Women’s Football History Exhibition – 29th March 2025
I’ve long been interested in early women’s football history and have followed Steve Bolton on social media for quite a while because his granny, Lizzy Ashcroft, used to play for the Dick, Kerr Ladies in the 1920s and he has a treasure trove of memorabilia from that time thanks to her. When I heard he was doing an exhibition based on the Dagenham Invincibles and women’s football in the ‘20s I made plans to visit.
So, on a footballing day trip at the end of March, I made the decision to stop off at Valence House to take in his exhibition and take a look around Valence House Museum before heading off to a match at Redbridge in Essex.
I arrived at the exhibition around 10.30am and started to take a cursory look around when Steve came in. He gave me a detailed overview on the exhibits including the important part Sterling Telephone & Electric Company played in the emergence of the Dagenham Invincibles as well as a look through women’s football history with some fascinating insights into women’s football through the ages.
For those that don’t know, the Dick, Kerr Ladies were formed in 1917 and went on to play in front of anything from 4,000 to 50,000 spectators, mainly playing to raise money for charity. Lily Parr, who you may have seen articles on recently, was the star player of the Dick Kerr Ladies side and Steve’s Granny Lizzy Ashcroft played alongside her. They went on huge tours of the USA and Canada and became the first women’s team to play international opponents when they took on a French women’s side.
Most of the women’s teams at that point were born from working together in companies producing ammunition for the war effort and were known as “The Munitionettes.” The Sterling Ladies were formed while working for the aforementioned Sterling Telephone & Electric Company under their president Guy Burney. They played two full seasons from 1917 to 1919, including playing at nearby Upton Park, without losing a single match, winning 34 and drawing twice, hence being dubbed the “Dagenham Invincibles.”
Elsewhere in the exhibition we had a fantastic postcards collection of women’s football through the ages, some original footballs, early shin pads and boots. Also a timeline of the FA’s growing annoyance with the popularity of the women’s game before making the decision to ban women’s football citing it as “unsuitable for females” in 1921. With the FA controlling the league grounds at the time, the women’s game was forced into playing at smaller facilities and so the crowds watching soon sadly dwindled.
There was a great short film on Lizzy Ashcroft which included Pathe newsreels from the time and Lizzy fondly remembering her friends. The Dick, Kerr team continued until 1965 when they finally called it a day after many successful years and raising huge amounts of money for charity.
If you’d like to find out more about the history of women’s football, I’d recommend reading Carrie Dunn’s wonderful ‘Unsuitable For Females’ and Suzy Wrack’s superb ‘A Woman’s Game’ which will give you a fascinating look at the importance of women’s football in the early 1900’s through to modern times and the Lionesses phenomenon.
After wandering taking in the exhibition, I then had a look around the Valence House Museum. This is a hidden gem of a place which many people, including me before this exhibition, had never heard of. A fascinating place to take in the history of the area and the house itself with many exhibits from Neolithic to modern times. You can see local archaeology, Roman artifacts, clothing from different ages, paintings and so much more, even a whale bone! If you are in the vicinity, it’s a great place to visit!
Thanks go to Steve Bolton for his time on the day, and to all the staff of Valence House who were welcoming, friendly, helpful and very knowledgeable on all the exhibits in the museum.
You can find Valence House Museum at Becontree Ave, Dagenham RM8 3HT. Click here to visit their website.
Steve Bolton is a fascinating person to follow on social media and posts many more photos and items of memorabilia from his collection on pre-war women’s football on his Twitter account @DagenhamInvince.