Unsuitable for Females

Sue Forbes shares a brief sprint through the history of Women’s Football

Words: Sue Forbes

China’s had some bad press lately, what with balloons and everything. On the plus side, ladies were playing football at the time of the Han Dynasty (206 BC–AD 220), even if was called “cuju”.  Just goes to show that with a spherical object and silk robes for goalposts, even the ancients were up for a kickabout.

Chinese Ladies Playing cuju by artist Du Jin

Kick-off in England – 400 years ago

A tyme there is for all, my mother often sayes,
When she, with skirts tuckt very hy, with girles at football playes.

So wrote Sir Philip Sidney in his 1580 poem ‘A Dialogue Between Two Shepherds’ – the first known mention of women’s football in England. Some bloke called Shakespeare also gave it a couple of mentions, but that’s enough literary criticism.