page_title: Women's association football
section_title: Early women's football
hierarchical_section_title: Women's association football / History / Early women's football
caption_attribution_description: Teitl Cymraeg/Welsh title:Gêm bêl-droed Merched Porthaethwy yn erbyn Penrhos Ffotograffydd/Photographer: Geoff Charles (1909-2002) Dyddiad/Date:Mehefin/ June 25, 1959 Cyfrwng/Medium: Negydd ffilm / Film negative Cyfeiriad/Reference: (gch20527) Rhif cofnod / Record no.: 3470302 Rhagor o wybodaeth am gasgliad Geoff Charles yn Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru More information about the Geoff Charles Collection at the National Library of Wales Mae ffotograffau Geoff Charles hefyd yn rhan o Broject Europeana Libraries Geoff Charles' photographs also form part of the Europeana Libraries Project vv
context_page_description: Women's association football, usually known as women's football or women's soccer, is the team sport of association football when played by women's teams only. It is played at the professional level in numerous countries throughout the world and 176 national teams participate internationally.
  The history of women's football has seen major competitions being launched at both the national and international levels. Women's football has faced many struggles throughout its history. Although its first golden age occurred in the United Kingdom in the early 1920s, with matches attracting large crowds, The Football Association initiated a ban in 1921 in England that disallowed women's football games from taking place on the grounds used by its member clubs. This ban remained in effect until July 1971.
  The inaugural FIFA Women's World Cup was held in China in 1991. Since then, the sport has gained in popularity. The 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup Final in Canada was the most watched soccer game in United States history and over 1.12 billion people worldwide watched the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup in France.
context_section_description: Women may have been playing football for as long as the game has existed. Evidence shows that a similar game (cuju) was played by women during the Han Dynasty (25–220 CE).  Two female figures are depicted in Han Dynasty frescoes, playing Tsu Chu. There are, however, a number of opinions about the accuracy of dates, the earliest estimates at 5000 BCE. Reports of an annual match being played in Scotland are reported as early as the 1790s. The first match recorded by the Scottish Football Association took place in 1892 in Glasgow. In England, the first recorded game of football between women took place in 1895.
  The modern game of football (soccer) has documented early involvement of women.  In Europe, it is possible that 12th-century French women played football as part of that era's folk games. An annual competition in Mid-Lothian, Scotland during the 1790s is reported, too. In 1863, football governing bodies introduced standardized rules to prohibit violence on the pitch, making it more socially acceptable for women to play.
  The most well-documented early European team was founded by activist Nettie Honeyball in England in 1894. It was named the British Ladies' Football Club. Honeyball and those like her paved the way for women's football. However the women's game was frowned upon by the British football associations, and continued without their support. It has been suggested that this was motivated by a perceived threat to the 'masculinity' of the game.
  Women's football became popular on a large scale at the time of the First World War, when employment in heavy industry spurred the growth of the game, much as it had done for men fifty years earlier. A team from England played a team from Ireland on Boxing Day 1917 in front of a crowd of 20,000 spectators. The most successful team of the era was Dick, Kerr's Ladies of Preston, England. The team played in the first women's international matches in 1920, against a team from Paris, France, in April, and also made up most of the England team against a Scottish Ladies XI in 1920, winning 22–0.
caption: A Welsh women's football team pose for a photograph in 1959
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