Women's Football during World War One
Local historian Pam Preedy has found that a ‘comical’ football match was played at Queen’s Mead, Bromley in December 1915 with Bromley Boys defeating Vickers Girls 17 – 1. This is interesting because a Cray Wanderers history booklet of 1951 claimed that Cray had played a similar match in 1894 defeating the Dick, Kerr ladies team from Preston by 4 – 1. This is certainly wrong, not least because the Dick, Kerr team only started in 1915. We do however wonder if circa 1914 or 1915 there was some kind of match at Cray, possibly against ladies from the paper mill (Joynson or Nash) or might it have been ladies from the Vickers munitions works at Crayford?
It is a loose end in Cray Wanderers history research that we may never resolve. Meanwhile it seems a bit strange that to try and even things up a bit in the Bromley game the men had their hands tied behind them in the second half. That sounds downright dangerous? However the reporter noted that: ‘Two or three of the girls were just walking round talking to the men players and taking no notice of the game unless the ball came near.’
Our photo shows the St Mary Cray annual May Day Festival of 1891 at the Recreation Ground, Park Road.
In April 2022 Kent Online reported that the earliest known filming of a women's football match has been discovered and shows the Vickers Girls team playing at Southend versus Sterling Ladies FC of Dagenham on 20th April 1918. You can find and see the film on the Kent Online website.
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Local historian Pam Preedy has found that a ‘comical’ football match was played at Queen’s Mead, Bromley in December 1915 with Bromley Boys defeating Vickers Girls 17 – 1. This is interesting because a Cray Wanderers history booklet of 1951 claimed that Cray had played a similar match in 1894 defeating the Dick, Kerr ladies team from Preston by 4 – 1. This is certainly wrong, not least because the Dick, Kerr team only started in 1915. We do however wonder if circa 1914 or 1915 there was some kind of match at Cray, possibly against ladies from the paper mill (Joynson or Nash) or might it have been ladies from the Vickers munitions works at Crayford?
It is a loose end in Cray Wanderers history research that we may never resolve. Meanwhile it seems a bit strange that to try and even things up a bit in the Bromley game the men had their hands tied behind them in the second half. That sounds downright dangerous? However the reporter noted that: ‘Two or three of the girls were just walking round talking to the men players and taking no notice of the game unless the ball came near.’
Our photo shows the St Mary Cray annual May Day Festival of 1891 at the Recreation Ground, Park Road.
In April 2022 Kent Online reported that the earliest known filming of a women's football match has been discovered and shows the Vickers Girls team playing at Southend versus Sterling Ladies FC of Dagenham on 20th April 1918. You can find and see the film on the Kent Online website.
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