dramaturgy
THE WOLVES
Major Developments in the History of Women's Soccer
1863: The English Football Association established the rules of the game.
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1892: First recorded women's game in Glasgow.
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1895: Nettie Honeyball, a women's rights activist, organized the British Ladies Football club and played a game in which the North secured a 7-1 victory over the South.
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1914-1918: The game rose in popularity when women on break in factories during the World War I would play other factories as a pastime. This movement was supported by Prime Minister David Lloyd George who thought the competition 'positively reinforced the female image in contemporary society'.
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1917: The Munitionette's Cup was formed. 30 teams from across the UK played for crowds of over 10,000 as the tournament went on.
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1918: Blythe Spartan's Munition Girls won 5-0 against the Bolckow team.
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Boxing Day, 1920: Two women's soccer teams, Dick Kerr's Ladies and St. Helen's played each other in Liverpool, England for a crowd of more then 53,000 people.
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December 5th, 1921: The English Football Association bans women from playing soccer 'on the same field as men' effectively limiting the sport to gym class matches and college competition.
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1930s: Italy and France establish women's soccer teams.
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1950: Italy establishes the Women's National Association for soccer.
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1951: The U.S. forms their first women's league called the Craig Club Girls Soccer League.
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1960s: Castleton State College in Vermont established the first women's soccer college varsity team.
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1971: Title IX was passed making gender equality in sports mandatory in America.
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1975: The first Asian Women's Cup in Hong Kong. Today, this tournament serves as a World Cup qualifier.
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1982: The NCAA begins to sponsor women's sports.
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1991: The first Women's World Cup in China. The U.S. emerges on top after sweeping all eight games with three shutouts.
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1996: Women's Soccer is added to the Olympics, and the U.S. takes the gold.
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2000: The Women's United Soccer Association is formed.
The Impact Today
Events such as Title IX, the first Women's World Cup, Women's soccer being played at the Olympic level, and the incredible nine year dynasty of the UNC Women's soccer team resulted in the steady growth in interest for soccer at the youth, teen, and collegiate levels.
By 2000, there were as many as 2 million girls at the youth level playing soccer, leveling the number of boys and girls playing. At the high school level, merely 10% of soccer players were female in 1976 whereas by 2000, that percentage rose to 42%. In 1997, women's soccer at the collegiate level surpassed men's in number of varsity teams available with women being able to choose from 790 NCAA varsity teams compared to 719 teams for men.
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Due to the exponential growth of the women's soccer scene, it became necessary to establish a national team to compete with the rest of the world. In 1985 the first Women's National Team was established, coached by Mike Ryan with Mia Hamm and Michelle Akers as leaders. The National Team struggled against European teams established decades earlier, and did not begin picking up major victories until the 1991 World Cup.
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From 1991 going forward, women's soccer only grew with the introduction of the sport to the Olympics, the formation of the Women's United Soccer Association, victory tours, and televised games.
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In 2015, the Women's World Cup final game where the U.S. and Japan faced off got Fox the highest ratings on any network of any soccer game in history at 25.4 million viewers. This generated $41 million in ad revenue, which led to advertising opportunities and sponsorships for the U.S. Women's National Team. In the 24 hours that followed the USWNT's win, the sales of women's soccer merchandise on Fanatics rose by 3000%.
More impressive than any monetary gain, the iconic women playing soccer are inspiring a new generation. The rising popularity and success of the USNWT has lead to an increase of young women signing up to play soccer, sticking with sports through school, and placing value on being strong, committed, independent, and athletic.
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