ACHIEVE ARTICLE Goals of the Great War
The best alternate headline for this Article would be __________.
A.Women's Football Gets Wartime Boost in England
B.Treaty of Versailles Signed to Put an End to World War I
C.Football Star Lily Parr Inducted into England's Football Hall of Fame
D.Football Association Says No More Women's Football
ARTICLE:
The Allies rallied around some universal goals during World War I (1914–1918), aside from the obvious one—winning the war. Most Allied nations' citizens rationed their meals in order to conserve food for their troops. Women took factory jobs normally reserved for men, aiming to keep up with needed ammunition and weaponry manufacturing while the soldiers were off fighting. Many governments sold war bonds, setting funding goals to continue the fight. Each goal helped the Allies keep their eyes on the ultimate prize—perpetual peace.
But there were other goals during World War I—the kind scored on a football pitch, or soccer field, as it's known in the United States, by professional teams made up entirely of women. And their games drew crowds of more than 50,000 fans!
European women weren't football neophytes—several all-women clubs had formed in England during the late 1800s, sometimes drawing crowds of nearly 10,000 fans—but the men's leagues were a lot more popular. In 1914, though, most young, fit men were on the front lines, not the sidelines, so the Football Association in England suspended the traditional, all-male season. Many of the women filling in as workers in the English munitions factories started playing football informally during their breaks. These casual "kickabouts" garnered attention, and factories started fielding entire teams to play in scrimmages. For a couple of years, the matches were more like entertaining side shows than true athletic endeavors, but crowds still paid to watch the teams of "munitionettes" play each other, or even against teams of wounded soldiers, with the revenue typically supporting wartime charities.
It didn't take long for the public to catch on that these women could really play. While men were away fighting in the war, women were adroitly handling penalty shots on the pitch. The games soon went from being amusing exhibition matches to full-fledged tournaments. A competition called the Munitionettes' Cup was created in 1917, and after that, the women's league increased in popularity.
One of the most popular factory teams started out strong, with about 10,000 fans turning out for their first match. They were progressive with their uniforms, too, wearing shorts instead of skirts—becoming the first women's team in the world to allow such a fashion-forward move. And the team's Most Valuable Player (MVP), Lily Parr, was a star with staying power.
Parr stood nearly 6 feet (1.8 meters) tall and had such a potent kick, it was rumored she broke a professional male goalie's arm with one of her shots. During her illustrious 32-year career, she scored more than 1,000 goals—43 of them in her first season, when she was just 14 years old.
After the Treaty of Versailles was signed in 1919, ending World War I, countries around the world tried to resume their pre-war societal structure, and women were encouraged to return to their homemaker roles. In 1920, about 150 women's teams were still actively playing in England, but in December 1921, the Football Association banned women's organized football, claiming it was "quite unsuitable for females and ought not to be encouraged." That didn't stop Parr, though. She toured abroad with her team until 1951.
What started out as a way to support the troops turned into a global rallying point. Around the time of the ban, women worldwide were becoming more empowered. Football was only the tip of the iceberg, as women began fighting for suffrage and the rights to own property, work outside the home, and join labor unions. Despite these steps forward, the Football Association's ban against women's football lasted for 50 years—it wasn't abrogated until 1971. Lily Parr was eventually honored with a statue in 2002, when she became the first woman ever inducted into England's Football Hall of Fame.