The Football Association has committed to awarding the original 1972 Lionesses and all the female England players who followed them with official caps.
In interviews with former players who featured in England women’s first official game 50 years ago i has revealed the anger shared by some that they have never been honoured with caps and how they are hurt that their exploits had been forgotten by the FA.
The FA has awarded official caps to male England players since 1886 but the original Lionesses, who beat Scotland in their inaugural game, and subsequent players of that era had to make do with handmade replicas.
That the profile of the women’s game is higher than ever and the fierce spotlight on the current England squad playing at a home European Championship has only made their treatment harder to take.
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An FA spokesperson said on Friday that the governing body has now “committed to awarding them with bespoke caps.”
i can also reveal that the issue of honouring the original Lionesses with official caps was raised with the FA in 2019, after it had become apparent that the Scottish FA were due to hand caps to their country’s 1972 footballers. The Scottish players were given theirs by First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.
In the Commons on Thursday MP Keeley said: “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.”
She added: “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.”
Commons Leader Spencer said Keeley “carries the support of the whole House”.
Former 1972 Lionesses revealed how they have long felt under appreciated by the FA, but that the lack of an official cap has been a particular frustration.
Sarina Wiegman’s current England team qualified for the knockout stages of Euro 2022 after two games which included a record-breaking thrashing of Norway, one of the tournament favourites.
“Because it’s become so popular and they’re doing so well and getting so much publicity, it hurts a lot,” Lynda Hale, 68, said. “Nobody knows us and we’re supposed to have started it.”
Hale, who scored in the Scotland game, has called for England’s female players to be awarded legacy numbered caps recording how many England players have come before them, which has been done for the male players for well over a century.
“Our biggest gripe is we would like an official cap from the FA,” she said. “It’s come to light that when the men get picked for the first time to play for England, they get a number showing how many have played before them. In which case we would also like recognition of that. I think that’s something to be proud of. We’re called trailblazers but we’re not recognised.”
Maggie Pearce, formerly Kirkland, who played right-back in the Scotland match, said: “If the FA say they recognise the England team from ’72, well, give us an England cap then, a true one. 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.”
Pearce, 64, claimed the FA’s attempts to celebrate them as trailblazers were merely a “box-ticking exercise”. Both players are also unhappy that none of the 1972 England players have even been invited to an England game during Euro 2022.
An FA spokesperson said: “We have been 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 October/November 2022, and it will become a key focus area following the ongoing Uefa Women’s Euro.
“It has always been our intention to invite all former internationals to attend an England Women’s fixture in the autumn where they will be honoured, and we are also committed to awarding them with bespoke caps.”
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