Manchester Ladies FC – Post WW2 Pioneers
My Tribute to the Great Marian Bindotti RIP
Part 2

For Part 1 of this series click HERE

 

 

 

Manchester Ladies FC – Part 2

In Part 1 I chronicled the birth of the pioneering Manchester Ladies FC and the challenges they faced forming a women’s football team immediately after WW2. By 1948 the famous Dick Kerr Ladies had developed a pattern of building their summer of football around a high profile game at the huge Stretford Pageant Festival. In 1946 this was against a ‘Lancs County’ XI but in 1948 and 1949 Alfred Frankland the legendary Dick Kerr Ladies Manager had resurrected the successful 1930s strategy of having a French Team over to tour. The magnificent French scene with hundreds and hundreds of games in the 1920s and 1930s had long since disappeared. Detailed match programmes from this era make clear that the French women were not footballers as such – they were gymnasts, track and field athletes, handball and basketball players who were happy to turn their hand to football. They were happy to come to England for an intensive week of fun and football with their Preston pals. This left the Dick Kerr Ladies with a problem – who else to play? In 1947 they played Manchester Ladies 3 times, in 1948 5 times and in 1949 3 times. By 1950 this had increased to 7 games and by 1951 9 games. This is clearly an important relationship given how few high profile teams there were in this era. One of the famous teams post WW2 which actually developed out of WW2 games was the Kent Ladies. On Tuesday 11th June 1946 they formed a team which defeated the Dick Kerr Ladies by 3 v 0 at Chatham in front of a crowd of 4,000. A large sum of money was raised for St Bartholomew’s Hospital.

Post WW2 – The English FA

1946 Kent Ladies Trainer Banned from Refereeing

It is worth noting just how difficult it was to run a women’s team post WW2. Apart from the great geographical distances the attitude of the English FA had not softened. The Dundee Evening Telegraph reported that a men’s team in Faversham had been suspended for allowing a game on their pitch. They quoted the Kent Ladies Secretary and Captain Miss E Jewell: “It is a case of ‘up arms and at ‘em’ and we are going to continue our fight’. A Mr Stanley J W Brown of the Kent County FA stated: “The Association is only an instrument of the FA, who ruled in 1921 that football was unsuitable for women and recently affirmed their opinion.”

The Kent Team grew out of the WW2 teams such as Rainham Civil Defence Ladies, Aylesham Ladies (Snowdown Colliery) and the ‘clippies’ of Maidstone and District Motor Services. The Kent Ladies FC were particularly outraged because a male German Prisoner of War team had been allowed to register and play on pitches affiliated to the English FA but as women they were barred after raising huge amounts for charity and doing their bit for their country.

Star Players Helping Out

Celebrities Safe from Sanction

Kent County FA banning one of its referees was by no means an isolated case. There were however, many instances of male football celebrities such as Tom Finney and Stan Mortensen helping out by kicking off and/or officiating. They were not subject to sanction. It is difficult to see what sanction could have been applied. It was probably much easier for the individual Associations to exert their influence over minor officials, especially where it involved substantial commitment to a women’s club.

The previous image of Stan Mortensen shaking hands with Marian and Titch appears in Stan’s autobiography ‘Football is My Game’. Marian’s husband Jim tells me that many years later he and Marian popped into Stan’s shop in Blackpool. He was delighted to see them and they spent a lovely hour reminiscing. Jim still has the copy of the book which he graciously signed for them.

Bolton Ladies FC – A Truly Great Football Team

Nellie Halstead – Athlete and Footballer

In June 1949 the Burnley Express was reporting about Bolton Ladies FC: “Winners of 60 out of 64 matches in the last four years (goals for, 130; goals against, 24), Bolton women’s football team is challenging any other women’s team in the British Isles.” Whilst statements like this (probably direct from Manager Ernest Hunt) need treating with some degree of caution Bolton were obviously one of the big rivals of the Dick Kerr Ladies during their existence. It is often quite hard to identify the first or last game of a particular team but high profile games for Bolton can be found in the media from 1939 to 1952. Their star player and Captain was the sprinter Nellie Halstead who appears to have devoted herself to football after retiring from running.

Bolton Thrash the Dick Kerr Ladies – Twice!

Superstar Nellie Halstead Scores 7 – Twice!

The photo above is probably originally from the Bolton Evening News. Nellie Halstead is the only footballer known to have scored two double hat-tricks against the Dick Kerr Ladies. The first was in 1940 at Leigh and the second was in 1946 at Fulwood Barracks.

The Leigh game was played on Christmas Day in 1940 at Leigh and was reported in the Liverpool Echo. The game was to raise money for the Mayor of Leigh’s Comforts for the Leigh Troops Fund. The article records the score as 12 – 2 in favour of Bolton with Nellie scoring 7 goals. The article does not record who scored for Preston and it says that they played with one player short.

The 1946 game was played at Fulwood Barracks for the Fulwood Thanksgiving Fund. Fulwood Barracks was a 10 min walk from Alfred Franklands Grocer’s on Sharoe Green Lane. It became the Dick Kerr Ladies home ground for a long period after WW2. The Lancashire Evening Post records the score as 9 – 3 in favour of Bolton with a crowd of 3,000. A Brooks scored two for Bolton and Nellie another 7. The scorers for the Preston team were Lily Parr with a brace and Nancy ‘Cannonball’ Thompson.

1949 New Opposition Arrives

Manchester Ladies 2 v 2 Barnsley Ladies – Wednesday 18th May

This match was heralded in the Daily Mirror. The Barnsley Ladies were formed by Dora Clegg who worked in the Canteen at the Barnsley Colliery. The match was played at Belle Vue. Belle Vue was a much loved outdoor entertainment complex in Manchester. It opened in 1836 and at its peak covered 165 acres and had 2 million visitors per year. Manchester Ladies and Barnsley Ladies pioneered its use for women’s football. This successful venue was used in later years by the Dick Kerr Ladies and the Manchester Corinthians. The advert in the Manchester Evening News for the 7pm kick off gives some idea of the scale of entertainment available. “Great Zoo open Daily 10am. Fireworks Saturdays at 10pm. Dancing Nightly. Olde Thyme Tuesdays and Thursdays. Friday May 20 Geraldo and his Orchestra. Wrestling Weds and Sats 7pm. Thursday May 26 Philadelphia Orchestra. Saturday 28 May Intl Football Match – Manchester Fire Brigade v Belgium Fire Brigade. Sun Halle Pensions Concert. Speedway Saturdays at 7pm.”

The Belle Vue Aces were (and still are) a very popular and successful Speedway team. Notice the distinctive ‘black club’ logo on the stand at the back of the picture above. The game was kicked off by Manchester United and Ireland legend Johnny Carey and refereed by Speedway Ace Dent Oliver.

1949 Manchester Ladies Defeat the Manchester Corinthians

Manchester Corinthians – “The Babies”

There is a slightly confusing report of this game in the Liverpool Echo which sometimes was not able to stay until the end of the game. Marian’s husband Jim has confirmed to me that the local newspaper report (pictured above) was in fact the correct result and that the Corinthians Manager was not very gracious about the loss. Another article in the Liverpool Echo which introduces the teams (incl “Babies” nickname) indicates that if we include this game the Corinthians had played 12 matches and lost 3. Records would indicate that this includes losses to the Dick Kerr Ladies, Kent Ladies and now the Manchester Ladies.

Manchester Corinthians – Origins

Percy Ashley – An Ambitious Father

As we have seen, one of the top few English women’s football sides in 1948 was the Bolton Ladies. Their star player was the legendary sprinter Nellie Halstead. They also had a 25 year old Manchester woman playing for them: Doris Ashley. The father of Doris Ashley, Percy Ashley had high ambitions for his daughter and so he formed a team around her and energetically promoted her goal scoring exploits over the next few years. In 1948 the Bolton Ladies played an occasional ‘fete’ team from Ashbourne in Derbyshire and defeated them 9 v 0 and 7 v 0. The first game for the newly formed Manchester Corinthians was on 16 April 1949 when they defeated the Ashbourne Ladies by 4 v 3. The Ashbourne Telegraph reported that three of the previous Bolton Ladies were now playing for the Corinthians. This would be Doris and two other young players. The “Babies” headline above is interesting if we note that by this point Doris would be aged 26. This would mean that if we remove her from the average age and re-calculate the average age of the team would drop to 15 years old. This would indicate that the Manchester Corinthians started off as basically a schoolgirl team centred around Doris.

Author’s Note

There has been little or no analysis of the early years of the Manchester Corinthians. It is obvious that Alfred Frankland developed a successful strategy around a Summer French Tour, lots of games against the Manchester Ladies and other games against sides as they came and went. The Manchester Ladies developed a successful strategy of largely playing the Dick Kerr Ladies but occasionally playing other teams. The evidence that I have been able to uncover so far, would indicate that it wasn’t until the Red Cross stepped in with their offer of a Portugal Tour in 1957 and Percy Ashley developed the Corinthians/ Nomads strategy that he found a successful winning formula for his brand of women’s football. I would like to make it clear that I am in no way trying to be negative about this fantastic women’s football team and their amazing successes in the late 1950s and 1960s. I am merely presenting evidence that this success took some years to develop in a generally challenging environment for women’s football.

1949 Marian Bindotti Plays for France

1949 Two Matches at Colwyn Bay

Although Manchester Ladies only seem to have managed 5 high profile games in 1949 they were incredibly important games. They drew with Barnsley Ladies at Belle Vue and established this exciting venue for women’s football. They lost three times to their great friends the Dick Kerr Ladies. One of these losses was on Monday 6th June at Colwyn Bay. During July when the French team came over to play the Dick Kerr Ladies they had a very demanding tour. Games were played on Monday 11 July at Ormskirk, Wednesday at Hull (Crowd 9,000), Thursday at Derby (Crowd 5,000), Saturday at Colwyn Bay and Monday at Blackpool. It is therefore unsurprising that the French team were short of players for the Colwyn Bay game and so Manchester’s Marian Bindotti and Bertha Turner stepped in to play for France. Also playing for France was Dick Kerr Lady stalwart from Blackpool Hilda Parkinson.

Finally, on 13th August they were able to beat their Manchester rivals by 3 goals to 1.

Conclusion to Part 2

Thanks to the fantastic work of Gail Newsham, not only has the history of the Dick Kerr Ladies been preserved but also the records of the 80 or so games played with their friends and rivals the Manchester Ladies. My thanks to Gail for giving me permission to interrogate and analyse this data.

My thanks to Jim Turner for giving me access to the Marian Bindotti Collection.

I would also like to pay tribute to Dr Gary James who is doing so much to preserve the history of football in Manchester. There is a plan to provide a permanent memorial in Manchester to the Manchester Corinthians.

Manchester is once again playing a central and important role in the story of women’s football. The English National Football Museum is based in the beautiful Urbis building in central Manchester. England hosted the 2022 Women’s Euros with two Manchester Stadia hosting group games and a capacity Old Trafford hosting the first game.

Manchester Ladies FC Memorial?

There is not yet a permanent memorial to the post WW2 pioneers of women’s football in Manchester. My hope is that my research will lead to some recognition for this important Manchester team.

Finally

Marian passed away peacefully on 2nd April 2022 at the age of 92. I made sure that there was a wreath there from ‘her friends the Dick Kerr Ladies and the Manchester Corinthians’. My thoughts and prayers are with the devoted Jim.

Article © of Steve Bolton