The fabulous Lionesses bring football home.

After that glorious Euro tournament and the unbelievable victory, in manner and style, it would seem churlish not to remind ourselves of the history of UK Women’s football. 

Not least, because even now, we have TV pundits who call it ‘a man’s game’ and people like Graeme Souness really should know better. Of course, he has no regrets making the comment, but then what do you expect from someone, who was described by a team-mate...  

“If Graham was chocolate, he would eat himself” 

1540 – 1570. Mary Queen of Scots was known to have been a spectator of the sport and a ball formerly in her possession, was found in 1970 during excavation work at Stirling Castle. It was then re-discovered in the archives of Stirling Smith Art Gallery and Museum, and tests confirmed it indeed was created 436 years ago and claimed by some, to be the oldest football still in existence.

1580: It is impossible to say when women started playing football, but there is limited evidence suggesting women were occasionally involved, as in Sir Philip Sydney's 16th Century poem “A Dialogue Betweene Two Shepherds”.

Two Shepherds Will and Dick...

 WILL. Dick since we cannot dance, come, let a cheerful voice
Show that we do not grudge at all when others do rejoice.

DICK. Ah Will, though I grudge not, I count it feeble glee,
With sight made dim with daily tears another's sport to see.
Whoever lambkins saw, yet lambkins love to play,
To play when that their loved dams are stolen or gone astray?
If this in them be true, as true in men think I,
A lustless song forsooth thinks he that hath more lust to cry.

WILL. A time there is for all, my mother often says,
When she, with skirts tucked very high, with girls at football plays
When thou hast mind to weep, seek out some smoky room:
Now let those lightsome sights we see thy darkness overcome.

1881: Two theatre entrepreneurs arranged matches featuring members of the theatre community, Lily St. Clare scoring the first goal in the first match, a 3–0 win for Scotland at Hibernian Park. While games in Glasgow (with a crowd of more than 5,000) and Manchester were marred by pitch invasions and match abandonments!! Nothing new about hooligans.
 
1887: A match between Edinburgh and Grimsby also inspired claims that Grimsby was the first Women's football club side.
 
1889: Other women's clubs were reported to exist in England, Scotland and Canada
 
1895: In a Women’s football match, North beat South 7-1.
 
   1917: A Women’s tournament was launch with the official title.

“Tyne, Wear & Tees Alfred Wood Munitions Cup.”
Popularly known as “The Munitionettes Cup” the first winners wereBlyth Spartans, who beat Bolckow Vaughan 5-0 in a replayed final tie on 18^th May 1918.
 
1920: The first international game featured Dick Kerr’s Preston Ladies, who beat a French XI 2-0, watched by a 25,000 crowd.
 
1920; Saw the largest crowd for a woman’s game was 53, 0000 on Boxing Day, when Dick Kerr’s Preston Ladies beat St Helen’s Ladies 4-0.
 
1921: The Football Association banned women from playing on Football League grounds, believing that “the game of football is quite unsuitable for females and ought not to be encouraged.”
 
This decision meant that professional women's football virtually ceased to exist. Women developed their own amateur leagues, such as the English Ladies' Football Association (ELFA) which incorporated 57 teams; however, these leagues drew in far smaller crowds and funding remained limited.
 
1966: England win the World Cup and yet women are still banned for playing professionally and on F.A. grounds.
 
1969:  The Women's Football Association was established, and the creation of a women's England and premier league team.  It would take a further two years – and an order from UEFA – to force the (men's) Football Association to remove its restrictions on the playing rights of women's teams.
 
1969: Mitre Challenge Trophy was created, the first national cup competition for women's teams in England, which would eventually morph into the FA Women's Cup. Although the Women's F. A. did much to advance the game, taking an English team to the European Championship Final in 1984, insufficient funds continued to stunt growth at a grassroots level.
 
1992: The WFA had already created the Women's National League, becoming the Women's Premier League in 1992, to parallel the renaming of the top level of men's competition.
 
1993: Finally, the FA resumed direct involvement in women's football,  by this time, most professional men's clubs chose to create, or affiliate to, a women's team and the sport gradually grew. 
 
1994: The FA takes on the administration of the Women's National League and League Cup competition. The league becomes The FA Women's Premier League (FAWPL).

1997: The FA outlines its plans to develop the women's game from grassroots to elite level.
1998: The first 20 Centres of Excellence for girls are established. Sponsors are gained to both the League and Cup competitions.

1998: Hope Powell is appointed as the first full-time coach for the England women's international sides.

1999: The USA hosts the FIFA Women's World Cup which sees sell out stadia and over 90,000 at the Final.

2002: The FA announces that football has become the top participation sport for girls and women in the England – three years ahead of schedule.

2005: The 2005 UEFA Women's Championship is played in England. The opening match attracts an unprecedented 29,092 spectators, with a further 2.9m people watching live on BBC Two, while the tournament overall entertains 115,816 fans in 15 matches. England go out in the group stages.

2006: After a 12-year gap, England qualify for the FIFA Women’s World Cup, to be played in China.

2007: Arsenal become the first British side to win Europe’s top club prize, the UEFA Women’s Cup. England U19s secure their place at the U20s FIFA Women’s World Cup in Chile. England senior team travel to China for the FIFA Women’s World Cup, and reach the quarter finals, losing to the USA.
 
2008: The women's league system was transformed into a new top-level competition – the Women's Super League. Taking the best eight teams from sixteen applications, into a no-relegation single division, in the hope of drawing greater exposure and funding into the game.
 
 2011: The WSL proved successful enough to expand to a two-division, 20-team set-up in 2014.

2012: The popularity of women's football in England was escalated by the success of Team GB Women who reached the quarter finals of the London Olympics.
 
2013: England won the Cyprus Cup for the second time but failed to make it beyond the group stage at the European Championship Finals.
 
The FA celebrated 150 years of running football and also marked 20 years of supporting the women's game.
 
The FA, Sport England, The Premier League and The Football League Trust launched their first joint national participation programme for girls’ football.
 
2013–14: The FA Cup final was held at MK Dons's Stadium, the WSL Cup final at Wycombe Wanderers' Adams Park, and the League Cup final at Burton Albion's Pirelli Stadium.
 
2014: England Women played their first match at the new Wembley Stadium, attracting a record crowd of 45,619 for their match against Germany.
 
2015: England won bronze at the FIFA Women's World Cup in Canada and inspired an army of Young Lionesses to take up the game.
 
SSE sponsors of the re-named Women's FA Cup Final, at Wembley Stadium for the very first time. A record 30,710 watched Chelsea edge Notts County 1-0. If Notts County had won, the outright the £8,600 winnings would leave them out of pocket. Men's FA Cup winners received £1.8 million; teams who did not reach the first round proper got more than the women's winners.
 
2016: England captain Steph Houghton and most-capped player Fara Williams were awarded MBEs in the New Year's Honours List.
 
2017: Women's football finally moves to a parallel calendar to the Premier League.
 
England reached the semi-finals of UEFA Euro 2017.
 
2018: Phil Neville was appointed as England Women’s head coach in January.
 
 Women's Super League become fully professional with all 11 top flight teams strictly full-time.  
 
2019: England won the She Believes Cup for the first time before  finish fourth at the FIFA Women’s World Cup, their semi-final d USA attracting a record 11.7m viewers on BBC One.
 
As England are the nominated country for Great Britain, this means a Team GB women’s football team qualified to participate in the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.
 
Another record was established in the Women’s FA Cup Final, with 43,264 fans watching Manchester City defeat West Ham 3-0 under the arch.
 
In March, Barclays were announced as title partner of The FA WSL, in what is believed to be the biggest-ever investment in UK women’s sport by a brand.
 
The Lionesses rounded off another hectic year by attracting 77,786 fans to Wembley Stadium for a 2-1 defeat by Germany on 9 November. It was a record crowd for an England Women's match.
 
2020: The FA's three-year 'Gameplan for Growth' strategy for the women's game comes to an end, with over 3.4m women and girls involved in football participation, an increasing fanbase for both the WSL clubs and England team as well as higher numbers of qualified female coaches and officials.
 
 
2021: There was also a new name to lead the England senior team, with Netherlands coach and former FIFA Best Female Coach winner Sarina Wiegman appointed to take over as Lionesses head coach from September.
 
England Women's head coach Phil Neville leaves his role early to take on a job with Miami Heat in the USA, with Norwegian star Hege Riise taking over as coach until Wiegman's arrival later in the year. She wins her first game in charge, and the first for almost a year, with a 6-1 victory over Northern Ireland.
 
2022: Sarina Weigman takes the Lionesses on a 10 month unbeaten run, P20 W18 D2 L0 GF 106 GA 5 GD+101 Win%90.
 
 Sarina Weigman became the fourth manager – all women's – to retain the Euros title and the first to win the tournament with two different countries, coaching her native Netherlands to the title in 2017.
 
2022: The average salary in the UK Premier League is £3,090,200. The average salary in the UK Women’s Super League is thought to be around £30,000.
 
So there was the BBC’s Coach and Team of the Year 2022. Sorted.
 
Comments from young supporters…
 
We are nine-year-olds and we play football. We play with the boys, and at first, they ignored us, but now they let us join in because we showed them that we are as good as they are. We are hoping that when we go to secondary school there will be a girls’ team. The Lionesses are such an inspiration and they did amazingly in the Euros.   Chloe and Amelia.


Watching the Women’s Euro 2022 final, our six-year-old grandson announced: “I’d like to be a real footballer like them when I’m older”.   John.
 
Comments from FMTTM.
 
It is an exciting time, isn’t it? Girls and boys all round the country are going to fall in love with football, as a result of the Lionesses. We need to welcome them with open arms!!
fmttmadmin
 
I've enjoyed the whole tournament. The football in the main was enjoyable,skilful and exciting. The goal that Toone scored this evening was of the highest quality, the pass was of the highest calibre and to take that lob on, took guts and a lot of skill. Deserved winners in a competitive Euro's. Bilbo1.