Origins Dick, Kerr Ladies F.C. was founded in
Preston, Lancashire, England as a
World War I-era works team for the company
Dick, Kerr & Co. They played in charity fixtures against similar teams around the country and raised money for injured servicemen during and after the war. The women on the team had joined the company in 1914 to produce ammunition for the war. Although women had initially been discouraged from playing football, it was believed that such organised sporting activity would be good for morale in wartime factories and would aid production, so competitive sport was encouraged. During a period of low production at the factory in October 1917, women workers joined the apprentices in the factory yard for informal football matches during their tea and lunch breaks. After beating the men of the factory in an informal game, the women of Dick, Kerr formed a team, under the management of office worker, Alfred Frankland. The
Daily Post wrote, "Dick, Kerr were not long in showing that they suffered less than their opponents from stage fright, and they had a better all-round understanding of the game. Their forward work, indeed, was often surprisingly good, one or two of the ladies showing quite admirable ball control." Players were paid 10 shillings a game by Dick, Kerr & Co. to cover their expenses. and led by the great patron of women's sport in France,
Alice Milliat. Dick, Kerr played a total of four games in the UK the same year. The first match was played at
Deepdale, where the squad won 2–0. The second match at Stockport was won by the Dick, Kerr Ladies 5–2, followed by the third game in Manchester which drew 1–1. The final was won by the French at
Stamford Bridge in London with a score of 2–1. The Dick, Kerr Ladies went on to tour in France where they played in Paris, Roubaix, Le Havre and finally Rouen, drawing the first three and winning the final game. The French tour generated tremendous publicity. Boxing Day of 1920
their match against St Helens Ladies at
Goodison Park, Liverpool put on to raise money for the Unemployed Ex Servicemens Distress Fund drew a crowd of 53,000 spectators, a world record for women's club matches that lasted for over 98 years. The team were featured regularly in the
Pathé newsreels of the day and players like
Lily Parr and
Alice Woods became an appealing draw at British football grounds. Dick, Kerr Ladies F.C. played against
Huddersfield Atalanta Ladies F.C. at
Hillsborough,
Sheffield, on 6 May 1921; a programme for the match survives.
FA ban (1921) The Football Association banned women's football at its members grounds on 5 December 1921. The FA claimed that football was unsuitable for females and that charitable donations were being misappropriated. The resolution passed by the FA's Consultative Committee read: The FA ban stayed in place for fifty years – finally being rescinded in 1971 – and ultimately became a major setback for the women's game in England. The grounds that were under the FA's governance were the only ones that held enough capacity to meet the demand of the women's games in the early 1920s. Because of the ban, women's games were relegated to smaller capacity fields with less resources and exposure. The FA finally recognised women's football in July 1971, 50 years after they had banned the game and six years after the team folded.
American tour (1922) Despite the FA ban, the team continued to play on non-FA grounds. In late 1922, the team travelled abroad for a tour of Canada and the United States. Upon their arrival, Canada's
Dominion Football Association prevented the team from playing anywhere in the country. The
Washington Post reported on 23 September 1922, "The Dick, Kerr's team of English women soccer football players arrived today on the steamship Montclare en route to the United States where they will play a series of games. The girls will not be allowed to play Canadian soccer teams under order from the Dominion Football Association which objects to women football players. The team's first game will be at
Patterson, N.J., on September 24th." "I played against them in 1922," recalled
Paterson goalkeeper
Peter Renzulli. "We were national champions and we had a hell of a job beating them." The
Fall River Evening Herald in
Fall River, Massachusetts, described the match there as "one of the biggest things in soccer ever to have visited the United States." Newspapers often described the team as "showing great stamina, clever combination of play, and considerable speed." Dick, Kerr Ladies had the unusual experience of a defeat, the Scottish team winning 2–0. Kelly declared his team "World Champions" following the match. It is speculated that the defeat prevented any rematch as Kerr's team were expected to win their matches. The title of "World Champions" was still used in Dick Kerr's advertising and in 1925 Kerr's team was claiming to be World Champions from 1917 to 1925. ==Colours==