The Early Days of Women’s Football

Review of ‘An Unsustained Charge’ by Janys Thornton

Lewes is rightly proud of its women’s football team which was the first in the world to be paid the same as the men’s team. Now, a new novel by women’s history researcher, Janys Thornton, highlights the early years of the women’s game during the First World War.

The book depicts the limited choices open to many working-class girls, who after finishing school at twelve, were often sent straight into domestic service. For them, the war brings new opportunities, including better paid jobs in the Royal Navy Dockyards in Kent, where they recruited to replace men sent to the Front. The camaraderie of the dockyards also gives them the chance to play in women’s football teams made up of fellow workers. Against this backdrop, the harsh realities of war-time are ever present as a result of the bombing raids on Kent and the loss of life at home and abroad.

The novel draws the reader in as these threads are combined with the story of a sexual assault, which depicts the fortress of laws built against women, accompanied by a desire to simply move wrong-doers elsewhere rather than confront the truth. To me, these themes remain relevant in a world where a tv audience of millions witnessed the misconduct of the former head of the Spanish FA, Luis Rubiales towards a Spanish player during the Women’s World Cup in 2023.

The book doesn’t shy away from the darkness of harsh social conditions, the war and the tragic flu epidemic that followed it but offers many flashes of light through the characters’ stories and the hope for change.

The book is available from Amazon. Cover image courtesy of Janys Thornton.

DW