccer in Australia? Did they advocate for the game across Australia? A year later games were held in Toowoomba, Brisbane and Ipswich and elsewhere. Did U.K. immigrants influence these games taking place?

These reports make it clear women’s football games took place in Australia long before 1921, something suspected but without the evidence to support it.

Everything above is merely my own discoveries, and as I wrote earlier I may not have been the first to find them. The West Wallsend game already had photographic evidence, so it is nice to find some written evidence to back it up. Maybe it is already recorded in local history. Maybe someone else has found earlier games which hasn’t been widely reported. And who knows what the research of the likes of Lee McGowan has yet to publicly reveal. 

With Trove continuing to publish the historic articles, we can hope the history of women’s football will continue to be revealed. 

EDIT September 2021: I discovered an earlier game involving women after I wrote the above, but never updated the article. There was a soccer game between the ladies and gentlemen in June 1913 in Gatton, Queensland. Like the other games above, it seems to have happened in isolation.