MALCOLM May only heard his mother swear twice in her entire life - one of those times was when she heard that the Football Association had banned women’s football.
If we say that she branded them a bunch of ungrateful so-and-sos, I think you will get the drift.
Malcolm’s mother, Mary Borthwick, played football for Hey’s Ladies, one of the pioneering women’s football teams of the 1920s. She was furious that women’s work during the Great War, and later fundraising football matches, had been completely ignored when the Football Association banned the women’s game in 1921.
Her fury and passion came across in Malcolm’s voice a century on. It was a magical moment at a packed Record Cafe, as we were connected via emotion to that pioneering era of women’s sport.
In the 1920s Dick Kerr’s Ladies of Preston were the dominant women’s team of the era. Indeed, they became almost the de facto England national team. A couple of other teams did seriously challenge Dick Kerr’s, one being a group of girls from the bottling plant of a Bradford brewery, the Hey’s Ladies.
Last Saturday at The Record Cafe on North Parade, Bradford, those two pioneering teams were represented by Steve Bolton, whose granny played for Dick Kerr’s, and Kathryn Hey, a descendant of the Hey’s brewing family.
The two gave a fascinating talk on the challenges faced by women footballers in the 1920s. An era of contradictions that saw huge crowds attracted to women’s football games at famous grounds such as Everton’s Goodison Park and Bradford City’s Valley Parade, it was also the decade when the Football Association banned women’s football - the event that caused Malcolm’s mother to use immoderate language!
Many of the women footballers turned to cricket in the 1930s and played in the Bradford Women’s Evening Cricket League. The league was the brainchild of Hannah Drake, also a Bradford Councillor, in itself quite remarkable as she was one of only two females elected to the Council. The cricket league could boast 16 teams and 200 players when it commenced in 1931; by 1933 it had expanded to four divisions and, of course, Hey’s Ladies, after hanging up their football boots, were an integral part of it.
At a packed Record Cafe, it was Malcolm May who stole the show. He had the audience in stitches when he told them that, however well he played football, someone would shout, ‘You’re still not as good as your mother’. He joked that the jibes caused him to find a career away from the football field. But, his mother’s love of football carried on; she took Malcolm to Valley Parade and he remains a keen Bradford City supporter.
His mother’s footballing legacy lives on. Although it’s probably best that we don’t tell the authorities what she thought of them...
* Steve Bolton’s grandmother was Lizzy Ashcroft, whose long, illustrious career with the Dick Kerr Ladies has inspired him to research and write extensively on the history of women’s football. Steve travelled up from Essex for Saturday’s talk - part of the Sporting Lunchtime Lectures series taking place monthly at the Record Cafe.
Says Steve: “The pioneering women footballers of Bradford were so important. My granny played against Listers for St Helens in a famous match in Keighley, watched by 6,000 spectators on May 26, 1921.
“Thanks to T&A articles last year about Hey’s Ladies, Malcolm got in touch and sent an amazing photo to Kathryn of his mother playing cricket for Hey’s in 1925. Also in the envelope was a rare Dick Kerr Ladies v Stoke football programme from 1923. Despite my granny’s incredible 15-year career with St Helens and the Dick Kerr Ladies, and despite having possibly the best collection in private hands, including 100 match programmes, I didn’t have this one, the only one I am aware of with my granny’s name in it. Kathryn gave it to me as a gift.
“This is a beautiful story of friendship. Kathryn came to me in Essex and we started to put together a presentation. We’ve been having regular meetings with Dave Pendleton looking towards 1925 and Bradford’s City of Culture year.
“I often wonder what our relatives would have thought of our friendship 100 years later. We watched the Euros final together at Wembley with VIP tickets just above the Sarina in the technical area, and we have been guests at the Scottish Football Museum at Hampden where Hey’s and the Dick Kerr Ladies feature in the famous Rutherglen Ladies FC exhibition.
“Saturday’s lecture was 100 years after two groundbreaking women’s football matches took place, on Boxing Day and New Year’s Eve 1923 at Turf Moor, Burnley. The games were on the cricket pitch because the FA had banned the women from playing on their football pitches. Hey’s Brewery Ladies FC took on the world famous Dick Kerr Ladies. Playing in those games were local girl Mary Borthwick and St Helens and Dick Kerr Ladies legend Lizzy Ashcroft.
“We all agreed that Malcolm, belying his 85 years, stole the show at the Record Cafe. His insights into his mother’s thoughts had the room in stitches. Kathryn Hey delivered her first ever lecture and was visibly moved to have the support of numerous friends who came to support her before moving on to Valley Parade for the home game against Sutton.
“Dave Pendleton, organiser and leading light of the lectures, gave an informed finish with information about the amazing Bradford women’s cricket scene in 1930s and its importance in history.
“Keith Wildman, Record Cafe proprietor, said: ‘Dave, Kathryn and Steve have done an amazing job bringing this important, hidden story of fantastic Bradford women to life’.
“Joe Ogden filmed the lecture which, together with slides, will be available on YouTube so the world can appreciate these inspiring Bradford women.”
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel