One of the earliest known female soccer teams, Dick, Kerr Ladies, was formed during the First World War to help those returning from the front, boost morale and increase production for the war effort.
The team from Lancashire come into being despite opposition to women playing football, as most of the young males of working age had been sent to the war front.
The men had been replaced in the Dick, Kerr and Co factory – and in many others around the UK – by females making bullets and shells.
The first match involving Dick, Kerr Ladies was played on Christmas Day, 1917, at Preston North End’s ground, Deepdale, in front of an audience of 10,000.
The team was able to raise 600 pounds – worth around 38,000 after adjusting for inflation – for former servicemen’s charities and a hospital for the poor, the Daily Express reported.
In total the team raised 70,000 pounds – equivalent to more than 3 million pounds – from 1917 to 1925 and won seven world championships.
The team continued to play into the Sixties, although they had to stage charity matches at recreation grounds and college pitches. (ANI)