The First World War changed the world as we knew it and the way of life of society was affected in each of its links. Men, fathers and husbands were recruited to fight on the front lines and women, mothers and wives had to go to the factories to provide the army with what was necessary.
In this context, the legend of the workers of the Doyle & Walker Ammunition in Sheffield was born.
On Friday, April 6, 1917, eleven munionettes, this is what the women who worked in munitions factories were called, found an abandoned ball and decided to spend their breaks playing with it. With a very demanding schedule, a patriarchal society and the necessities of war, those minutes in which they can disconnect from their reality and allow themselves the luxury of falling in love with a ball soon become their best moment of the day.
Over time, they end up honing their skills, raising the level of women's sport to the point of considering, by popular demand, creating a "real" league. It is in this way that women's football was officially born, England being the cradle of this movement.
There, with no one to tell them what to do, they choose who is the goalie, the defender, the captain and even the coach, they are free to make their own decisions for the first time in a long time.
They managed to win the affection and affection of the population that attended their matches. Legendary figures emerged that made the sport great, such as Lily Parr, considered the first great reference in women's soccer, with more than 1,000 goals scored, a fact that made her the first woman to be included in the Hall of Fame of the National Museum of British Soccer.
However, this sudden appearance of a women's sport attracted the hostility of the institutions of the time, which did not consider it suitable. After the war ended and with the return of the soldiers to England, women's soccer found more obstacles in its way, until 1921, when the English soccer federation prohibited this practice because it considered this sport "inappropriate" for women. The return of men to the factories and the ban on practicing sport forced these great soccer players to take care of the home again.
Now that women's soccer is gaining relevance in the world sports scene, it is good to remember those women who had to resign themselves in a different era, so that others can live their dreams. There is no Alexia Putellas without a Nita Carmona, there is no Megan Rapinoe without a Lily Parr and there is no women's football without the eleven munionettes of the Doyle & Walker Ammunition.
Discover our entire Ladies Football Club collection
https://coolligan.com/collections/ladies-football-club