Historic Hawke's Bay: Football girls cause quite a stir

The pioneering Aotea ladies' football teams A and B in action in December 1921 at Nelson Park, Napier. Photo / Hawke's Bay Knowledge Bank Townshend collection L4004 006

This is my first article featuring the photographs from the Townshend Collection courtesy of the Hawke's Bay Knowledge Bank.

A most novel activity occurred at Napier's famed annual Mardi Gras in 1921 – the newly formed Aotea Ladies' Association Football Club from Wellington accepted an invitation from organisers, The Thirty Thousand Club, to give an exhibition soccer match in December 1921. It would be the first women's soccer game in Hawke's Bay.

During the period of the 1920s businesses with sufficient young women employed were encouraged to form sports groups. Playing sport was considered of benefit to young women's health, and normally played were basketball, netball or hockey – relatively non-contact sports.

The manager of the Aotea ladies' football team was Mr C H Bird, and he would accompany them to Napier, and his wife would be the girls' chaperone.

Mr C H Bird owned a shirt manufacturing factory in Wellington, and the soccer team idea came from four English girls employed "who had experience of soccer fields in the Old Country [England]".

Two teams were formed in June 1921, Aotea A and Aotea B, and they played the first soccer match in Wellington (and New Zealand) on June 25, playing six a-side.

Their football attire ‒ the topic of discussion due to their short skirts, consisted of a close-fitting cap, a gymnasium outfit (which was a knee length, square-necked skirt with sleeves to the elbows) and black studded boots with white laces.

As could be expected, the first ever women's soccer game in New Zealand attracted quite a bit of attention, and not all were happy about the "little band of Amazons led by four English girls".

Initially, the ladies were allowed to play on a Wellington City Council sports ground on Saturday afternoons (but that would change).

A plaque called the Nellie Shield was donated anonymously and competed for between the Aotea A and B teams in October 1921, with Aotea B winning in extra time. When Miss May Clarke scored the winning goal, it was said: "Her success was the signal for much jubilation on the part of her fellow players, and she was escorted from the field amidst a buzz of true feminine excitement." (The male display of excitement and the man-hug of joy was still some time away.)

The Aotea ladies' football team would play at Nelson Park on Tuesday December 27 as part of Napier's Mardi Gras festival to give a "Display of Modern Soccer Football".

Credit must be given to the men of the Thirty Thousand Club – organisers of the Mardi Gras – for inviting them. The team's formation wasn't exactly a popular occurrence amongst men.

The Nelson Park match would consist of "four 15 minute spells" beginning at 4pm, and not surprisingly (as can be seen), spectators were lined deep along the "full-sized ground".

The girls looked "smart and business-like as they marched on" wearing their "dress of blue serge and sky-blue trimming".

It was a typical hot summer's day in Napier, and this was suggested as a reason for the lack of excitement in the game as the "heat was exhausting". The match, said a Daily Telegraph reporter, was "considerably quieter and more decorous [polite and restrained] than an ordinary game of hockey". The final score was 3 all.

As a direct result of the match, it was reported that some Napierite women formed their own football club. (Little is known of this, and as noted below, a backlash against women using sports grounds may have caused an early demise).

Michael Fowler

The month before the girls left for Napier, a social gathering of the team was held in November 1921, with Mr and Mrs C H Bird in attendance as well as officials of the Wellington Football Association.

To keep the girls together over the summer months, a Ladies' Miniature Rifle Club was formed.

Other ladies' clubs were in the process of forming, and Canterbury had one at the end of 1921, which the Aotea team played against (and lost one nil). Masterton would form a club for the 1922 season.

Some opposition to the Aotea Ladies' Football Club arose, however, at the beginning of the 1922 season.

The Wellington Football Association stated in its 1921 annual report: "Whether football for ladies should be encouraged is a moot point, but as played by the ladies concerned no possible harm can happen."

Their annual report noted that the London Football Association had refused to sanction any women's' games played under their jurisdiction.

Trouble was, however, ahead for the Aotea (and other women's) football teams. Wellington City Council's sports fields would not be made available to them. The team would have to travel to Miramar to play on a field there.

The Aotea Ladies' team was disbanded in early 1924, and a letter was sent by them to thank the Wellington Football Association for their courteous treatment. No reason could be found for their decision, but it is likely the restriction to sports grounds was behind this. This appears, was a New Zealand-wide occurrence.

Attitudes remained among some men against women playing traditional male sports for many years, and it wasn't until the 1970s that ladies soccer emerged strongly (likely due to strong emigration from United Kingdom).

I'm quite sure the pioneering Aotea ladies' football team would be very pleased to see the participation of women in soccer (and rugby) today, and the freedom to do so.

• Michael Fowler (mfhistory@gmail.com) is a contract researcher and commercial business writer of Hawke's Bay history. Follow him on facebook.com/michaelfowlerhistory