In 1991, the first official Women’s Soccer World Cup was held. But already 20 years earlier, six nations had settled for the title. A championship that was hushed up, just like women’s football was done for several years before that.
According to historian David Goldblatt, there was a great interest in women’s football already at the beginning of the 20th century.
– In 1917 there were perhaps a hundred clubs in England. But then several doctors claimed that football was bad for women’s health, for the uterus and ovaries, he says in the documentary Dox: Copa ’71 – the success that was hushed up.
Women’s football was not allowed to be played on the men’s fields
In 1921, the English Football Association notified its members that if women were allowed to use their facilities, the club would be expelled from the association.
– Many European football associations did the same, says David Goldblatt.
When Mexico organized a women’s soccer World Cup in 1971, it was met with opposition from both national soccer associations and from Fifa, which refused to accept the championship as an official World Cup.
Despite the public success, the championship was silenced and the players fell into oblivion.
– The football associations had a monopoly on organized football and felt that their control over it was threatened. It was about financial power and that only men should have access to football, says David Goldblatt.
See Dox: Copa ’71 – the success that was hushed up SVT Play or in SVT 2 on Tuesday, June 4 at 10:30 p.m.
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The Danes won gold and were hailed as heroes – then they were forgotten: “I was so naive”. Photo: SVT