Rutherglen Ladies Football Club was one of the earliest known

women's association football Women's association football, more commonly known simply as women's football or women's soccer, is a team sport of association football when played by women only. It is played at the professional level in multiple countries and 176 national t ...

teams in Scotland. English teams faced strong opposition by

the Football Association The Football Association (also known as The FA) is the governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the oldest football association in the world a ...

(FA), who banned the women from using fields and stadiums controlled by FA-affiliated clubs in 1921. Scottish teams did not have this impediment between the wars and they played before thousands in matches that raised money for charities.

Origins

British teams could attract crowds of over 50,000.

FA ban (1921) and Scottish FA position

The popularity of women's team matches led

(FA) to ban women's football at its members' grounds on 5 December 1921. This ban applied only in England and the Scottish FA did not make a similar bar until 20 years later. However the

Scottish FA The Scottish Football Association (also known as the SFA and the Scottish FA; sco, Scots Fitba Association; Scottish Gaelic: ''Comann Ball-coise na h-Alba'') is the governing body of football in Scotland and has the ultimate responsibility for ...

refused requests by Scottish clubs

Raith Rovers Raith Rovers Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the town of Kirkcaldy, Fife. The club was founded in 1883 and currently competes in the Scottish Championship as a member of the Scottish Professional Football Leagu ...

( Kirkcaldy),

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

and Queen of the South ( Dumfries) to host women's football matches in 1924 and 1925. The resolution passed by the FA's Consultative Committee in England said that after complaints they had decided that the game was "unsuitable for females and should not be encouraged", that they believed that charity matches gave little to charity, and instructed that: "Clubs belonging to the Association refuse the use of their grounds for such matches". Because of the ban, women's games in England were relegated to smaller capacity fields with less resources and exposure.

"World Champions"

Rutherglen Ladies was a team led by founder and manager James H. Kelly and based in

Rutherglen Rutherglen (, sco, Ruglen, gd, An Ruadh-Ghleann) is a town in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, immediately south-east of the city of Glasgow, from its centre and directly south of the River Clyde. Having existed as a Lanarkshire burgh in its own ...

near

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

. They played at grounds that were outside the remit of the FA's ban and they generally played matches in aid of charities. They were still able to appear at Scottish grounds and they attracted crowds of thousands. In 1923 they were playing matches close to home at

Lanark Lanark (; gd, Lannraig ; sco, Lanrik) is a town in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, located 20 kilometres to the south-east of Hamilton. The town lies on the River Clyde, at its confluence with Mouse Water. In 2016, the town had a population of 9 ...

, Kilsyth,

Linlithgow Linlithgow (; gd, Gleann Iucha, sco, Lithgae) is a town in West Lothian, Scotland. It was historically West Lothian's county town, reflected in the county's historical name of Linlithgowshire. An ancient town, it lies in the Central Belt on a ...

, Bellshill and Carluke against a team called the "Cinema Girls". They had a captain named Sadie Smith who was a skilful footballer. In September 1923 Rutherglen played a match against the leading English side Dick, Kerr Ladies at Shawfield Park in Rutherglen. Unusually the Dick, Kerr team was beaten by the Scottish team 2–0. Kelly declared his team "World Champions" following the match. It is speculated that the defeat prevented any rematch as Kerr's team were expected to win their matches. The title of "World Champions" was still used in Dick Kerr's advertising and in 1925 Kerr's team was claiming to be World Champions from 1917 to 1925. Rutherglen played at Dundee United's

Tannadice Park Tannadice Park ( gd, Pàirc Thanachais), usually referred to as Tannadice, is a football stadium in Dundee, Scotland. It is the home ground of Dundee United F.C., who have played at Tannadice since the club was founded as Dundee Hibernian in 1 ...

in 1924 before a crowd of 4,000 spectators, demonstrating the SFA ban was not absolute. The account in the ''

Dundee Courier ''The Courier'' (known as ''The Courier & Advertiser'' between 1926 and 2012) is a newspaper published by DC Thomson in Dundee, Scotland. As of 2013, it is printed in six regional editions: Dundee, Angus & The Mearns, Fife, West Fife, Perths ...

'' singled out the performances of captain Sadie Smith and Ms. Crozier. In 1927 Rutherglen went on a tour to Ireland. The team's captain was still Sadie Smith (who researchers later found was the grandmother of musician

Eddi Reader Sadenia "Eddi" Reader MBE (born 29 August 1959) is a Scottish singer-songwriter, known for her work as frontwoman of Fairground Attraction and for an enduring solo career. She is the recipient of three BRIT Awards. In 2003, she showcased the w ...

)Glasgow's Scottish Football Museum celebrates women's team
Sarah Campbell, Glasgow Times, 5 December 2021 who led the team against an Irish select team whose star was Molly Seaton. The teams had already played four games against each other in Scotland (the fourth match was just over the border into England at Berwick) when the Irish team had been billed as being from

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...

. The Rutherglen team was disbanded in 1939.

In popular culture

Following research into their history, in 2021 the

Scottish Football Museum The Scottish Football Museum is Scotland’s national museum of association football, located in Hampden Park in Glasgow. The Museum The museum houses over 2000 objects of football memorabilia, including the world's oldest cap and match ticket fr ...

opened an exhibition dedicated to the Rutherglen club and celebrating how the team had defied the ban 100 years before.New exhibition to pay tribute to Rutherglen's trailblazing female footballers
Jonathan Geddes, Daily Record, 5 December 2021 The exhibition was opened by leading footballer Rose Reilly, Vivienne McLaren of the

Scottish Women's Football Scottish Women's Football (SWF), formerly known as the Scottish Women’s Football Association (SWFA) between 1972 and 2001, is the governing body for women's association football in Scotland. It is an affiliated national association of the Scott ...

and Eddi Reader.

References

External links

* {{Portal, Women's association football Association football clubs established in 1921 Association football clubs disestablished in 1939 Sport in South Lanarkshire 1921 establishments in Scotland Defunct football clubs in Scotland Women's football clubs in Scotland Rutherglen 1939 disestablishments in Scotland