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Unsuitable for Females: The Rise of the Lionesses and Women's Football in England by Carrie Dunn
sydsnot71's review
5.0
This is an excellent guide to the history of women's football in England. From the late-19th century and the women who first started to play, build teams and then a fledging Women's leagues. Then we get to the FA's infamous 1921 ban on women's football, a game they said was..."quite unsuitable for females." But which might have been more based on the worrying popularity of teams like Dick, Kerr Ladies during World War One.
But women didn't stop playing football after 1921. They played in works teams and local teams ignoring the FA's rules that meant they couldn't use the facilities of men's teams. Gradually, despite the continuing sexism and - frankly - pettiness of the FA an amateur women's game began to form, including fledgling international teams. Each decade saw further steps forward until the FA was forced, by UEFA and FIFA, to accept Women's football as official. The story then takes us through the 80s, 90s and into the new millennia and up to the present day and beyond.
Dunn has taken one person or one incident or team as the hook for each chapter that then expands to tell the story of an era more generally. Sometimes information is scarce. Women's sport, like a lot of women's history, suffers from the lack of sources. The invisibility of women in social history in general is even more obvious in the history of women's sports. But Dunn does a good job of explaining those gaps and telling the stories that can be told without that information. Women's football has a more precarious existence than the men's game, certainly at the upper levels.
The increasing popularity of the women's game is also part of this story, although I found it interesting that some of the older players weren't quite as enamoured of this new popularity as you'd expect and it isn't jealousy about money like it often is in the men's game, it seems to be a genuine fondness - nostalgia? - for a more amateur ethos. Money spoils sport. Professionalism comes with a pressures that perhaps weren't there before. You hear it a lot when people talk about sport.
So, I recommend this as an excellent overview of the changing nature of the women's football. There are lots of great stories in here and there is a chance for people - mainly women, obviously - to have their stories told.
But women didn't stop playing football after 1921. They played in works teams and local teams ignoring the FA's rules that meant they couldn't use the facilities of men's teams. Gradually, despite the continuing sexism and - frankly - pettiness of the FA an amateur women's game began to form, including fledgling international teams. Each decade saw further steps forward until the FA was forced, by UEFA and FIFA, to accept Women's football as official. The story then takes us through the 80s, 90s and into the new millennia and up to the present day and beyond.
Dunn has taken one person or one incident or team as the hook for each chapter that then expands to tell the story of an era more generally. Sometimes information is scarce. Women's sport, like a lot of women's history, suffers from the lack of sources. The invisibility of women in social history in general is even more obvious in the history of women's sports. But Dunn does a good job of explaining those gaps and telling the stories that can be told without that information. Women's football has a more precarious existence than the men's game, certainly at the upper levels.
The increasing popularity of the women's game is also part of this story, although I found it interesting that some of the older players weren't quite as enamoured of this new popularity as you'd expect and it isn't jealousy about money like it often is in the men's game, it seems to be a genuine fondness - nostalgia? - for a more amateur ethos. Money spoils sport. Professionalism comes with a pressures that perhaps weren't there before. You hear it a lot when people talk about sport.
So, I recommend this as an excellent overview of the changing nature of the women's football. There are lots of great stories in here and there is a chance for people - mainly women, obviously - to have their stories told.
sarahrose_a's review against another edition
informative
medium-paced
2.5
Definitely needed a stronger editor. This was all over the place and so hard to follow, I would have DNF-ed if I wasn’t so interested in the topic of women’s soccer.
internationalreads's review against another edition
informative
slow-paced
2.5
Not what I expected at all. A few important points about the early days of women’s football, but most of the book was a mess, jumping around, quoting various players who all had pretty much the same thing to say.
alexamikus's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
4.0