While many football fans are glued to the World Cup, a group from Brisbane are discovering the origins of the first women’s match played in Australia.
The new living history project With the ball at HIS feet learn more about the women who pioneered sport in Australia.
Over the past 12 months, the group has reached out to the sporting community for press clippings, interviews and memorabilia to build a narrative archive of the game’s history.
Queensland University of Technology (QUT) researcher Dr Lee McGowan said it was important to learn more about Queensland’s crucial role in world football.
“We hosted the first ever game here in Brisbane,” he said.
“The first public women’s football match in Australia was played at the Gabba on 24 September 1921 in front of a crowd of 10,000.
“The match between the Reds (North Brisbane) and the Blues (South Brisbane) saw the Reds win 2-0.”
The first public women’s match in Australia took place at the Gabba in 1921. (Provided: With the ball at his feet)
He said players wore long socks, long-sleeved football jerseys, baggy shorts and football shoes – not much different from what is worn now.
The group also discovered Australia’s first women’s football club, established in Paddington, a suburb of Brisbane.
“The Latrobe Ladies formed in 1921, followed by the formation of two Toowoomba clubs in July 1921,” Dr McGowan said. ABC Radio Brisbane’s Loretta Ryan.
“After the first public match, more and more women wanted to play and overseas in the UK they were getting massive crowds.
“More than 53,000 people attended a women’s football match in Liverpool.
“The games were a celebration with bands, food and people wanting to see the women play.”
Capturing the changing face of women’s football
Dr Mc Gowan said the good times did not last.
In the 1920s, the English Football Association (FA) banned women from playing on official grounds, forcing other clubs in Australia to also stop the game.
The Brisbane City Ladies’ Football Club photographed in 1922. (Provided: State Library of Queensland)
“The FA, made up of a dozen old white men, decided it was not a good idea for women to play football,” he said.
“They blamed this on medical and cosmetic reasons and feared damage to their reproductive systems.
“They could still play, but not on official football grounds or in public view.”
The FA also highlighted concerns over the misappropriation of funds raised by the games, which the women chose to donate to charity.
The media reported that women were not entitled to a right of reply.
Call for more football history
Dr McGowan said the project began after attending a W-League match with his two daughters.
“Both my teenage daughters are staunch feminists and the eldest daughter wanted to know why women are not paid as much as men to play football,” he said.
“After a W-League match, I started delving into the history of women’s football and we started analyzing what was happening in Brisbane, the UK and France at the time.”
Women played in England and France before the sport spread to Australia. (Provided: With the ball at his feet)
He hopes other football fans will add photos, stories and items that may have been left behind by their ancestors to the project.
“We really want to fill the gap left by the war years and we’re trying to find out more information about it,” Dr McGowan said.
“We found that in 1959 more women started playing the sport again through the Brisbane Soccer Association, so we spoke to women who were playing at that time to try and capture that history.”
If you have any information that might help, contact the team via its website.
