A Woman's Game: The Rise, Fall, and Rise Again of Women's Soccer

A compelling and comprehensive history charting the rise, fall, and rise again of women's soccer

Women's soccer is a game that has so often been relegated to the margins in a world fixated on gender differences above passion and talent. It is a game that could attract 50,000 fans to a stadium in the 1920s, was later banned by England's Football Association grounds for being "unsuitable for females," and has emerged as a global force in the modern era with the US Women's National Team leading the charge.

A Woman's Game traces this arc of changing attitudes, increasing professionalism, and international growth. Veteran journalist Suzanne Wrack has crafted a thoroughly reported history which pushes back at centuries of boundaries while celebrating the many wonders that women's soccer has to offer.

With the enormous success of the World Cup, 82 million US viewers for the USWNT against Netherlands in the 2019 World Cup Final, enlightened and outspoken players like Megan Rapinoe helping raise the profile of the game across the world, and a fully professional top-tier league going from strength to strength in both the US and the UK, the time cannot be better for this in-depth look at the beautiful game.

ISBN-13: 9781629379333

Media Type: Hardcover

Publisher: Triumph Books

Publication Date: 08-23-2022

Pages: 256

Product Dimensions: 5.50(w) x 8.60(h) x 1.10(d)

Suzanne Wrack covers women's soccer for The Guardian and previously worked as a Senior Broadcast Journalist for BBC Sport. She was shortlisted Sports Journalist of the Year at the British Press Awards 2019, for the Football Supporters Federation Writer of the Year in both 2018 and 2019, and was highly commended in the Media Initiative of the Year category at the 2018 Women’s Sport Trust ‘Be A Game Changer’ awards.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

Part 1 The Rise and Fall

1 In the beginning 13

2 The first official match 22

3 Dick, Kerr Ladies 34

4 Charity 45

5 The ban 55

6 Fifty years in the wilderness 67

Part 2 From the Ashes

7 Lifted 79

8 Finding a way to play 88

9 The game goes official 98

10 The pioneers 113

11 Changing with the times 128

12 Streets of Oranje 143

13 Game-changing tournaments 150

Part 3 Changing the Game

14 Professionalism 169

15 The tinkerman 181

16 The best 191

17 The elephant in the room 201

Conclusion: A manifesto 217

Acknowledgements 231

About the author 235

Index 237

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