The Government is backing calls for England’s first official women’s team to be honoured with caps from the Football Association (FA).
Former members of the original 1972 Lionesses have shared their anger with i at never receiving an official cap and how they feel hurt that their exploits have been forgotten by the FA.
On Thursday, Commons Leader Mark Spencer said he will write to the governing body calling for it to recognise the original Lionesses with official caps.
The 1972 players, who beat Scotland in England women’s inaugural fixture, had to pay for their own replica caps handmade by Flo Bilton, an officer at the Women’s Football Association, disbanded in 1993.
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Labour MP Barbara Keeley (Worsley and Eccles South) told the Commons: “As the England women’s football team reach the quarter-finals of the Euros, I want to raise the issue of the lack of recognition of the women who played for England in the first official international women’s football match against Scotland in November 1972.
“The women in that team have never been awarded a cap by the FA while the Scottish FA has awarded a cap to its women footballers for that match.
“Not only that, but when the England women’s footballers of the 70s were invited by the FA to Wembley in 2019 as the ‘legends of women’s football’ they were allowed only to walk around the pitch and not on to it, yet the male football legends were paraded on the pitch just a few weeks later.
“I am calling on the FA to award an official cap to every woman who played for England in that match in 1972 and to give those first Lionesses the same status as legends of football that they give to male footballers.
“Will the Leader of the House join me in this call and will he make time for a debate on this issue?”
Mr Spencer replied: “I think she carries the support of the whole House.
“Of course, I join her in making those representations to the FA. I will also write to the FA on her behalf making that very point.
“I think it’s worth reflecting that we’ve moved a very long way, now in 2022 we’re in a whole different world and we should celebrate all that is women’s sport and women’s football. And I wish the Lionesses all the best for the future matches.”
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“Because it’s become so popular and they’re doing so well and getting so much publicity, it hurts a lot,” Lynda Hale, 68, told i. “Nobody knows us and we’re supposed to have started it.”
Hale, who scored in the Scotland game, remains in touch with her former England team-mates. “They share my feelings,” she said. “It’s sad in a way that we did something historic but nobody knows us. Family and friends know, but other than that, there’s no recognition at all. I doubt if we’d have got any if we hadn’t had the Euros in Southampton. They couldn’t even give us tickets to our own town.” She added: “Our biggest gripe is we would like an official cap from the FA.”
Maggie Pearce, who played at right-back in England’s victory against Scotland, believes the FA’s attempts to recognise her era of footballers is merely a “box-ticking exercise”.
“If the FA say they recognise the England team from ’72, well, give us an England cap then, a true one,” Pearce, 64, said. “It’s about having something official from the FA.
“It’s all very well saying we’re pioneers, but show us. It’s frustrating and disappointing when you hear all this going on. Don’t call me a pioneer because that’s a load of bullshit. It makes me angry.”
An FA spokesperson said: “We are working on a project to recognise and celebrate all former internationals, which will coincide with the 50th anniversary of the England Women’s team in November 2022, and it will become a key focus area following the ongoing Uefa Women’s Euro.”
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