Thread by @docrussjackson

#THREAD

Did you know that on December 5th 1921, the English Football Association (FA) passed a resolution BANNING women's football matches from being played in their stadiums?

I didn't! 🤯⚽️

forbes.com/sites/asifburh…

To mark the 100th anniversary, the delayed Women's #FACup Final is taking place at Wembley Stadium TODAY, as part of a day celebrating the women's game that their organization stymied for 50 years.

Women's football was incredibly popular prior to the ban.

At the time of the ban in 1921, women's football in England was thriving, in no small part due to the all-conquering Preston-based team 'Dick, Kerr Ladies FC', who played matches raising money for charitable causes, & frequently drew five-figure crowds.

theguardian.com/football/blog/…

The Dick, Kerr Ladies played all over the country, most notably attracting an estimated 53,000 fans to Goodison Park in Liverpool on Boxing Day 1920.

It is believed that the success of the women's game was concerning to the miserable old farts at the FA.

The FA was worried they may divert paying spectators away from the professional men's game.

Citing medical opinion which considered football as "most unsuitable for a women's frame" & "quite inappropriate", the FA banned its clubs from staging women's matches in their stadiums.

Although not an outright ban of the women's game per se, it limited the then amateur women's teams to playing on smaller grounds and away from the media spotlight.

Without the income from ticket sales to cover the players' expenses, most clubs disbanded.

It was not until 1971 that The FA lifted the ban on women's football, which was now run by an independent governing body, the Women's Football Association (WFA).

It was not until 1993 that the FA brought all women's football under its direct control.

Every previous winning captain in the competition's 50-year history has been invited to attend today's FA Cup final, and as a tribute, their names will be displayed on the steps leading up to the Royal Box from where the trophy will be presented to the winning team.

The Women's FA Cup was suspended due to #COVID19, but the men's competition continued as the FA only classify the top two women's leagues as meeting the elite standard required to satisfy the government's exceptions at the time which allowed sport to continue during the pandemic.

The season before women's football was banned in 1921, there were only two professional men's leagues in England, but allowed to develop organically, men's football can now sustain four professional divisions.

Women's football was not given the same opportunity.

"People might (now) have some understanding as to why the women's game isn't as developed as the men's game - why we are where we are. Then they'll actually start looking at it as its own thing - because it is its own thing - & not keep directly comparing it to the men's game."