Coalville: The WW1 women’s team who made footballing history

The team lifted the trophy in 1918, when women’s sides took part because many men were away serving in the military.

“I don’t think these women are widely regarded enough,” said sports historian Prof Jean Williams.

“They were doing dirty and dangerous munitions work and then they didn’t go home and rest.

“They said ‘No, our boys are away at the front and we want to play football for charity.'”

Prof Williams said that when some national competitions were suspended during the war, the Bass Charity Vase was continued both to boost morale and raise money to support wounded soldiers returning from the battlefields.

Midlands clubs, including Leicester Fosse, Derby County, Stoke City, Coventry City, and Burton, usually competed for the vase, but women’s sides stepped in in 1918.

After the Coalville Munitions Girls lifted the trophy that year, beating Shobnall Girls 3-1 in the final, the war ended and it reverted to a men’s competition.

Prof Williams said women were effectively banned from playing football in 1921, when they were barred from playing in Football League grounds.