Ailsa Harvey
Football, or soccer, is the largest growing sport being played by women around the globe, with major national and international competitions enabling female footballers to play at professional level. But how bumpy was the road to professionalism in women’s football? And how does football for men and women compare today?
One of the first European teams was founded by Nettie Honeyball in England, 1894, and was called the ‘British Ladies’ Football Club’. It was this team which helped to influence many women to take up the sport. However, they didn’t have everybody’s support. When women’s football first emerged, it wasn’t accepted by the British football associations as they believed this rise posed a threat to the game’s ‘masculinity’.
