Football and War: The First World War
By
Alex Alexandrou

As part of its History Heritage Project, the Army FA in partnership with the National Army Museum, Western Front Association and the Football and War Network has organised a series of public events that will cover various aspects of football during the First World War and contextualizing them from a contemporary perspective. On the 11th July, the second of these events took place at the National Army Museum entitled – Football and War: The First World War.

 The panel of experts assembled for the event were:

Alex Jackson, a curator at the National Football Museum in Manchester. He is the author of Football’s Great War: Association Football on the English Home Front, 1914-1918, which was awarded the 2023 Lord Aberdare Literary Prize by the British Society for Sports History.

Clive Harris, is an accomplished military and football historian, battlefield tour guide and co-author of The Greater Game, Sporting Icons Who Fell in the Great War. He was the 2020 Douglas Haig Fellow and is a member of the British Commission for Military History. Clive is currently researching a PhD on the impact of football in the British Army during the First World War.

Carrie Dunn is an acclaimed journalist and writer. Her books include Unsuitable for Females”: The Rise of the Lionesses and Women’s Football in England, which was nominated for the 2023 Football Book of the Year Award and The Reign of the Lionesses: How European Glory Changed Women's Football in England. Carrie’s most recent book is Woman Up: Pitches, Pay and Periods - The Progress and Potential of Women's Football. She has covered multiple Women's World Cups for The Times and Eurosport, and is a regular contributor on BBC Radio.

The panel was hosted by Glyn Prysor, who is an Assistant Director for Research and Programmes at the National Army Museum and is the author of Citizen Sailors: The Royal Navy in the Second World War.

The panel of experts, Alex Jackson, Carrie Dunn and Clive Harris, all made significant contributions that educated, enlightened and entertained the diverse and well-informed audience, who had travelled from around the country to attend.

Alex Jackson kicked-off the event by providing background and context to football on the Home Front prior and during the war. Firstly, in terms of how football had developed up to the outbreak of war, highlighting the highly masculine nature of the game at the time. Secondly, how controversial football became as the conflict developed, in terms of whether football should continue at both grassroots and professional level, particularly during the 1915-16 season. Alex explained how professional football was in effect abandoned very early on in the 1915-16 season but continued in a more streamlined form on a regional basis with players not being paid. Alex highlighted the at times antagonistic attitude the media took towards football during the war and how social class came into play in terms of how football should function if at all during the First World War. Whilst, perversely, soldiers at the front were desperate to receive newspapers to check not on how the conflict was being reported but the football results and how their respective teams were faring! He went on to highlight the important contribution of women’s football to the war effort, which was further developed by Carrie.

Clive, who had hot-footed it back from Germany after watching England progress further at the Euros 2024 Championship, went on to contextualise the introduction and growth of Army football and how important it was becoming from a number of perspectives beyond the physical fitness element, not just prior to the outbreak of war but throughout the conflict. Clive highlighted how important football became in relation to the recruitment of soldiers not only amongst players but supporters as well. Clive went on to explain how football was organised behind the lines, in terms of maintaining fitness and morale both in terms of playing in organised matches and tournaments, as well as watching comrades play. Clive spoke about how football was becoming ingrained as part of Army life, to the point that it was being utilised as a leadership tactic and had become part of Army Doctrine in 1918. Additionally, Clive spoke about Walter Tull not only in footballing terms but how he helped to break the colour bar by becoming an officer during the war.

Carrie highlighted a number of key themes in terms of how women’s football developed prior and during the conflict, as well as in its aftermath. She pointed out that prior to the outbreak of war, women had been attending matches and playing for many decades. During the war, the footballing authorities regarded it as a spectacle and for entertainment, with a novelty factor to raise money for charities and to help keep up the morale of the populace. Little importance at first, was placed on the footballing aspects in terms of being competitive and skilful, which it proved to be in abundance. This was emphasised by the growing publicity it was attracting but as Carrie pointed out, at times many women’s matches received little or no press coverage, as well as many of the players using stage names rather than their own when they played! Carrie went on to discuss how the role of women began to change during the war in terms of social status, work and sport, particularly through football. For a time, there was a sense of independence and liberation. Notably, as women had taken up jobs and occupations once regarded as the sole domain of men. The world was looking very different for women but what went wrong? Carrie talked about the “benevolent sexism” of the Football Association and other football administrators that allowed women’s football to be played and grow but when it was a regarded as a threat it was banned in 1921, in relation to being played on grounds of FA affiliated football clubs. A ban that was in place for fifty years, that significantly held back the growth and development of women’s football not just in England but throughout the UK. Carrie made the interesting observation that England’s 1966 World Cup winning squad (many of whom had undertaken National Service) were in favour of organised women’s football.

The event (as with the previous one) was further enhanced with an exhibition of artefacts from both the Museum and Army FA collections, along with set of banners, telling the story of the Army FA and football during the First World War.

The next event in the series will take place on the 16th October, that will showcase the Army FA History collection with contributions from Army FA and National Army Museum colleagues involved in this unique heritage project. More information about the event will become available on the Army FA, National Army Museum and Western Front Association social media channels in due course.