Historian nets research grant to study early history of women’s football

The history of women’s football in Scotland will be set out in detail for the first time as part of a groundbreaking research project into the game.

Fiona Skillen, a sports historian at Glasgow Caledonian University, has scored a research grant from Fifa to chart the early history of the game.

It will be the first in-depth study looking at the origins of the Scottish game from the 1880s to 1939.

She said: “There have been no detailed studies of the early history of women’s football in Scotland.

“Insights from the past can help us to understand and shape the development of the contemporary women’s game.”

There were many barriers for women wanting to get into the sport in its early history, and the study will examine these as well as the role of the First World War and the impact of the English FA’s 1921 ban on organised matches.

Dr Skillen will travel to Fifa’s museum and archives in Switzerland to look through minute books, letters and records relating to women’s football in Scotland and the Scottish FA.

She said the grant from Fifa, through the International Centre for Sport Studies, is “recognition of how important the history of the game is”.

The historian has delved into the past of women’s football before. The Scottish Football Museum is currently hosting an exhibition on the hidden history of the inter-war side Rutherglen Ladies FC, based on her research with Steve Bolton, another historian of the game.

Richard McBrearty, of the museum, welcomed the new study and said: “This will hugely benefit our knowledge of the game’s past and comes at a great time as we prepare to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first official match involving the Scotland women’s national team later this year.”