An illustration of the British Ladies’ Football Club’s first public match which took place at Crouch End, London on 25 March 1895, between teams representing the ‘North’ and the ‘South’, which appeared in the Illustrated Police News – a weekly illustrated newspaper which was one of the earliest British tabloids.
The following match report was published in Leicester Post [27 March 1895]:
LADY FOOTBALLERS IN THE FIELD
The first match of the British Ladies’ Football Club was played on Saturday but cannot be pronounced as a success from either from an athletic or a spectacular point of view. Miss Nettie J Honeyball is the moving spirit of the lady footballers. Some time back she wrote to Lady Florence Dixie and obtained the consent of the writer of ‘Gloriana” to become president of the “British Ladies’ Football Club. The first important question to settle was the costume. Short skirts were tried, and also ordinary costumes but without success, so Miss Honeyball devised a light and easy dress. Instead of the regulation jersey, the ladies wear lose blouses with wide sleeves, which cover the arm down to the wrist. The knickerbockers are of blue serge, very full, drawn up at the knees by elastic bands and thus when worn have something of the ‘misread of the divided skirt. The cap is of the brewer’s type; the stockings black and tick ribbed. For boots they have had a special make. though closely resembling the kind usually worn by male football players. All have ankle-pad. and shin guards. The players belong mainly to London and the suburbs, but a few hail from the country. They are described as chiefly young ladies of independent means, whose parents can afford to keep them without wok. though a few are married women. Saturday’s, match was played at the Crouch End athletic ground, Hornsey, before an assembly numbering over 10.000 persons, about a quarter of whom were female. The teams were divided into North and South, according as they are residents on either side of the Thames: North: Mrs. Graham, Misses Nettie J. Honeyball, L. Lynn, P. Smith. E. Edwards, D. Allen, Ruth Coupland, Williams, R. Thiere, B. Fenn. and N. Gilbert. South: Misses L. Clarence, Annie Hicks, Ellis, Obree, Clarke, E. Roberts, Lewis, Alice Hicks. A. F. Lewis, E. Potter, and Ellis. The North wore red blouses, while the South were attired in Oxford and Cambridge striped blue jacket. They entered the field amid the cheers and laughter of the spectators at ten minutes to five, and for some minutes each team had a game to themselves with separate footballs. When the referee and umpire arrived they went to their places in the field, aid the North duly kicked off. It was soon evident that the ladles played in very amateurish and at times amusing fashion. They used their arms to push their opponents, and when one was “dribbling” the ball the others would on without attempting to take it away. Both sides. nevertheless, played pluckily and earnestly. Before half-time was called the North had scored two goals and the South one. Frequently the latter were, close to the posts of their opponents and could have obtained more point for Mrs. Graham, the goal-keeper who proved herself a spirited player. This lady with Miss Daisy Allen, a little girl of 14. whom the spectators judging from the boyish manner in which she played nicknamed Tommy, bore off the honours for the North: while for the South the Misses Lewis and Miss Annie Hicks distinguished themselves. After five minutes interval the game was resumed, and it was in the last few minutes that the greatest excitement and amusement took place. Several of the ladies made desperate runs, and there was same charging, which caused some of them to fall in the mud. The North scored in quick succession more goals. anti the game ended just after six o’clock in their victory by seven goal to one. When time was called many of the players were surrounded by the cheering crowd, and it was only through the intervention of some constables that they managed to reach their dressing rooms. The game was not taken seriously, and the amusing features were too few to allow the idea that the play of lady footballers will he more than a passing craze.
Leicester Post – 27 March 1895