The Evolution of Women's Football: 37 Rare Vintage Snapshots from the Inaugural Era of Ladies' Soccer Teams _Ukhistorical

   

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