following in the footsteps of the ‘Associated War Comrades’

 

The AFC Women’s side will play their first ever game at Pittodrie Stadium on Wednesday 23rd March 2022 as they welcome Park’s Motor Group SWPL 1 leaders Rangers to the North-east. The  girls will be following in the footsteps of an Aberdeen Ladies team, who played at the Dons home over 100 years ago.

Here is their remarkable story …

 

There are a few black marks in the record book of the FA and SFA. Then there are always going to be a few moans and groans about the nation’s football authorities from time to time. It is the nature of the role they have to do, and the passion everyone has for the game.

However, the vast majority of these offences pale into insignificance when set against the injustice perpetrated against Women’s Football.

THE BEGINNINGS

The first home international women’s association football match is believed to have taken place on the 9 May 1881 when an England side played Scotland at Easter Road.

However, the history of the Women’s game in Scotland is somewhat cloudy because it was very poorly covered by the press in the late 1800s and early 1900s and where it was the tone was usually pretty condescending and, in some cases, downright rude.

The game was certainly going on in Aberdeen, but we have only one report of a match from the 1890’s when the Reds played the Blues at Victoria Bridge Grounds in front of a crowd of 6000. It isn’t clear, but we are guessing that the teams were from within the city as the crowd seemed to know the players.

WORLD WAR I

Football really took off for women during the First World War when so many entered industry to fill the jobs vacated by men going off to serve in the armed forces. Women’s football grew rapidly between 1917 and 1922 in Britain largely as a result of the changing nature of female work. And it was natural for hard-working people to want energetic outlets in their leisure time and football was ideal.

Just how much the game grew in Aberdeen isn’t easy to find out, but by 1921 there was an Aberdeen Ladies team, run by the Associated War Comrades. They played a charity match against the most famous women’s team of them all – Dick Kerr’s XI.

Dick, Kerr Ladies of Preston had began to play seriously in October 1917 based at the Strand Road tram building and light railway works, originally founded by W. B. Dick and John Kerr of Kilmarnock – the company called Dick, Kerr & Co. The women on the team had joined the company in 1914 to help produce ammunition for the war.

During a period of low production at the factory in October 1917, women workers joined the apprentices in the factory yard for informal football matches during their tea and lunch breaks. After beating the men of the factory in an informal game, the women of Dick, Kerr formed a team, under the management of office worker, Alfred Frankland. Deepdale ground was granted by the Preston committee on 30 October 1917 for a game against T. Coulthard and Co. Ltd munitions workers to be played Christmas Day a crowd of 10,000.

In 1920, Dick, Kerr Ladies defeated a French side 2–0 in front of 25,000 people that went down in history as the official first international women’s association football game.

Dick, Kerr played in charity fixtures against similar teams around the country and raised money for injured servicemen during and after the war. In many ways they were an early day Harlem Globetrotters (who also played at Pittodrie in the 1960s, but that is another story!). The format developed into women’s matches for charitable purposes, a pattern which lasted until the team disbanded in 1965. During the team’s 48 year existence, they playing over 800 games, with matches attracting anywhere from 4,000 to over 50,000 spectators per match.

Company owners and main industrialists throughout the country recognised sporting activity would be good for morale in wartime factories and would aid production, so competitive sport was encouraged.

There were over 150 women’s football teams in the UK established between 1914 and 1918 and they played in all the major stadiums. The ‘munitionettes’ football teams played for local charities, included the war wounded and it is documented that communities supported these teams as part of their commitment to civic pride.

THE MATCH

The game took place at Pittodrie in September 1921 with 16,000 spectators in attendance, a crowd that suggests the game was popular.

The Daily Record and Mail reported – ‘Although defeated by 6 goals to 0, Aberdeen Ladies’ XI gave a plucky display against the more experienced Dick, Kerr’s team at Pittodrie on Monday.’

The Aberdeen Daily Journal on Tuesday 6th September 1921 had the following match report:

FINE PLAY BY DICK KERR’S XI

Plucky display by Aberdeen team

Many who were sceptical as to the adaptability of women to Association football got an eye-opener at Pittodrie last night when the famous English combination – Dick Herr’s XI from Preston – defeated a team from the recently-formed Aberdeen Ladies’ Club by 6 goals to 0. Tremendous public interest was taken in the match, and while the attendance was fully 16,000, vantage points outside the park were freely taken advantage of by several thousands of people.

Although so heavily beaten – and the margin was slight compared with the defeats which the English champions have inflicted upon the majority of their opponents – the Aberdeen girls gave quite a good account of themselves, especially considering the short period that has elapsed since their introduction to the game.
The advantages of experience, long association, better knowledge of the requirements, and confidence born of an unequalled record, and physique were all on the side of the winners, and in running such formidable opposition to the narrowest margin by which they have triumphed in Scotland, the Aberdeen girls are deserving of all credit for what was on their part a very commendable performance.

The Aberdeen team on that historic day was: C. Hugget, J. Lowe, C. Leiper, N. Forbes, N. Johnstone, N Beighton, N. Petrie, D. Low, W. McKay, C. White, E. Wallace.

As a footnote, the referee was Peter Craigmyle – whom was a very famous figure around the time.

Born on Monday 1st January 1894, the ‘Fearless Aberdonian” Peter Craigmyle was brought up in Aberdeenshire.

The famous football referee took up officiating at games after breaking both his legs as a player in 1918.

Craigmyle took charge of just about every senior cup final in British football at one point and became a renowned referee during his career.

In the 1920’s he had a weekly programme on a local radio show and he went on to travel and referee across the world and he also turned to lecturing in foreign parts.

He later owned a sports shop in Aberdeen’s King Street and he was also a keen bowls player. During World War II he organised and produced shows at the Aberdeen Garrison Theatre to raise money for the war effort.

THE BAN

In response to the success of women’s football in drawing large crowds for charity the FA ‘banned’ women’s teams from playing football on League and Association-affiliated grounds from 5 December 1921. The FA ruled that too much money had been absorbed in expenses by players and the game was ‘unsuitable’ for women. This despite the fact there was no evidence that serious injury had been sustained by a woman.

Here is an example of the kind of coverage that was given to the ban in 1921:

“BAN ON LADIES’ FOOTBALL.

The rapid growth of women’s football clubs since the war will receive a severe check on Monday, if, as expected, the Football Association decides to prohibit altogether the playing of football by women in enclosures controlled by the Association. Before the war clubs affiliated to the Football Association were prohibited from allowing women to play on their grounds, but the restriction was relaxed during the war to enable women to raise money for war charities. The majority of the councillors of the Football Association think the time has arrived to revert to pre-war conditions. Many of the women’s clubs have their own private grounds, of course, and these will not be affected by Football Association prohibition. Many prominent women doctors are of the opinion that football is too strenuous a game for women on the ground that it may cause serious organic trouble. They declare that hockey, although rough, is not nearly so dangerous a game for girls as football. “

Northern Whig 3rd December 1921

 

The Aberdeen Ladies were next invited to play a match in Belfast, but like their English counterparts, the SFA stepped in and (as they had before the War) banned all clubs within the Association from allowing women’s games to be played on their grounds. This did not completely kill off the sport, but it certainly set its development back for many, many decades.

How the ban was justified, even in those different times, is hard to understand and impossible to accept.

What is even more incredible was that the ban was not lifted till the late 1960s, early 70s.

Thankfully times have changed for the better and now huge progress is being seen, although everyone in the game recognises there is still work to be done.

Like Aberdeen Ladies 100 years before them, the AFC Women’s side will go into the game at Pittodrie against Rangers as underdogs, but it will certainly become another memorable and important moment in the journey of AFC Women since the club launched the team three and half years ago.