ABSTRACT
Introduction In the August 1869 edition of Harper’s Bazaar, a group of fashionably dressed young women were shown kicking a football about with great verve, and holding o their opponents in pursuit of the ball (Ungar, 2015). Subtitled, ‘The Girls of the Period-Playing Ball’ this illustration suggests that ‘kick-abouts’ or ‘pick-up’ games could involve girls and women as well as men and boys at this time. However, this is a very di cult line of research to pursue in seeking to verify the evidence. Although the game has been widely considered an enthusiasm of public schoolboys and the working man (Harvey, 2005: 6), women also have a long history of engagement with football. Nevertheless, that history remains largely hidden from the popular and academic literature on the subject (Williams, 2003: 25). Just six years after gentlemen and scholars formed the Football Association (FA) in 1863 (Mason, 1980: 10), female players were su ciently topical for readers of Harper’s Bazaar to consider their enthusiasm as entertainment. While this overview of the history of the women’s game does not claim that this is evidence of an organised match as early as 1869, the excerpt is suggestive of a rich topic that remains under-researched.
