Nick Yes, that’s right. But the first women’s clubs
started before 1900.
Presenter Really?
Nick Yes, the first match was in 1895. And in those
days thousands of people went to watch women
playing football. For example, in December
1920 53,000 fans saw a match between
Preston and St Helens in the north of England.
Presenter Wow, that’s more people than at most Premier
League games today!
Nick Yes. But one year later, the FA, the English
Football Association, banned women from
men’s clubs.
Presenter You mean they stopped women using the
men’s pitches?
Nick Yes. Their opinion was, football is a man’s
game and women shouldn’t play it.
Presenter That’s very sexist.
Nick Yes. And a lot of women stopped playing
football.
Presenter When did that change?
Nick In the 1950s and 1960s. Then in 1969 the
Women’s Football Association started. And
three years later the women’s England team
played their first match, against Scotland.
Presenter Did they win?
Nick Well, it was 2–0 to Scotland at half time, but in
the end England won 3–2.
Presenter And now we have a women’s World Cup, too.
Nick Yes, as you said, that started in 1991.
Presenter And which is the best team?
Nick Not England, I’m afraid! Germany and Japan
are very good, but the best team is the USA.
They came first, second or third in every World
Cup between 1991 and 2015.
Presenter What about money? How much do women
footballers earn?
Nick They don’t earn as much as men. an English
Premier League footballer earns more in one
week than a woman footballer earns in a year!
Presenter But that’s because men’s football is more
popular …
Nick Yes, the men’s game gets lots of money from
television companies. But the women’s game is
becoming more popular. Fifty-three thousand
fans watched the world cup final between the
USA and Japan in 2015, and 24 million
Americans watched it on TV. So, I hope that the
players are going to start earning more money.
