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The First World War changed the world as we knew it, and the fabric of society was affected at every level. Men — fathers and husbands — were conscripted to fight at the front, and women — mothers and wives — had to go to work in the factories supplying the army with what it needed.
It was in that context that the legend of the workers at the Doyle & Walker Ammunition factory in Sheffield was born.
On Friday 6th April 1917, eleven munitionettes — the name given to women working in munitions factories — found an abandoned ball and decided to spend their breaks playing with it. With punishing hours, a patriarchal society and the demands of the war, those minutes in which they could switch off from their reality and allow themselves the luxury of falling in love with a ball soon became the best part of their day.
With time, they honed their skills and raised the standard of the women's game to the point where, by popular demand, the idea arose to create a "proper" league. And that is how women's football was officially born — with England as its cradle.
There, with nobody telling them what to do, they chose their own goalkeeper, their own defenders, their own captain and even their own coach — free to make their own decisions for the first time in a long while.
They won the affection and warmth of the public who came to their matches. Legendary figures emerged who elevated the sport — among them Lily Parr, considered the first great icon of women's football, with over 1,000 goals to her name, a feat that made her the first woman to be inducted into the Hall of Fame at the National Football Museum.
However, this sudden emergence of a women's sport attracted the hostility of the institutions of the era, who did not consider it appropriate. After the war ended and the soldiers returned to England, women's football encountered increasing obstacles, until 1921 when the Football Association banned the game, declaring it "unsuitable" for women. The return of men to the factories and the ban on playing the sport forced these exceptional footballers to return to managing the home.
Now that women's football is gaining prominence on the world stage, it is good to remember those women who had to accept their lot in a different era — so that others could one day live their dreams. There is no Alexia Putellas without a Nita Carmona, no Megan Rapinoe without a Lily Parr, and no women's football without the eleven munitionettes of the Doyle & Walker Ammunition factory.
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