FEMININE FOOTBALL.

Otago Witness, Issue 2151, 16 May 1895, Page 34

FEMININE FOOTBALL.

A REVOLTING EXHIBITION. When (writes a London paper) 10,000 or more people— men, women, and childreu — feel themselves compelled to roar with laughter without a moment's notice and without the faintatt deliberation tbe effect is tremendous. A roar of such mtguificent proportions broke loose on one Saturday afternoon (March 23) on the grounds' of tho Crouch End Athletic Club, and maoifestly hastened the rain that soon afterwards drenched London and cleared the nlmoephere. It was caused by the fir*t appearance ,in pub'.ic of two teinu of tha "British Ladies' Football Club," and its like will not probably be heard at Hrrnsey again. The ruling cpirits of the Crouch E«d Athletic Club did nob accurately estimate the curiosity of the Bii'ifth 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« numerous ; there were a few ladies. The lastmentioned must have suffered, for many of the comments, all audible except to the incurably deaf, were of a borrifyii.g churacter. " Kick off at half-pisk 4-," eaid the programme. Five minutes passed, end a dec}) silence fell upon the multitude. Then the "lady" footballers burst into the arena. There was a roar of laughter that permeated tbe empyrean. Tears rolled down the cheeks of moD who had never been 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. Small boys fell in paroxysms. Women smiled and b'uehed. The referee, a I mall man but grave, grinned ard made desperate but ineffectual effort? to cover his face as well as hin head with his cap. The Bouth team wore bine knickerbockers of the zouave pat'orn and blouses of light and dark blue. The North team wore the eanie fort of knickerbockers, but their blouses were scarlet, with one exception. Mrs Graham, the North goalkeeper, wore a white shirt or blouse and a )>lue frcrk that ended just below the kDee, or, to be absolutely correct, just below both knees, for, at a distance at !«aat, her Irgi seemed to be of the tame leuglh. On'y a small percentage of the crowd posfojfed programmes or Lad a knowledge of the players' nacres, so that they speedily proceeded to rom namep, and in many casei these were so ridiculoufly apt that they instautty appealed to the multitude, and resulted in freih roar» of laughter. One of the Bim s was built on Dutch linss, and was »t once dubbed "Fatty." From all parts of the ground there were stentorian requests that she " shouldn't use her weight so much." The idea tb»t » "Mrs" should be a goalkcef er elicited commenta that might have

staggered a man, biri they had no effccS upon Mrs Graham, or at any rate upon her vlay» ag she wai one of tho few who seemed to possess ovon a slight knowledge of her duties ; and her knowledge was slight, a* she showed a desire to bfi ell over tho field, find by her Avx'e'.y to bo of g^aeral use gave tho Blu<B tie only goal with which they were credited. Miss Clateace, tho iilues' goalkeeper, was in trouble from the outlet, aud once onlmly kicked tha ball through her o^n gca l , and iamediatply afterwards disturbed the equnnio-iiy of tho referee by asking if the goal did not couut for her side. Some of the giria wore thvjir hair in knots, soms in tails that hnng down their backs, while others wore their hair untrammelled, and were occupied much of thvir time in brushiug it cut of their eyes. Some of them wore (binguards, and some did rot. Tc-is may have been because tbe ahinguards did not improve tho Si minotry of the legs, asd it may not. It is d ffleult to divine the reasons that actuate girls who play foutball in public. There was an immensity of comment on tbe faces and figures of the girl-*, and the comment generally was of a sort to give ono the imprefston that a judicious person would not se'ot them fop types of English beauty. One of the Reds attracted 3mmac'iate attention. This was Miss Gilbert. Her appenrance caused shrieks of laughter, but this was more on account of her size and boyish appeai anca than for any other leason. In tho fir*t place, she looked ridiculously, even insanely, diminutive for a fo .tball game. Then, she was buiit like a boy, ran like a bsy, and like a boy who could tun very fast at tha oge of 10, and she seemed to kuow too much about the g\mo Xv a girl-of any size, her height being abaut 3ft. The instant she appeared she was called " Tommy," and there were shouts of "Cjmcoutof tba 1 -, Ttmmy ; you're nagirl." •'Tommy " was a North forward, and he or she was all over the field, and did more woik than any other two players. "Tommy "was knocked down several time*. In fact, whenever there was a collision in which "Tcmnay " took part, "Tommy" bit the gra6S or the mud, for tbe turf was hardly deserving of the name. Miss OBree, a South half back, ran well for a girl, and had really very little t>f the waddle in her gait ; but most of tho girl* rtn just like ordinary girls, and as (h n .y had nj skirts to cover their movements, tho la'.ter throw the crowd into convulsions. Oae girl wore aubu m hair. She became known to fame as "good old Ginger." A frequent cry was, "Now, Honeyba.ll, buck up then», old man." This always caused a roar, an Hou'ybsll took matters generally in a delightfully Jeiaurety way. Few of the girls seamed to know eveu the rudiments of the game. They had a fearful weakness for off-side, aud had a placid way of asking the referee for advics thab made the crowd scream with joy. Tbe ball muit halve weighed several oanccs. It was cob as large as an oidiuary football, and it was so light that when it was placed for a kick the meret zephyr would roll it yards away. Toward* the fiuish of the fi»t half, when the score stood one goal to nothing in favour of th<a Reds, tho girls were evidently dog-tired. Thi* delighted the crowd, acd there were yells from all p*tt) of the fiild to "Chuck on another scuttle of coals," "Pat on naoro steam," &c. Daiiag the inte>nvs;iou tie members of both teams sacked lemons, although they received numerous offers of " Scotch cold," " rum and milk," aud oven '•leosomde" from the spectators The second half was more farcicil than, but not so amu.'ing as, the first. The Blues were dogtired, and r.one of' the players could run 100 yards in leas than 30 seconds. A great majority of the spectators did not wait for the finish. They had not taken the trouble to go to Hornsey ti see football, but the " British Ladies' Footbill Club." They saw at once that these misguided females knew nothing about football, aud in a s-hort time had had enough of the farce and went home.