Gail Newsham’s “In a League of Their Own!: The Dick, Kerr Ladies Football Team provided a detailed account of the emergence of women’s soccer and the history of the Dick, Kerr women’s football. The resilience and willingness of the women’s team to ignore all criticism that pushed them to stop playing soccer was both admirable and inspiring. The countless hardships they experienced reminded me of the USA Women’s Soccer team, and their ongoing battle to increase the popularity of soccer in the United States.
In the film we watched in class, the USA women’s team recounted how they returned from China after the 1991 FIFA Women’s World Cup as champions. However, when they reached JFK Airport, they were no more than three people at the airport to celebrate their success. Even after the win, the perception of women’s soccer had little effect. This reminded me of the time in the book when, in 1921, the Dick, Kerr team had played 67 league games with a total of 900,000 fans, but were only met with discouragement after the Football Association disallowed women’s soccer on grounds used by its member clubs. However, just as the USA women’s team did not give up, the Dick, Kerr team became even more determined to continue playing the sport, even turning to rugby grounds as their new pitch. It is disappointing the amount of parallels you can draw between both teams because the teams are nearly 50 years apart. A spectator in the stands of a Dick, Kerr game would likely find it shocking, that even today, women’s soccer faces as many challenges as did during the 1920s, even though they may be smaller in magnitude.
The creation of the Dick, Kerr football team is very unique, and one can not help but wonder how the progression of women’s soccer may have been different had it not emerged during a war. Given the game was first introduced to raise money for charitable organization, it set a precedent that women’s sports could not be viewed in the same competitive lens as men’s sports, which are clearly profitable engines. I find it fascinating how even during a time of political unrest, association officials did not allow women’s soccer, both from a social unity standpoint and from a revenue angle, given how poor the economy of Europe was at the time.
