FEMININE FOOTBALL.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 10360, 15 May 1895, Page 3

FEMININE FOOTBALL.

A REVOLTING EXHIBITION. When (writes a London paper) 10,000 or more people—men, women, and children —feel themselves compelled to roar with laughter without a moment's notice and without fche faintest deliberation the effect is tremendous, A roar of such magnificent proportions broke loose on one Saturday afternoon (March 23) on tho grounds of the Crouch End Athletic Club, and manifestly hastened the rain that soon afterwa-ds drenched London and cleared the atmosphere. It was caused by the first appearance in public of two teams of the "British Ladies' Football Club," and its like will nofc probably be beard at Hornsey again. The ruling spicita of fche Crouch Ei.d Athletic Club did not accurately estimate the curiosity of the Briliiih public. Seating accommodation was provided for a few hundreds. The thousands stood or perched. The spectators were of several varieties. A majority were men; women wer« j numerous ; there were a few ladies. The lasti mentioned must have suffered, for many of the comments, all audible except to the incurably deaf, were of a horrifying character. "Kick-off j afc half-psst 4," qaid thfs programme. Five 'minutes passed, and a deep silence fell upon the multitude. Then tbe '-lady" footballers I biirafc into the arena. There was a roar o£ laughter that 'pernio-, tad the empyrean. Tears ; roiled down the cheek-i i f men who had never J b'esu known to weep in public. Other men who | were incapable of deep feeling of this variety fell upon each other's necks and shoulders for mutual support. Su-all boys fell in paroxysms. j Women smiled and biushed. The -referee, a i f-mall man but grave, grinned and made [ desperate but ineffectual efforts to cover his I face as wo.ll as his head with, his cap. The South team wore blue knickerbockers of the ! zouave pattern and blouses of light and dark blue. The North team wore the same sort of I knickerbockers, bufc thtir blouses were scavlefc [ with one exception. Mr 3 Graham, the North .goalkeeper, wore a white shirt or bloijse and a blue frock that ended just below the knee, or, to be absolutely correct,'just below both knees, for, afc a distance at least,'her legs seemed to be of the same length. Only a-small percentage of the crowd possessed programmes or had' a | knowledge of the players' names, so that they ! speedily proceeded fco coin names, and in many cases these were so ridiculously apt that they ins.ant'y appealed to the.-, multitude, and resulted in fresh roars of laughter.' • One of the Bluts was* built on Dutch lines and was afc once dubbed "Fatty." Prom all parts of the ground there were stentorjari requests, that she " shouldn't use her weight so 1 much." The idea that, a -' Mrs " should be a goalkeeper elicited coniniehts that might have staggered a man, but thiey had no effect upon Mrs Graham, or aJt apy rate upon her:play, as she Wa3:Oo- of'the' few who seemed to:possess | even a slight khowledge of her duties; and her !.knowledge was slight?, as she: showed a desire ijto be all over the field,,and by her anxiety to j be of general use gave the Bluts fche only goal (Jwith which they were credited. Miss: : Clarence the Blues'goalkeeper, wa. in trouble, from the outset, and once calmly kicked the ball through her own goal, and immediately afterwards disturbed the equanimity of the referee by asking if the goad did not count for her side.. Some of the girls wore their hair in knots, some in tails that hung, down their backs, while others wore their hair untrammelled, and were occupied much of their time in brushing it out of their eyes.. Some of them wore shinguards, and some did not. This may have been because the shiriguards did hot improve the.symmetry of the legs, asd itmay not.J Ifc Is difficult to divine the reasons that, actuate girls who play football in public. There was an immensity of comment on the faces and figures of ; the girls, and the comment-generally was of a sort to give onejthe impression that a judicious person would not select them for types of English beauty; One of ithe Reds attracted immediate attention. This was Miss Gilbert, Her appearance caused shrieks of laughter, bufcthis was; mor^'. on account of tier _ size and boyish appearance than for any other reason: fn ft.hc firjifc place,' she looked ridiculously, even "in*auely,:di__inutive for a football game. Then she- was bujlt like a 'boy, ran like a bay, -and: like a boy who : conli thn very fast at the age; of 10, and she seemed to khoiv too much about -the game for a girl of any size, her height, being about 3Ft The instant; sheappeared she was called " Tommy " and there were shouts of -'Come out; of that Temmy ; you're no girl." ~;, ■■.' ' v Tommy -'fwsm a, North forward, and he or she was all oyer the field, and did more work than any other two players. "Tommy" was knocked down several times. In fact, whenever there was a collision in which '( Tommy " took P t rt\ "Tommy" bit the grass or the mud, for the turf was hardly deserving of-the uanie Miss Obree, a South half back, ran well for a girl, andhad really very little.of the waddle- ib hergait;but,.most of, the girls ran just like ordinary girls, and as they had no skirts to cover their movements, .the latter threw the crowd mto convulsions. One girl wore auburn hair. She became known to fame as "good old Ginger." . A frequenfc cry vcas, "Now Honcyba.ll, buck up there, old man." This always "caused a roar, as Honeyball took matters generally m a delightfully leisurely way Few of the girls seamed to know even the rudiments of the game. They had a fearful weakness for off-side, and had'a placid way of asking the referee for advice that made the crowd scream w.itb joy. The ball must have weighed' several ounces. It was not as large as.an ordinary football, and ifc was so light thafc when it was -placed for a kick the raeie-t zephyr would roll ib yards away. Toward- the finish of the firs,t hM. when the score stood one goal to nothing in favour of tha Reds, th- .oris were evidently dog-tired. This delighted the crowd,Md there.were yells from all pwt^of the field to "Chuck on another scuttle of C0a15,...'. Pub on more B fcea}n," &c. During the intermission the members of both teamssucked lemons, although they received numerous oilers of "Scotch cold," " rum and milk," and even '-lemonade" from fche spectators The second half was more farcical than,' but not so amm-iug as, the' first. The Blu*s were do--fcired, and none of the players could run 100 yarns m less than 30 seconds. A great majority ?n. * l apeetllkors di)i nok wait for the finish Ihey had nofc t-Ken the trouble to co lo Hornse.y to see football, but; the "British Ladies' Footb-11 Club." They saw at once that these misguided females knew nothing about foo.ball, and in a short time had had enough of the tarce and weut. home Z "'•''