What about the Wallsend Girls Club?
How a Tyneside town led the lift off for women’s football after a 50-year ban. Tony Henderson reports.
A Tyneside town won footballing fame for turning out top professional stars.
Wallsend Boys Club’s reputation spread far and wide. But what about the ladies?
An event on Saturday (Oct 12) will highlight the history of women’s football in Wallsend, and the team which from its formation in 1971 was one of the top sides in the region.
It will also look back at the footballing exploits of Christine Hutchinson, a free-scoring centre forward who played for and captained Wallsend Ladies for almost 20 years, and also turned out for England on 10 occasions.
The event is hosted by Wallsend Local History Society, whose chairman Ken Hutchinson, who is Christine’s brother, will outline the ladies sides who were linked to local industries during a boom time for female football during and shortly after the First World War.
Read more: MOBO Awards book a date with Tyneside
This follows the successful play Wor Bella, which tells the tale of Blyth Spartans player Bella Reay, who has been described as the Alan Shearer of her day. South Shields writer Ed Waugh, who created Wor Bella, will be in Saturday’s audience.
Bella would have played against Wallsend women’s teams like Wallsend Slipway and North East Marine.
Christine, now Mrs Christine Knox, will also speak about her part in the revival of women’s football after a 50-year FA ban.
Ken said: “During and after the First World War women’s football became so popular that in 1921 it was banned by the FA to protect the men’s game. It was only in 1972 that the ban was lifted and women’s football began to develop.”
In one game Wallsend won 11-0 and Christine scored eight. She was picked for a trial for the first post-ban England team in 1972. Out of 250 women she was selected for the final trial involving 45 players but missed out in being selected for the final team squad.
in 1977 she was again invited to a trial for England and made her debut against Switzerland.
She and other players who appeared for England were never awarded caps, so Flo Bilton, who helped run the national side, made her own black and white versions to give to the players.
In 1976, Chrstine and friend and fellow Wallsend player Bernadette Tutte became the first women in the country to be awarded an FA Preliminary certificate of coaching.
Those skills were put to good use in the 38 years which Christine spent as PE teacher at St Mary’s Comprehensive School in Benton Park Road in Newcastle.
Ken recalls Christine as a young girl joining the local boys playing football on a field near their Wallsend home.
She was quick to join Wallsend Ladies when it was formed and managed by Vera Eland, who lived in Station Road in the town.
Vera provided pen pictures of her players for a local newspaper article. They included:
Christine Hutchinson, 19, “centre forward of great acrobatic skill who specialises in overhead scissor kicks.”
Barbara Armstrong,18, “centre half known as The Cruncher. Big, strong girl but well proportioned.”
Liz Deighan, 21, “accomplished dribbler. Like George Best when he was at his peak.”
Vera dismissed the idea that playing football detracted from the girls’ femininity.
“Three of them are engaged and nearly all the rest have boyfriends so there is nothing ungainly about them,” she said.
Christine’s scrapbooks contain another article which referred to the “Dolly Birds” team and the “Dolly Dribblers.”
She said: “We weren’t offended; we just laughed at it.”
In the early years Wallsend Ladies ran out of teams to play against in the North East and had to join a league in Hull, where they won the title and the cup.
“We had to play all our games in Hull and kick off was at 11am, so we had to be off by 6.30am. and we had to fund everything ourselves,” said Christine.
“The contrast with today’s women’s football in terms of training, fitness an equipment is chalk and cheese and the coverage the women’s game gets now is fantastic.
“We were happy to have a few lines in the local newspaper. But the times we had were fabulous.”
The free talk is at Wallsend Library at 11.30am on Saturday. Booking is essential. Visit the website to reserve your place.