Suffragette Nettie Honeyball and manager Alfred Hewitt Smit founded the British Ladies’ Football Club or the Lady Footballers, who arranged tours usually as North v South or Reds v Blues matches; Helen Graham Matthews (photo above), known as “Mrs Graham”, played as a goalkeeper and sometime team captain. From late 1895 until the ed of 1896, Matthews led her own teams, also initially named Reds v Blues, but later the Original Lady Footballers or Mrs Graham’s XI, to play tour games, including against Scottish men’s teams. In the first match of the tour against Irvine, Matthews sustained a black eye, but continued playing. Mrs Graham’s XI had Emma Clarke (below), the first black woman player, touring Scotland that year too; she continued to play with her sister up to 1903, but Clarke’s true identity was not confirmed until 2017.
Mrs Graham’s XI played an exhibition match in Loughborough in October 1895, marking a significant moment as the first recorded women’s football game to be held in Leicestershire. The match report is given below:
THE LADY FOTBALLERS AT LOUHBOROUGH – On Monday afternoon about five hundred persons assembled on the Athletic Ground, Loughborough, to witness a football match by the lady footballers who are touring the country, the sides were distinguished by colours, one side wearing blue blouses, and the other red. Mrs. Graham captained the blues and Miss Edwards the reds. The affair was quite a novelty and created a tremendous amount of fun. Mrs. Graham led the way for the players, who were at the outset subjected to much sarcasm. The “blues” kicked towards the Moor-lane goal in the first half hour, and appeared the better side. They passed well now and again, but the play was awfully tame and uneventful. There was scarcely any tackling, but occasionally the players came into collision and measured their length. Miss Athersmith, the blue outside right, was a smart runner, but kicked with the wrong leg, with the result that her shot for goal went in the opposite direction. On the other wing Miss Lewis knew how to get along the ground and centre. The best player, however, on the side was Mrs. Graham, the goalkeeper, who was no novice at the game, The reds were not such a tall lot, and Miss Goodall, the centre forward, who looked more like a lad than a girl, was nicknamed “Tommy” by the spectators. Miss Yates scored in the first half for the blues, who crossed over leading by a goal to nil. The blues in the latter portion only had ten players, one having slipped and put her thumb out of joint. Dr Phelps, who was on the ground, attended to te injury. The blues, however, had the best of the game, and Miss Yates scored again. The reds then had a turn, and “Tommy” was conspicuous for a bit of bundling in, but they could not beat Mrs. Graham, who fisted away in smart fashion. At length Miss Gilbert put one overhead and into the net, the result being a victory for the blues by two goals to one. There were several good runners in the teams, but all were poor kickers with the exception of the blues’ custodian, who, when taking a goal kick could land the ball beyond the half way line – a good performance. The chief aim of the players to all appearances was to avoid coming into contact with each other, and very rare was there any charging, while fouls were conspicuous by their absence. Mr. Geo. Smith, captain of the Town team officiated as referee and Messrs Cotterill and Mellors as linesmen. The blues’ second goal had a strong taint of being offside and referee Smith was taken task by one of the ladies in red. Otherwise his decisions gave satisfaction. Players: – Blues: Mrs. Graham, goal; Misses R. Clarke and Rogers, backs; J Clarke, Lee and Garbett, half-backs; Lewis, Yates, Welburn and Athersmith, forwards. Reds: Misses Lynn, goal; Fearn and A. Lee, backs; Brown, S. Yates and Smith, half-backs; Aylin, Gilbert, Edwards, Goodall, and Clarke.
Melton Mowbray Mercury and Oakham and Uppingham News – Thursday 17 October 1895