Rutherglen Ladies F.C. facts for kids
Rutherglen Ladies FC on an Irish tour
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| Full name | Rutherglen Ladies Football Club |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1921 |
| Dissolved | 1939 |
Rutherglen Ladies Football Club was one of the very first women's football teams in Scotland. They started playing in 1921. Unlike teams in England, Scottish women's teams could often play in big stadiums. They played in front of thousands of fans and helped raise money for charities.
Contents
The Start of Women's Football
Women's football became very popular in the early 1900s. Some matches in Britain even attracted over 50,000 people!
Why Women's Football Faced Challenges
The Football Association (FA) in England, which runs men's football, was not happy about how popular women's football was. On December 5, 1921, the FA decided to ban women's teams from using any football fields or stadiums owned by their member clubs.
The FA said that football was "unsuitable for females." They also claimed that charity matches didn't give much money to charity. This ban meant that women's games in England had to be played on smaller fields. These fields had fewer resources and were harder for fans to get to.
The Scottish FA did not make a similar ban until much later. However, they still refused requests from some Scottish clubs, like Raith Rovers, Aberdeen, and Queen of the South, to host women's matches in 1924 and 1925. This shows that even without a full ban, women's football still faced difficulties in Scotland.
Rutherglen Ladies: "World Champions"
Rutherglen Ladies was a special team from Rutherglen, near Glasgow. It was started and managed by James H. Kelly. They played their games on fields that were not affected by the FA's ban. Most of their matches were played to raise money for good causes. They often played in front of thousands of people in Scotland.
In 1923, the team played against a team called the "Cinema Girls" in towns like Lanark and Bellshill. Their captain was a very skilled player named Sadie Smith.
Claiming the "World Champion" Title
In September 1923, Rutherglen Ladies played a big match against the famous English team, Dick, Kerr Ladies. This game took place at Shawfield Park in Rutherglen. It was a surprise when the Scottish team beat Dick, Kerr Ladies 2–0!
After this victory, James H. Kelly proudly announced that his team were "World Champions." Some people think that because Dick, Kerr Ladies were expected to win every game, they didn't want a rematch after this defeat. Even so, Dick, Kerr Ladies continued to use the "World Champions" title in their own advertising for years.
Rutherglen Ladies continued to play important matches. In 1924, they played at Dundee United's Tannadice Park in front of 4,000 fans. This showed that the Scottish FA's unofficial ban wasn't always followed. The Dundee Courier newspaper praised the great playing of Captain Sadie Smith and another player, Ms. Crozier.
In 1927, Rutherglen Ladies went on a tour to Ireland. Sadie Smith was still their captain. She led the team against an Irish team whose star player was Molly Seaton. Before this, the two teams had already played four games in Scotland.
The Rutherglen Ladies team eventually stopped playing in 1939. They were an important part of early women's football history.
See also
- Scottish Women's Football
- British Ladies' Football Club
