Lily Parr: The gun which dodged bullets to pioneer women’s football

Anushree Nande

13th December 2017 | 2:50 AM

We look into the story of Lily Parr, the woman who shook the world and pioneered ladies’ football in the backdrop of World War I.

It’s 2017. A brave, modern world with new, previously unimagined frontiers. Or so we’re told. In reality, women’s football is only just emerging through the cocoon of the dark age, tentatively testing its wings. For a sport that was banned for over half a century, this isn’t their fault. But positive news is afoot, and not just at the top echelons of the Football Association, the very organisation that cast the ban all those years ago.

In March this year, Patrizia Panico became the first woman to coach a male team. Rated the best female Italian footballer (110 goals for Italy in 204 international appearances), Panico, the then assistant coach, took over the management of the national U-16 side while the head coach managed the U-19s for a temporary spell. In July, Lewes FC, whose men’s team play in the Isthmian League Division One South, agreed to pay their women’s team equal to the men’s. This also includes equal resources, facilities and training equipment. In September, 18-year-old Sarah Essam became the first Egyptian footballer to compete in the FA Woman’s Premier League, when she signed with Stoke City.

Lily Parr: The gun which dodged bullets to pioneer women's football

 

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