She Shoots and She Scores! The History of Women's Soccer

1907 Oahu College women’s soccer team (photo courtesy Futbol Heritage Archive).

I love watching Women's Football (Soccer) especially cheering for the Women's National Team! They are getting ready for the Olympics in Rio. The team won a bronze in 2012 and I'm hoping for even better next time as the coach is very good:

"Canadian women's soccer coach John Herdman has summoned the heart of his World Cup team along with an injection of youth for his first camp on the road to Rio. Herdman's roster includes captain Christine Sinclair and fellow World Cup veterans Erin McLeod, Rhian Wilkinson, Allysha Chapman, Diana Matheson, Sophie Schmidt and Melissa Tancredi..."It's an exciting group we've brought together." Herdman said Sunday from Vancouver. "I really do hope we can find some of the quality that we are going to need to get on the Olympic (podium)."

It's been a real hard slog for the ladies in soccer though. Their history is marked by extreme prejudice and male-domination over their actions. Despite that, the ladies love the sport and have stayed strong over the 100 plus years of playing.

In the early 20th century, women were playing the game seriously in different parts of  the US, Great Britain, France and Canada. The picture above is a college competitive team picture from Hawaii. (Educated and playing soccer? Wow they must have pissed a lot of old white dudes off) Some facts point that in Central Europe, competitive soccer was not uncommon. Such games were often played without compliance with the civil and church authorities.


One of the popular records of the game comes from Boxing Day in 1920, at Goodison Park in Liverpool. A spectacular game took place on England’s biggest soccer ground where Dick, Kerr Ladies played with a Lancashire team called St. Helen Ladies in front of a crowd of 53,000 people. It is noted that more than ten thousand fans had to be locked out when the ground became fully occupied.

The winning team - sexism not in picture.

However, the men in power did not like it.

The crowd size on that day was seen as a major threat at the headquarters of Football Association in London. Also many men complained that it was "distasteful" for women to play. In 1921, the influential central body of the game set a ban on women for playing soccer for an incredible period of 50 years. The repercussions could be seen immediately as this decision crippled women soccer players in a few countries. However, Italy and France established women’s leagues in early 1930s. Women continued to play soccer despite the bans across the world as amatures. The Dick, Kerr Ladies FC continued to play.

After the war, the graph took an upward turn with Italy establishing its national association in 1950 and Germany organizing the first informal women European championship in 1957. Northern European countries were also part of the development, especially Norway and Sweden. Even though most countries had women’s teams, it wasn’t until 1971 that the ban was lifted in England and women could play on the same fields as the men.

A year after the ban was lifted, women’s soccer in America became more popular due to Title IX. Title IX required that equal funding was given to men’s and women’s sports in colleges. The new law meant that more women could go to college with a sports scholarship, and as a result, it meant that women’s soccer was becoming a more common sport at colleges all over the United States.Surprisingly, it wasn’t until the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta that women’s soccer was an Olympic event. At that Olympic Games there were only 40 events for women and double the amount of men participants as there were women.

One massive step forward for women’s soccer was the first Women’s World Cup, which is a soccer tournament that has teams from all over the world play each other. This first tournament was held in China on November 16-30, 1991. Dr. Hao Joao Havelange, the president of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) during that time, was the person that initiated the first Women’s World Cup, and because of that first World Cup, the United States created a name for itself in women’s soccer.

The original 1986 Canadian Women's National Team wore second-hand boys' jerseys (Canadian Soccer Association)

Overall, the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s were years of enormous success for Canadian women in sports. The 1960s and 1970s witnessed the emergence of the “women’s liberation” movement in North America. Women increasingly fought restrictions in all areas of life, including sports. Plaintiffs brought sex-discrimination cases to court, arguing that girls should be allowed to play in games, and on teams, that were traditionally reserved for boys. In 1981, feminist athletes and activists established the Canadian 
Association for the Advancement of Women and Sport (CAAWS). 

 It was Canada Day, July 1, 1986, when the Canadian Soccer Association brought together 20 players to make up the first women's national team. The squad had three days in Winnipeg to get to know each other and sort out strategy before embarking on a day-long bus ride to Blaine, Minn., to face the U.S. in their first game.

But sexism reigns still in soccer and in women's sports. Despite the success of women in all types of sport, female athletes are still judged to some degree on their physical attractiveness. Another challenge facing female (and male) athletes is that of homophobia, which continues to persist in the world of sports. There has long been paranoia about homosexuality in women’s sports, and many female athletes and teams have taken pains to emphasize their heterosexuality and femininity in response to societal fears about masculine women athletes. Few gay athletes have felt comfortable revealing their sexuality while in active competition. However, in September 2013 Olympic speed skater Anastasia Bucsis stated publicly to the Globe and Mail that she was “proud to be gay”; her statement may be a sign that the Canadian sporting world is becoming more inclusive.

History of Sport Riots or I Hate Your Team So You Must Die!

I was flipping through some old articles I've written, and I found one I did asking why in June of 2011 did the Stanley Cup hockey riot in Vancouver occur. I wanted to write it off as a bunch of drunk a-holes, but the reality was more sinister.

Exhibit A - A is for Asshole. Ironic he's wearing a superman shirt.

The riot began after the Vancouver Canucks' lost the Stanley Cup final to the Boston Bruins. Cars were burned, shop fronts were destroyed, and people very beaten. Over 100 people have been charged to date. The cost to the city is about 1.3 million dollars in damages. The city called for a enquiry into the riot and why it began, with the verdict being that people weren't bussed out of the area properly, drunkenness, police action and crowd mentality.

This incident is part of a long history of sport related riots. All share some similar patterns: lots of people, too much partying, and the bizarre personal ownership that people take on of their teams. It's nuts in my opinion, but crazy stuff makes interesting history!

A charioteer, the football stars of the 500s. Hot with that helmet!

In the ancient world, chariot races were popular spectacles with thousands attending the events. Fans would become personally invested in one team and would form gangs to attack the rival team’s supporters. The most well known riot was the Nika Riot in Constantinople in 532 CE.  It started with crazy chariot racing fans. There were four different factions who all hated each other, but the Green and the Blue teams were the most politically active and tried to influence the Byzantium government. A couple were captured and charged with murdering some of their opposition. Pissed at their attempts, the Emperor Justinian ordered their death, but the two gangs demanded full pardons for these men. When their demands were not met, they set the city ablaze.

At the same time a chariot race was going on at the Hippodrome, organised by the green and blues to raise support for overthrowing the emperor. People began to shout ‘Nika’ meaning victory or conquer in Greek. But Justinian ordered the army to stop the riots. The rioters were trapped inside the Hippodrome and it is estimated between 10,000 and 30,000 people were killed. And that's why sports and politics shouldn't mix.

Saskatchewan Rough Riders fan at a Canadian Football League game. Do you want these guys in politics?

Despite the Nika Riots, violence at sporting events was very rare for centuries. Occasional incidents would occur but without the political goals and level of extreme violence. The Cricket Riot of 1879 occurred when a team of English cricketers played a series of matches against the home team in New South Wales, Australia. The English referee called out a local hero, which incensed the 2,000 fans who ran out onto the pitch and began attacking the English team and the refs. The game was cancelled but resumed the next day. No one died, but it was still pretty crazy. I think a little bit of this was due to Australians being seen as less-than, and anti-colonial behaviours. 

One of the few pictures of a cricket riot in the 1920s, cause you know it's cricket!

In the Twentieth century, the fan violence increased with countless deaths as a result. One of the worst riots in modern history was the 24 May 1964 soccer riot in Lima, Peru. Peru and Argentina played an Olympic qualifying match at the National Stadium. A great deal of rivalry existed between the two teams and the Peruvians were desperate for a win. The referee disallowed a Peruvian goal in the final two minutes of the game and they lost. The crowd went wild with people panicking to get away from the violence. It caused a stampede which killed 318 people and injured 500.


Which brings me back to my original question: why do people riot at sporting events? It varies but the psychology of it is interesting. When we're less accountable and anonymous, we tend to behave in ways we wouldn't. Also that fan identification with sports teams is psychologically important for many people, particularly in our increasingly transient and insular society. While alcohol is also often cited for its role in such incidents, these two reasons above are deemed much more important.

Remember that next time you riot, cricket fans!

Learn More! A History Round Up of the Best From the Web

This week, real life too over and killed any interest in writing. Real life and some dodgy medication. But I did do a lot of 'surfing the web' as all the cool kids in my geriatric ward call it. I did discover some amazing historical articles and info from the web, and here's some highlights!

Learn more about...war!

 

Inventories of War

Photographer Thom Atkinson complied a gallery of what a soldier's kit and equipment for war would look like across time. With help from historians, museums, re-enactment societies, and soldiers, Atkinson laid out and shot pictures of kits from 1066's Warrior outfit to a Sapper's gear in 2014. One of the main things to look for in these pictures is how little the basic need for food and entertainment items has changed.

Obscure Wars

I'm not usually a fan of lists for lists sake, but this Chicago Tribune list of Obscure Wars is a pretty good info dump that you can go bounce off of to google and find out more about these silly wars, including the Jaybird-Woodpecker War of the USA, or the 12-year War of the Oaken Bucket, when thousands of people died because a bucket was stolen. Seriously.

A bucket similar to this one caused a war. No I'm not drunk but those people must have been.

Learn more about...Computers!

The Computer History Museum

I found this gem while I was trying to figure out when ARPANET began (1962). While this site is a gateway to the museum in California, it has some great on-line exhibits on  the first 2000 years of computer history, their PDP-1 restoration project, and a This Day in History section. A very cool site to get your history bytes from. (ohhhh...me so funny.)

Like today - August 3, 1977 - Radio Shack released the TSR-180, their first computer release. I had a Tandy 1000 I still miss...

Learn more about....sports!

 

The Commonwealth Games

The last ten days I've been following the Glasgow 2014 games, mostly because it was my Great-Grandad's home town, and I like these much better than the overblown Olympics to watch. The first one was held in Hamilton, Ontario in 1930, with only 400 people competing. over 4500 athletes are participating in this year's games. This years were of course declared the best ever, and Canada did well, placing 3rd in the medal standing.

But I don't think dressing as a shinny donuts or dancing candies is a good way to end it.

And on that note, I'm off to actually write a very overdue article for Eden Keeper, which does not involve the dance of the gum drops.