From Butlins to Europe: Fodens Ladies in the 1960s and 1970s

ABSTRACT

Emerging out of the shadows cast over women’s football following its marginalisation by the Football Association in the inter-war years, Fodens Ladies, formed at a lorry manufacturing plant in Sandbach, Cheshire, contributed to a new vibrancy in the game between 1960 and 1980. Emulating many similar works-based predecessors, the team established itself as one of the pioneers of a female football revival and provided a public arena for several prominent international players of the period. From its early days playing charity matches the company team became a regular participant in the Butlin’s Cup, winning it in 1969 and 1970, before beating Southampton in the 1974 Mitre Cup final. The team also undertook overseas tours with team members receiving only minimal support from the company. This paper draws on private personal archives, company records, holdings at the National Football Museum, national and local newspapers, and an in-house magazine, The Foden News, to situate the team within the context of Fodens Ltd and the wider context of women’s football in the 1960s and 1970s. The paper concludes by signposting the next phase of research, which will explore in detail the biographies of key individuals involved in the Fodens team during this period.

KEYWORDS:

• Fodens
• football
• women
• international
• 1960s and 1970s

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Jean Williams for her valuable comments on early drafts of this paper and Lisa Jenkel (University of Groningen) for her assistance in collecting some of the primary research material.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Dave Day is Professor of Sports History at MMU where his research interests include the history of training and coaching.

Margaret Roberts is editor of the online magazine Playing Pasts and co-author of the recent publication Swimming Communities in Victorian England.

Notes

1 See Steven Crewe, ‘What About the Workers? Works Based Sport and Recreation in England c.1918–c.1970’, Sport in History 34, no. 4 (2014): 544–68, for how clubs, societies, sports teams and other manifestations of industrial welfare often had their origins among the workers themselves.

2 Donna Woodhouse, ‘The Post War Development of Football for Females in England: A Cross Cultural and Comparative Study with the United States of America and Norway’ (PhD diss., University of Leicester, 2002), 172.

3 See for example Ali Melling, ‘Wartime Opportunities: Ladies’ Football and the First World War Factories’, in Militarism, Sport, Europe: War Without Weapons, ed. J.A. Mangan (London: Frank Cass, 2003), 120–41.

4 Jean Williams, ‘The Fastest Growing Sport? Women’s Football in England’, Soccer & Society 4, no. 2–3 (2003): 115–16; Gail Newsham, In a League of Their Own (London: Scarlet Press, 1998), 67; Ali Melling, ‘“Ray of the Rovers”. The Working Class Heroine in Popular Football Fiction 1915–25’, The International Journal of the History of Sport 16, no. 1 (1998); ‘Ladies Football: Gender and Socialisation of Women Football Players in Lancashire 1926–1960’ (PhD diss., University of Central Lancashire, 1999).

5 Roger Munting, ‘Norwich Girls’ Football in the Inter-War Years’, British Society of Sports History Bulletin, no. 27 (Spring/Summer 2009): 8–15.

6 While the term ‘Ladies’ may have negative connotations for the contemporary reader it was the word used by several teams of the period and it will be adhered to throughout this paper.

7 ‘The Boots Are Too Big for Pools Women Footballers’, Hartlepool Northern Daily Mail, March 10, 1949, 8; ‘They Think There’s a Future in Women’s Soccer’, Hartlepool Northern Daily Mail, July 16, 1949, 8.

8 ‘Junior Soccer Notes and News’, Northern Whig, September 27, 1949, 2.

9 ‘Women’s Football at Darlaston’, Sports Argus, September 8, 1956, 3; ‘Women’s Football’, West Sussex Gazette, July 3, 1958, 5.

10 Programme for Beecham Belles v Corinthian Ladies F.C. on Sunday September 1, 1968 at York Road Football Ground, Maidenhead. Scrap Album. Football (Corinthian-Nomad) (Book II) National Football Museum. MCS, Bay G, Shelf 2,1 Box 2.

11 Woodhouse, ‘The Post War Development of Football for Females in England’, 73.

12 June Hulbert, ‘When Will the Soccer Girls Score with Men?’, Newcastle Journal, June 1, 1971, 8.

13 Steven Crewe, ‘Recreation and the Workplace in England, c.1918–c.1970’ (PhD diss., De Montfort University, 2014).

14 Woodhouse, ‘The Post War Development of Football for Females in England’, 65–7, 276.

15 Williams, ‘The Fastest Growing Sport?’, 112–27.

16 The Foden News, no. 105, etc. July 1963, etc. Fodens Ltd, Sandbach, 1963–. British Library General Reference Collection P.P.8001.zd. no. 105 (1963)–no. 137 (1971); no. 149 (1975)–no. 150 (1976); no. 153 (1976/77)–no. 155 (1977). Other issues accessed at Chester Records Office.

17 While there are variations in the way the company name has been reproduced in the literature this paper utilises throughout the convention of the National Archives who use ‘Fodens’ without an apostrophe.

18 Pat Kennett, The Foden Story: From Farm Machinery to Diesel Trucks (Cambridge: Patrick Stephens Limited, 1978), 87.

19 Kennett, The Foden Story, 91, 94, 96; Foden More than a Century of Progress. An Outline History of Fodens. DFO 3606/22 Chester Archives.

20 Harold Nancollis, Foden – My Life with the Company (Glossop: Venture, c.1995), 86. British Library YK.1996 b.11506.

21 Kennett, The Foden Story, 166–72, 173, 178.

22 Nancollis, Foden – My Life with the Company, 148; Foden More than a Century of Progress. DFO 3606/22 Chester Archives.

23 ‘A Year of Success for Fodens’, The Foden News, no. 155, 1977, 1.

24 Mark Freeman, ‘Victorian Philanthropy and the Rowntrees: The Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust’, Quaker Studies 7, no. 2 (2003): 193–213; Liam Dyer and Dave Day, ‘The Industrial Middle Class and the Development of Sport in a Railway Town’, Sport in History 37, no. 2 (2017): 164–82; Clyde Binfield, ‘The Bolton Prelude to Port Sunlight: W. H. Lever (1851–1925) as Patron and Paternalist’, Studies in Church History, 42 (2006): 383–93.

25 Kennett, The Foden Story, 34–6, 87.

26 Ibid., 88.

27 ‘Article on J. Shipstone and Sons, Nottinghamshire Brewers’, The Foden News July 1963, 33.

28 A City Press Statement circa July 1964, 7–8. Chester Records Office.

29 ‘Salute to Foden Seniors’, The Foden News, no. 58, April 1950, 1.

30 ‘Youth Training’, The Foden News, no. 107, January 1964, 32.

31 The Foden News, no. 108, April 1964, 39; ‘79 Receive Gold Watches’, The Foden News, no. 110 October 1964, 20–1; ‘They Gave Us 150 Years’, The Foden News, no. 126, December 1968, 31–2; ‘Over 2,300 Years of Service at Fodens’, The Foden News, no. 155, 1977, 13.

32 Crewe, ‘What About the Workers?’, 544–68, 545.

33 For more details on the band see F.D. Burgess, By Royal Command. The Story of Fodens Motor Works Band (Stoke: Webberley, 1977). Held at the Cheshire Records office.

34 The Foden News, no. 109, July 1964, 32.

35 The Foden News, no. 58, April 1950, no page number; The Foden News, no. 108, April 1964, 38; ‘Motor Club Prize winners’, The Foden News, no. 116, June 1966, 39; ‘Congrats to Foden Quiz Team’, The Foden News, no. 136, August 1971, 21.

36 Mr William Foden. Centenary Notes 1956. Chester Archives; Foden More than a Century of Progress. DFO 3606/22 Chester Archives; Kennett, The Foden Story, 89–90.

37 ‘Opening of Fodens New Recreation Club’, The Foden News, July 1963, 8.

38 The Foden News, no. 121, September 1967.

39 A City Press Statement circa July 1964, 7–8. Chester Records Office.

40 Kennett, The Foden Story, 90; Foden Handbook for Employees, April 1978. Fodens Limited. Cheshire Records Office, 13.

41 The Foden News, no. 108, April 1964, 38.

42 ‘Centenary Golf Cup Final’, The Foden News, no. 107, January 1964, 38–9; The Foden News, no. 111, January 1965, 36–7.

43 ‘Honours for Foden Bowmen’, The Foden News, no. 114, December 1965, 17; ‘Trophies Collected by Foden Bowmen’, The Foden News, no. 115, March 1966, 39.

44 The Foden News, no. 71, January 1954, 26–8; A City Press Statement circa July 1964, 7–8. Chester Records Office.

45 The Foden News, no. 71, January 1954, 26–8.

46 The Foden News, no. 58, April 1950, no page number.

47 The Foden News, no. 78, January 1956, 29.

48 Foden Centenary 1856–1956 Programme. ‘Out of the Past into the Future’. Cheshire Records Office, 16; ‘Rose Queen’, The Foden News, no. 109, July 1964, 32.

49 The Foden News, no. 117, September 1966, 33.

50 Douglas Thompson, ‘Cash May Knock out Girl Soccer Champions’, newspaper clipping date unknown, Sylvia Gore scrapbook, Manchester Metropolitan University Cheshire Archives.

51 Williams, ‘The Fastest Growing Sport?’, 118.

52 Email correspondence from John Carrier to Margaret Roberts on 12 February 2019.

53 Programme. Corinthian Ladies v Foden’s Ladies, October 29, 1972, at Buxton FC. National Football Museum Archives. PRSFM: 2017.58. MCS, BAY GG, SHELF 4.1, Women’s programmes box 1.

54 Harold Nancollis, ‘Fodens WFC Netherlands Tour 24th to 30th May’, The Foden News, no. 149, Autumn 1975, 8–9.

55 Match Programme. British Library.YD.2009 a.5409 Programme Ladies’ football match: Preston v. Fodens. British Library. General Reference Collection YD.2009 a.5409; ‘Dancing Troupes Flock to Carnival. Women’s Football’, Cheshire Observer, August 5, 1966, 4.

56 Match Programme. Ladies’ Football Match: Preston v. Fodens. British Library.YD.2009 a.5409.

57 ‘Dancing Troupes Flock to Carnival. Women’s Football’, Cheshire Observer, August 5, 1966, 4.

58 ‘Wonderful Performance’, The Foden News, no. 118, December 1966, 35.

59 ‘Women’s Mercy Teams Hit a Ground Snag’, Newspaper clipping, source and date unknown. Scrap Album. Football (Corinthian-Nomad) (Book II) National Football Museum. MCS, Bay G, Shelf 2,1 Box 2.

60 Scrap Album. Football (Corinthian-Nomad) (Book II) National Football Museum. MCS, Bay G, Shelf 2,1 Box 2.

61 ‘Women hope to form England Side’, Coventry Evening Telegraph, October 26, 1967, 25.

62 Wendy Owens, Kicking Against Tradition: A Career in Women’s Football (Stroud: Tempus, 2005), 20.

63 ‘Lady Soccer Stars’, Cheshire Observer, September 26, 1969, 30.

64 Cheshire Observer, June 19, 1970, 23.

65 ‘The Firebelles of Football Go Down Fighting’, Cheshire Observer, September 18, 1970, 37.

66 ‘The Ladies’ League Kicks Off’, Liverpool Echo, January 20, 1971, 3.

67 Sue Lopez (Miss). Secretary, Southampton W.F.C. ‘Letters to the Editor’, Football Association News, February 1971, 38.

68 Programme for The Second Deal Ladies Football Tournament for the ‘Teddy Gray’ Memorial Challenge Trophy (donated by Mr and Mrs Eric Hall) took place at the Betteshanger Welfare Sports Ground, Mill Hill, Deal, Kent on Sundays June 16, 20 and 30, 1968. Proceeds to the East Kent Kidney Unit and the British Empire Cancer Campaign for Research. Scrap Album. Football (Corinthian-Nomad) (Book II) National Football Museum. MCS, Bay G, Shelf 2,1 Box 2.

69 Programme for The Third Deal Ladies Football Tournament for the ‘Teddy Gray’ Memorial Challenge Trophy (donated by Mr and Mrs Eric Hall) took place at the Betteshanger Welfare Sports Ground, Mill Hill, Deal, Kent on Sundays June 8, 15, 22 and 29, 1969. Proceeds to the British Empire Cancer Campaign for Research. Scrap Album. Football (Corinthian-Nomad) (Book II) National Football Museum. MCS, Bay G, Shelf 2,1 Box 2.

70 Williams, ‘The Fastest Growing Sport?’, 117.

71 Programme. Corinthian Ladies v Foden’s Ladies, October 29, 1972 at Buxton FC. National Football Museum Archives. PRSFM: 2017.58. MCS, BAY GG, SHELF 4.1, Women’s programmes box 1.

72 Programme of Southampton v Fodens at Bedford Town football ground. Mitre Challenge Trophy Final Tie, April 28, 1974. Women’s Football Association. TEMP.1211 National Football Museum.

73 ‘Hunn on Sunday: His Better Halves’, Observer, April 21, 1974, 27.

74 Pat Gregory (Hon Sec WFA), ‘The Tough World of Women’s Football’, Football Association News 4, no. 5 (May 1974): 50–4.

75 Jean Williams, Globalising Women’s Football: Europe, Migration and Professionalisation (Peter Lang, 2013); A Game for Rough Girls: A History of Women’s Football in Britain (London: Routledge, 2003).

76 ‘Touring Side’, Birmingham Daily Post, February 26, 1968, 26.

77 ‘Manager to Pep up Women’s XI’, Coventry Evening Telegraph, June 8, 1972, 52.

78 Women’s Football Magazine, October 1979, Number 6.

79 ‘Ulster Hails Our Footballing Ladies’, The Foden News, no. 119, March 1967, 35–6.

80 Harold Nancollis, ‘Fodens WFC Netherlands Tour 24th to 30th May’, The Foden News, no. 149, Autumn 1975, 8–9. Nancollis was the chairman of Fodens Sports and Social Club who, ‘more by good fortune than any particular ability’, had been awarded the first Fodens ‘Sportsman of the Year’ trophy in 1955. See Nancollis, (c.1995) Foden – My Life with the Company, 86. British Library YK.1996 b.11506; ‘Sportsman of the Year’. The Foden News, no. 78, January 1956, 31.

81 ‘Ladies Football Tour of Belgium’, The Foden News, no. 155, 1977, 6.

82 Tom MacNeece, ‘Will Soccer Admit the Girls? They Wait on the Touchline’. Newspaper clipping, source and date unknown. Scrap Album. Football (Corinthian-Nomad) (Book II) National Football Museum. MCS, Bay G, Shelf 2,1 Box 2.

83 ‘Ladies Form Football League’, The Empire, July 22, 1917, 8.

84 Jean Williams, A Contemporary History of Women’s Sport, Part One: Sporting Women 1850–1960 (London: Routledge, 2014), 125.

85 J.C. Chaplin, ‘Now the Women Want to Start a Soccer League’, Essex Newsman, April 1, 1949, 4.

86 ‘Doncaster Women Footballers’, Yorkshire Evening Post, October 11, 1949, 12; ‘Women’s Soccer League Likely’, Chelmsford Chronicle, October 28, 1949, 7.

87 J.C. Chaplin, ‘Women Lead with Summer Football’, Essex Newsman, May 19, 1950, 4.

88 ‘Notes’, Sports Argus, September 2, 1967, 4; ‘Jane Lingwood meets Coventry’s Champion Soccer Girls’, Coventry Evening Telegraph, March 8, 1973, 56.

89 ‘Ladies League Expands’, Coventry Evening Telegraph, June 20, 1970, 14; ‘Women Footballers to Compete for Cup’, Long Eaton Advertiser, September 27, 1968, 20.

90 ‘Bedworth at Home in Ladies’ Cup’, Coventry Evening Telegraph, October 7, 1972, 14; ‘Wanderers Home in Midland Cup’, Coventry Evening Telegraph, November 10, 1972, 37.

91 Programme for Manchester ‘Corinthian’ Ladies (Blue) v Hull Ladies (Red) at the Boulevard Ground (Hull Rugby League Club) on Sunday September 8, 1968 in aid of the Hull Trawler Disaster Fund. Scrap Album. Football (Corinthian-Nomad) (Book II) National Football Museum. MCS, Bay G, Shelf 2,1 Box 2.

92 Jessica Macbeth, ‘The Development of Women’s Football in Scotland’, The Sports Historian 22, no. 2 (2002): 157–8.

93 ‘Women Set for Kick-off’, Coventry Evening Telegraph, August 27, 1970, 25.

94 ‘Women Footballers. Here to Stay’, Thanet Times, October 6, 1970, 6.

95 ‘The Ladies’ League Kicks Off’, Liverpool Echo, January 20, 1971, 3.

96 Programme for Scunthorpe League Select v Manchester Corinthians at Quibell Park Stadium on May 11, 1969 in aid of the Mayor’s Appeal Fund and Scunthorpe and District Ladies’ Football League. Scrap Album. Football (Corinthian-Nomad) (Book II) National Football Museum. MCS, Bay G, Shelf 2,1 Box 2.

97 ‘Bedworth at Home in Ladies’ Cup’, Coventry Evening Telegraph, October 7, 1972, 14.

98 ‘Another Cap for Margaret’, Coventry Evening Telegraph, October 30, 1974, 27.

99 ‘Behind the Scenes with the Dedicated Dolly-Dribblers’, Sunday People, May 13, 1973, 3.

100 Programme of Southampton v Fodens at Bedford Town Football Ground; Mitre Challenge Trophy Final Tie, April 28, 1974; Women’s Football Association. TEMP.1211 National Football Museum.

101 Gregory,‘The Tough World of Women’s Football’.

102 ‘Bedworth at Home in Ladies’ Cup’, Coventry Evening Telegraph, October 7, 1972, 14.

103 Programme for The Third Deal Ladies Football Tournament for the ‘Teddy Gray’ Memorial Challenge Trophy.

104 Programme of Southampton v Fodens at Bedford Town Football Ground; Mitre Challenge Trophy Final Tie, April 28, 1974.

105 Elsie Cook, ‘Letters to the Editor’, Football Association News 2, no. 4 (December 1971): 44.

106 ‘Emgals Show Way in Mitre Cup’, Coventry Evening Telegraph, January 12, 1973, 35.

107 Williams, ‘The Fastest Growing Sport?’, 119.

108 Woodhouse, ‘The Post War Development of Football for Females in England’, 63–4.

109 ‘Ladies Football’, Football Association News XIX, no. 6 (January 1970): 218–19.

110 ‘The Ladies Are Rejected’, Birmingham Daily Post, November 28, 1970, 28.

111 Tony Smith, ‘Soccer Ladies with a Kick’, Newcastle Journal, December 4, 1976, 26; ‘Bridge of Thighs’, Guardian May 16, 1977, 16.

112 Michael Charters, ‘Women’s Soccer – Show Business or Sport?’, Liverpool Echo, December 9, 1971, 23.

113 Jean Williams, Joanna Compton and Belinda Scarlett, ‘Sporting Reunions, Contemporary Collections and Collective Biographies: A Case Study of Harry Batt’s 1971 England Team’, Sport in History 39, no. 2 (2019): 229–50.

114 ‘F.A. Reports. Women’s Football’, Football Association News 2, no. 6 (February 1972): 11.

115 ‘FA Accept Ladies’ Soccer’, Liverpool Echo, February 28, 1972, 16; ‘Recognition for Women Footballers’, Birmingham Daily Post, February 29, 1972, 23; Frank Taylor, ‘Bring on the Girls’, Daily Mirror, February 29, 1972, 28.

116 MacNeece,‘Will Soccer Admit the Girls?’.

117 ‘In Brief. Women’s Football’, Football Association News 3, no. 3 (October 1972): 38.

118 Jean Williams, A Beautiful Game: International Perspectives in Women’s Football (Oxford: Berg, 2007), 20.

119 Jim Mansell, ‘Soccer Gets a Taste of Women’s Lib’, Liverpool Echo, July 8, 1972, 24.

120 ‘Manager to Pep up Women’s XI’, Coventry Evening Telegraph, June 8, 1972, 52.

121 Gregory,‘The Tough World of Women’s Football’.

122 Andrew Moncur, ‘England’s Girls give Scots the big Kick’, Birmingham Daily Post, June 25, 1973, 18.

123 ‘Another Cap for Margaret’, Coventry Evening Telegraph, October 30, 1974, 27; ‘Ladies Day at Elm Park’, Reading Evening Post, November 9, 1973, 24.

124 ‘Ladies’ Choice’, Football Association News 3, no. 10 (July 1973): 27.

125 Email Correspondence from John Carrier to Margaret Roberts on February 12, 2019.

126 Ted Hart, ‘Will the Girls Beat the Boys at Their Game?’, Liverpool Echo, November 4, 1977, 6.

127 Richard Yallop, ‘C’mon you Lovelies’, Guardian, November 7, 1974, 23.

128 Richard Yallop, ‘England Girls Triumph. England 2 France 0’, Guardian, November 8, 1974, 23.

129 ‘Editor’s Notebook’, Football Association News 4, no. 12 (December 1974): 34.

130 Nigel Clarke, ‘Look What the Boys Missed’, Daily Mirror, November 7, 1974, 27.

131 Sue Lopez, Women on the Ball: A Guide to Women’s Football (London: Scarlet Press, 1997), 58.

132 Crewe, ‘Recreation and the Workplace in England’.

133 Freeman, ‘Victorian Philanthropy and the Rowntrees’; Dyer and Day, ‘The Industrial Middle Class and the Development of Sport’; Binfield, ‘The Bolton Prelude to Port Sunlight Paternalist’.

134 Sine Agregaard and Nina Clara Tiesler, Women, Soccer and Transnational Migration (London: Routledge, 2014).

135 Notable exceptions include A. Smith, ‘Cars, Cricket, and Alf Smith: The Place of Works-Based Sports and Social Clubs in the Life of Mid-Twentieth-Century Coventry’, International Journal of the History of Sport 19, no. 1 (2002): 137–50 and Crewe, ‘What About the Workers?’, 544–68.

136 Email Correspondence from John Carrier to Margaret Roberts on February 12, 2019.

137 J. Lewis, ‘Ladies Football’, The Crusager, November 1988, 16.

138 Williams, ‘The Fastest Growing Sport?’, 119.