Old UK

History of Women’s Football – 37 Rare Vintage Photos of First Ladies’ Soccer Teams Ever _ UK

Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, has a very very long history. England was the first country where the game was developed and codified. The modern global game of football was first codified in 1863 in London.

With women in particular, football was less popular in the past. The first women’s football teams were known until the late of 19th century, and the club’s first public match took place at Crouch End, London on 23 March 1895, between teams representing ‘The North’ and ‘The South’.
Let’s take a look at these rarely historic photos to see the beginning days of women’s football teams in the late 19th to early 20th centuries.

The British Ladies’ Football Club (North team), also known as the first women’s football team ever, 1895
The British Ladies’ Football Club (South team), 1895
Rosy Rapids FC, Wheatley Hill, County Durham, 1909
Lancashire United Transport Ladies FC, Atherton, Lancashire, 1915
North Eastern Marine Ladies, 1915
Wallsend Slipway Ladies, 1917
Whitehaven Ladies, 1917
Mossband Munition Girls, Mossband, Cumberland, 1917
Derwent Mills Ladies, Cockermouth, 1917
Pratchitt’s Ladies, Carlisle, 1917
Vulcan Shell Girls, Vulcan Foundry and Railway Works, Newton-le-Willows, 1917
Workington Ladies FC, 1917
Armstrong’s Elswick Factory, 1917
Government Rolling Mills Ladies (Woolston, Southampton), 1917
Ramsey Girls FC, 1917
Ramsey Girls FC, 1917
Barnsley Shell Factory, 1917
Rudge Ladies, Coventry, 1918
White and Poppe’s Ladies, Coventry, 1918
Humber Ladies, Coventry, with the Coventry Sportsmen’s Challenge Cup, 1918
Birtley Cartridge Case Factory, 1918
Barrow YMCA Ladies FC, 1918
Hood Haggies Munition Girls, 1918
Armstrong’s No. 43 Shell Shop, Scotswood, Newcastle, 1918
Blyth Spartans Munition Girls – Munitionette Cup Winners, 1918
Bolckow, Vaughan (Middlesbrough) Ladies – Munitionette Cup Runners-up, 1918
Carlisle Munition Girls 1918
 Swansea National Shell Factory, 1918
Bucknall Reserve Ladies at Queen’s Park, Longton, Staffordshire, 1918
West of Scotland Ladies, 1918
Wallsend Slipway Ladies F.C., 1918
Lever Brothers Ladies – Port Sunlight, 1918
Darlington North Eastern Railway Workshops, 1918
Brown’s Sawmills, Hartlepool, 1918
Marconi Ladies, 1918
Dainty Dinahs, Chester-le-Street, 1918
Lancaster Ladies FC, 1919