LADIES AT FOOTBALL.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1212, 24 May 1895, Page 14

LADIES AT FOOTBALL.

Our London correspondent writes under date April sth : —Tom dragged me out to Crouch End on Saturday to see two and twenty females of various ages, sizes and shapes attempt to play football on a greasy patch of turf for the edification of about ten thousand curiosity-moagers of both sexes. It was close upon five o’clock before the emancipated ones appeared upon the scene heralded by a mighty howl of derision. But the skirtless, fearless twenty-two gave no sign of “ funk," and commenced the preliminary skirmishing with the ball just as if they were meie men. The first shock of skirtlessness over, the only possible objection one could take to the lady players’ costumes was that their dark blue knickerbockers appeared in all cases to be many sizes too largo. Flannel blouses, loose, but not ungainly, with modified bishop sleeves, long dangling brewers’ caps, stout brown boots and phin guards, made up a costume not

\ inelegant, indecent, or unbecoming. It j was when play proper commenced that I the unfeeling males present had opporJ tunities of making nasty remarks. The j players seemed afraid to kick the ball i hard for fear of injuring it, and when one I player got the ball at her toes she was allowed to dribble it along without let or hindrance from the opposing players, and without assistance from her own side. Generally speaking, the player in possession over-ran the ball, and having done so seemed quite content to let someone else have a turn. One tiny girl who displayed a certain amount of knowledge of the Association game as it should be played was promptly christened “ Tommy" by the spectators, and another player of ample proportions was adjured to “ kick it ’ard, Auntie." Then one side, the reds, made a goal, and they kept on getting goals for the rest of the game, for the simple reason that the opposing custodian couldn’t bring herself to spoil another lady’s kick. The red goal-keeper however had no such scruples, and at times put in kicks which Tom said were not “ half bad." Only one shot got past this player, and I am not at all sure that the solitary goal obtained by the blues was not kicked j by one of the opposing team. “ Tommy " certainly kicked a corner for the side she was playing against, but the referee, a man, wouldn’t allow it. On the whole the spectacle of these knickerbockered Atalantas indulging in the national pastime was pleasing enough, and picturesque withal, but, as Tom remarked, the ball was an unnecessary element in the field. They would have looked infinitely less ridiculous in the eyes of the male spectators had they indulged in a game of “touch" or “rounders," for which the costumes worn were well suited.