Girl wins bid for boys’ team

Press, 24 June 1978, Page 56

Girl wins bid for boys’ team

Theresa Bennett, (above), aged 12, had soccer chiefs scratching their heads after winning a historic court battle against the Football Association’s decision to ban her from playing in a boys ’team, reports NZPA from London.

The Association’s chairman (Sir Harold Thompson) said that the judgment had ramifications which would have to be discussed with European and other international football bodies. Theresa was awarded £250 damages and unspecified costs for loss of opportunity and injury to her feelings. She also won the sup* port of the Equal. Opportunities Commission, which welcomed her vic-

tory and said it would continue to support her if there was an appeal. After hearing that Theresa was by far the best player in her local boys’ team, Judge Michael Harris, sitting at the County Court in Newark, Nottinghamshire, ruled that the Football Association had unlawfully discriminated against her because of her sex.

The girl, described to the judge as a ferocious tackler, said she was excited and pleased by her victory. “I kept my fingers crossed,” she said. “I don’t really know what I’m going to do now but I wo{tld like to play for the under-14 boys’ team if they will accept me.”