THE First World War changed so much for women, from industry to politics to football.
They were forced into industry, firstly to take the place of men in maintaining steam engines and then to manufacture the munitions for the men to fire at the enemy – these women became known as “munitionettes”.
Women were also given the Parliamentary vote, and, when men’s professional football ceased at the end of the 1914-15, they were allowed to kick a ball.
At first, it was comedy charity matches with women playing against men who had their arms tied behind their backs.
But on February 3, 1917, the first wholly female munitions workers’ was held between the Wallsend Slipway and Engineering Company and the North East Marine Engineering Company in front of a crowd of 2,000 at Wallsend to raise money for the local branch of the Queen Mary Needlework Guild.
The 3-0 victory for the Slipway was refereed by Bill McCracken, who had played for Newcastle United since 1904 (inventing the offside trap) and for Ireland and was a great promoter of women’s football.
Interest quickly spread: in August 1917, for instance, Trimdon Grange Munition Girls beat Hartlepool Marine Engineering Girls 3-2 at Durham University.
In Darlington, the first known match was played at the Railway Athletic ground on Brinkburn Road on September 29, 1917, with the railwaywomen taking on Rise Carr Rolling Mills. Rise Carr won 3-1 with 20-year-old Sarah Hooper scoring twice.
The Darlington Quaker Ladies, in the early 1930s, with Sarah Hooper (later Burnside) in the centre of the front row. Sarah was the Shearer of Darlo
For the next 20 years, Sarah was the Shearer of Darlo, the town’s most prolific scorer. She came from a Rise Carr family with a footballing pedigree: her uncle, Charlie Roberts, had made 271 appearances for Manchester United, and her brothers Mark and Bill played for Darlington. In fact, Mark became a Sheffield Wednesday legend, scoring 125 goals in 384 games for the Hillsborough side.
The Darlington NER Munitions Girls who took on wounded soldiers on October 6, 1917. Picture courtesy of the Darlington Centre for Local Studies
Then, on October 6, 1917, at Feethams, the North Eastern Railway Munition Girls – presumably from the North Road shops – took on injured male soldiers from the temporary Woodside hospital off Grange Road. The men had their hands tied behind their backs and won 7-6.
The Darlington Munitionettes who played in a charity match at Feethams on November 17, 1917, against West Hartlepool Expansionists. A crowd of many thousand saw Lady Raven, wife of the chief mechanical engineer of the North Eastern Railway, kick off the match
But the first big match was on November 17, 1917 (apparently the same day as the above charity match), when Rise Carr took on the RA in the first round of the Munitionettes Cup, a knockout competition involving 28 teams of munitionettes from Tyneside and Teesside. Rise Carr again won 3-1, with Sarah completing her hat-trick.
Teesside had six teams in the contest, with three coming from Dorman Long, and the most exciting match took place in the second round, on Boxing Day, 1917, when Dorman Long No 2 took on Smith’s Dock on Normanby Road.
The Smith's Dock team in 1918 when playing at South Bank FC's Normanby Road ground. It was here on Boxing Day 1917 that Smith's Dock were involved in one of the most controversial of the women's games
It was snowing heavily, so spectators encroached on the pitch; the Smith’s Dock captain collapsed early in the game and had to be carried off; the spectators then pelted players and referee with snowballs, and then it was discovered Dorman Long had 12 players. Unsurprisingly, they won 2-0 and, after a protest, the game was replayed and they won 1-0 with the usual number of players.
The Bolckow, Vaughan Ladies in 1918 who were the first Munitionettes Cup runners-up. Back: Emily Milner, Amelia Farrell, Greta Kirk, Violet Sharples. Front row : Elizabeth Powell, Mary Mohan, Mercy Page, Winnie McKenna, Gladys Reece, Olive Percival, Anne Wharton
In the final of the first Munitionettes Cup, Blyth Spartans drew 0-0 with Bolckow Vaughan of South Bank, Middlesbrough, at St James' Park. In the replay at Ayresome Park, the Teessiders were walloped 5-0, with Bella Reay (below) scoring three.
READ MORE: BELLA REAY'S STORY TOLD ON THE STAGE
Bella, the 17-year-old daughter of a Northumbrian coalminer, was probably the region’s stand-out player, scoring 133 goals in 30 games that season, although Bolckow Vaughan had Winnie McKenna (below), who had scored a similar number. She was 20, born in Grangetown into an Irish Catholic family, and she went on to captain Ireland.
After the Cup finished, there were matches between North East ladies and Ireland and Scotland, and there were great inter-regional rivalries: for example, on February 2, 1918, Teesside Munitionettes took on Tyneside Munitionettes at Stockton’s Victoria Ground. The crowd of 2,000 paid 6d for a programme which included a list of the players’ names which corresponded to the numbers on the back of their shirts – a revolutionary idea that first appeared in the men’s game in 1928.
A second Munitionettes Cup was organised in October 1918 as the war was nearing its end. Women were already being laid off as the demand for weapons decreased and in preparation for the return of the men, but it lead to a final at St James’s Park in Newcastle on March 22, 1919, between Palmer’s shipyard of Tyneside and Christopher Brown’s Sawmills of Hartlepool.
Christopher Brown's Sawmills FC, Hartlepool's best team with one of the smartest strips with their neckerchiefs. They reached the final of the second Munitionettes Cup in 1919
This meant that once again Bella Reay faced Winnie McKenna, with Bella scoring the game’s only goal.
On April 24, 1919, the two superstrikers played for the same team, Newcastle Girls, against Dick, Kerr Ladies of Preston, the best team in the north-west, in front of a crowd of up to 30,000 at St James’s Park. It was a disappointing 0-0.
With men’s professional football re-commencing and society trying to return to normal, women’s football began to fade, although there were still some charity games – on May 7, 1921, at Sherburn Hill, near Durham, Busty Ladies (obviously named after the coal seam) beat the Soup Canteen Ladies 3-1 with Minnie Dixon scoring a hat-trick.
But on December 5, 1921, the Football Association passed a resolution banning women from playing on men’s professional grounds, saying that “football is quite unsuitable for females and ought not to be encouraged”. Other conservative male voices condemned the practice as degrading for women while even some feminists questioned whether it was good for women to develop what they considered a non-feminine physique.
The game, though, never went away, and it still had power to draw crowds and so raise money for charity.
The Windlestone Labour Women, probably at Stobart's Field on Albert Hill, Darlington. From left, standing: unknown reserve, K Graham, G Hewitt, K Scott (goalkeeper), M Waters, M Bolton, M Gibbons, unknown reserve. Kneeling: M Temple, M Parkin, Florrie Pedelty (captain), Olive Wake, E Waters
On March 1, 1927, Darlington Labour Women, captained by Sarah Hooper and managed by a lady called Lillie Galloway, lost 5-3 to Windlestone Labour Women (might they have been employed in the county asylum, near Sedgefield?) on farmland at Albert Hill.
Darlington Labour Women who lost 5-3 to Windlestone Labour Women. Back: Alice McGarrity, Carver, Thompson, Mooney, Bibby, Lily Galloway (manager), O’Hare. Front: Linney Hamilton, Betty Hooper, Sarah Hooper (captain), A Mooney and Hilda Penman
This started a Darlington Good Friday tradition of women’s charity match. In 1928, the two teams played out a 2-2 draw at the RA ground, in aid of the National Union of Railwaymen’s Orphans’ Fund, and in 1929, Marks & Spencers’ Girls beat Woolworths Girls 2-0, with Sarah scoring both.
The last of the footballing Hoopers: goalscoring legend Sarah Burnside (nee Hooper) celebrated her 90th birthday in 1987 with a kickabout with brother Jack, far left, son Ernie and his wife, Daisy, and their daughter, Beverley.
In the 1930s, the charity match became the key fixture in the calendar of the Darlington Quaker Ladies, managed by Lillie Galloway. They attracted up to 10,000 spectators when they played against Terry’s Chocolate Girls of York at Hundens Lane.
Sarah Hooper (Burnside was her married name) starred alongside her younger sister, Betty, but as the decade wore on, more stars emerged, notably Greta Plews – “the female Hughie Gallacher” – and Priscilla Roddham.
But in 1939, another war came along, and women’s football disappeared until the late 1960s – the draconian FA ban remained in place until July 1971.
It is on the shoulders of these pioneering local giants – of Bella, Winnie and the Hooper sisters – that the Lionesses are now standing as they hunt for glory, and equality, in the Women’s World Cup.
- Much information drawn from Patrick Brennan’s website, donmouth.co.uk, and his 2007 book, The Munitionettes. With thanks also to Maureen Hedley of Wheatley Hill, Katherine Williamson of Darlington library, and playwright Ed Waugh, who has put the story of "Wor Bella" on the stage.
- East Hedleyhope Ladies in 1919, with Mary Henderson second from right on the back row. The ladies played in their mining village near Crook. Hundreds of women played football up to the Second World War. If you have any stories, or items, among your family history, we’d love to hear from you. Please email chris.lloyd@nne.co.uk
Yet another North East team, the East Hedleyhope Ladies in 1919, with Mary Henderson second from right on the back row. The ladies played in their mining village near Crook
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