The banter years: women's football ban remembered 50 years on

Connected down the years by a shared passion for the game, for decades women’s experiences of playing and watching football told an all too familiar story of discrimination and disdain, of love for the game and determination to play.

Rose Reilly celebrates after leading Italy to World Cup victory (Image: Newsquest Media Group)

To mark 50 years this month since the SFA ‘ban’ on women’s football was finally lifted, stories and memories of players, fans, their friends and families have been gathered in a new book that celebrates the power of the women’s game to ignite emotions and inspire, and the harsh impact of being denied the chance to properly play.

A mix of poems, reminiscences, interviews and reflections, it includes touching contributions from, among others, Eddi Reader, who writes of being a child by her grandmother’s side watching as she made soup, unaware that as well as being Granny Deana, she was Sadie Smith, trailblazing star captain of Rutherglen Ladies.  

“Today I remember those scullery moments alone with her and imagine while she was encouraging me to drink her delicious carrot juice, before pouring it all into a bubble pot of goodness, she was quietly remembering scoring glorious goals,” she writes. “I came from good stock.”

Alongside are contributions from former Makar Jackie Kay whose poem Girl Footballer explores the joy of playing and thrill of scoring, and a collection of comments from young modern players collected by former footballer and current Scottish FA Club Development Officer Sam Milne.

Rose Reilly with singer Eddi Reader in front of a photograph of Rutherglen Ladies football team (Image: Newsquest Media Group)

While award-winning author Allan Gaw’s poem reflects on the contradiction between women working in wartime munitions factories, on farms and abattoirs as part of the war effort only to be regarded as “too delicate to play this game”.

There is also a moving contribution from 23-year-old football referee Isla Buchanan, who writes of the challenges even now of being an official in a male-dominated sport.

“I have experienced a large number of sexist comments along the way which, I admit, have affected me mentally,” she writes. “Comments such as ‘Women shouldn’t be in football’, ‘Women shouldn’t be referees’ and ‘You should be in the kitchen’, to mention just a few.”

First ever Scotland versus England women's international match at Ravenscraig Stadium in Greenock on Saturday November 18, 1972 (Image: Greenock Telegraph Archives)

The book has been compiled by Karen Fraser, an independent researcher at Stirling University who specialises in the women’s game post-1960s, Glasgow Caledonian University history Professor Fiona Skillen whose key focus is on women’s football in the late 19th and early 20th century, and Julie McNeill, poet-in-residence for St Mirren FC Charitable Foundation.

The idea to combine women’s football stories, interviews and poems with research-led explanations surrounding the ban, players and their teams, emerged from The Hampden Collection, a group aimed at promoting Scotland’s footballing history.

Its title, A Most Unsuitable Game, is taken from the 1921 English Football Association judgment that “the game of football is quite unsuitable for females and ought not to be encouraged”.

It led to a directive to affiliated clubs that women should not use their facilities.

A similar position was soon adopted in Scotland, where the SFA refused to allow member clubs to advocate or entertain women’s football.

Elsie Cook, Mary Anderson and Kathleen Rush of Westhorn football team pictured in 1974 with George Best and Pat Crerand (Image: Scottish Football Museum)

It meant women who did want to form teams, faced having to play on poor quality pitches and often deprived of proper changing facilities.

It would take until late August 1974 for the SFA to finally remove the ban.

Julie, the UK’s only female poet affiliated to a professional club and whose poems feature in the book, says some contributions came from the outpouring of support for the women’s international team.

“Men and women were sending in poems inspired by the World Cup and because the women’s team were doing so well.

Footballer Rose Reilly went on to become Scotland's only footballer to win a World Cup (Image: Randolph Caughie/Mirropix/Getty Images)

“Along with Fiona and Karen’s pioneering work, it seemed a natural partnership to bring it all together. It deserved to be brought to a wider audience.”

The book includes sections exploring the background to the ‘ban’, the women’s teams that continued to play despite it and the pioneering efforts of some women to break down the barriers.

Some contributors spotlight the ‘against the odds’ achievements of women footballers like legendary Ayrshire-born striker Rose Reilly.

A world cup winner her adopted country, Italy, by her retirement, she had won eight Serie A league crowns, four Italian Cups and a French title, along with two Golden Boots.

Among those to single out her achievements is her former team manager Elsie Cook, a founder member of the Scottish Women’s Football Association who played a key role in pressurising the SFA to remove its ban.

Her poems also highlight the camaraderie of the women who defied efforts to quash their sport, and the comical incidents and banter which all football supporters would recognise.

In one, Wheeler, she recalls a particular Stewarton Thistle goalkeeper:

Fae mony a tussle we’d emerge wae ease -

thanks mainly tae Pamela’s expertise

crossballs, free kicks, she deals wae them all

Her only real difficulty’s in buildin’ her wall..

‘Move over left.. no!...a little more right...

that’s it Jeannie, keep the wa tight!’

But the wa chickened oot tae Spartan’s delight,

a gap emerged which gave Pam a fright

The centre’s hard shot fair flew through the space

but Pamela was there wae a save that wis ace.”

Pamela, however, would suffer a fate that many goalkeepers might recognise:

“Wan day at Hurlford’s Blair Park, whilst trainin,

the forwards on Pamela their shots were rainin...

‘Hit them hard!’ says Elsie, ‘Aim for the crossbar!’

Mair practice wae high balls and she’d really go far...

But someone let fly wae a real humdinger

which Pamela tipped ower - but broke her wee finger!”

It’s hoped the book will inspire readers to explore family histories in search of uncovering stories of women relatives who might have played.

In his contribution, Galloway writer and broadcaster Hugh McMillan, highlights how time is running out to capture their stories.

In it, he tells how hopes of recording the memories of wartime munitions worker Effie MacLeod “the centre half of the legendary Gretna Girls team who hammered the Carlisle Munitionettes at Brunton Park” were dashed when he learned she had died.

Researcher Karen, who is working with Prof. Skillen on an SFA project aimed at identifying women internationalists in the hope of honouring their achievements, says new information about women’s leagues and cup games is emerging thanks to online digital newspaper archives.

However, she adds: “Quite often reports of their games would not be in the sports section of the newspapers. They were in the social section.”

Such as Aberdeen Prima Donnas, spotted in a 1970s newspaper wedding announcement which happened to note that some of the team had turned up to their teammate’s nuptials.

Dr Skillen says while there remain huge gaps in what’s known about the women’s game, those known to have played at international level deserve recognition.

 “They have been overlooked for so long,” she adds. “It’s important that they have the recognition they deserve.”

A Most Unsuitable Game is available to pre-order from Tippermuir Books with royalties donated to women’s grassroots recreational football.