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I was talking to Facebook friend Joshua Heath last week and he was very excited about the launch of his first book.

“Last week, my very first book was officially released — ‘Soccer in South Wales: The Early Years – A History.’

What started during Covid as a personal research project into the very earliest beginnings of football in South Wales eventually led me to working alongside Phil Sweet who has published football history books for many years. Six years later, after countless hours of research, newspaper archives, and cross-checking sources, the book is finally here. This isn’t a book that has been rushed together for a quick release. We wanted to make sure every possible detail was researched thoroughly and accurately.

The book includes football references dating back to the 1850s and covers the development of the game in South Wales through to 1894, the end of the first South Wales League and the first ever league formed in South Wales. It also covers the first major cup tournament, the “Monmouthshire and Glamorganshire Association Football Challenge Cup” plus other minor competitions played in South Wales. For anyone interested in the history of Welsh football and the origins of the game in South Wales, this book offers a detailed and carefully-researched insight into a fascinating period of football history.

The book is priced at £8 + postage & packaging. Please feel free to message me if you would like a copy on Facebook at Joshua Heath or by email swcleaningsw@gmail.com

🪻 Tomorrow we open the doors to the next London Football Book Market, showcasing independent authors, magazines, publishers, illustrators, photographers and other creatives selling their football-related wares.

This edition takes place at #Brixton Library (@lambeth_libraries ) on Saturday 30 May, 11.30-16:30 and, as ever, it’s free to attend and all ages are welcome.

The updated stallholders confirmed for the book market are:

AFTA Studios – @aftastudios
Among Good People – @amonggoodpeople
Collosive Press – @colossivepress
Dinkit – @dinkit
Dotted.mag – @itsdottedmedia
GIRLFANS – @girlfanszine
Glory – @glorymag_
Golazo – @golazogame
The Goalhanger – @the_goal_hanger
Herne Books – @hernebooks
Matt Tiller from @jacklesliecampaign
Lower Block – @lowerblock_
Passing Pattern – @passingpattern
Pitch Publishing – @pitchpublishing
Rematch – @rematchldn
Seen Enough
SHUKYU – @shukyumagazine
The Signal – @thesignal
Soi Books – @bombstagram
Tifograd – @tifograd
Tiro – @tirofootball
TOPSAFE – @topsafearchives/@_overlandandsea
TREKuartista95 – @trekuartista95

Alex Amorós – @alex_amoros
Alexander Stone – @snapsbyastone
Chris Lepkowski – @chrislepkowski
Sebastian Frej – @sebastian_frej_
Will Dalton – @oh.san.lorenzo

Football shirts from @1993football

Unfortunately @debsparrphotographer and @dreamteamsbooks can no longer make it.

We will also have @felixwhite signing copies of the brand new paperback of his fantastic book ‘WHATEVER WILL BE, WILL BE: A MATTER OF LIFE AND FOOTBALL’ (@octopus_books_)

Don’t forget to register on Eventbrite (it helps a lot! Link in bio) and tell anyone you think would be interested – word of mouth goes a long way!

Poster by @danxdraws.

My name is Judith Orsmond and l was a pioneer in thev1970s playing for QPR Ladies. Now you would think why would I write a book about women’s football. When people say women can’t play football, you then ask them if they have seen women play and usually their answer is No. So don’t judge before you have seen!

Women’s football was not in your faces or even advertised for people to know that it even existed until a few years ago. So when the women’s game hit the headlines not only here in the UK but globally around the world I had a thought!

I said to myself we have a story to tell here, a story to share and most importantly a story to make everyone aware of what the women’s game was like when we all played back in the 1970’s

With all my former teammates from the 1970’s still in touch with each other and meeting regularly we certainly had many stories. So I sat down with a blank screen on my laptop and started. I wanted everyone to know how it was back then, how different to today’s game. Writing the book became my passion and the pages just grew and grew until it became the book it is today with some 300 pages. I got forewords from 2 of QPR men’s team icons Gerry Francis and Dave Thomas both who both represented England with Gerry captaining them.

QPR Ladies was formed in 1969, and the ban that the Football Association introduced in 1921 was still in place as they deemed the game of football was unsuitable for women to play. We were banned from playing on any affiliated pitches. So we went ahead anyway and battled all the challenges and obstacles that was thrown at us. That ban was lifted in 1971 but with still some restrictions. So in the early 1970’s it was a fresh start for a lot of teams, many were formed like ourselves, there was no funding, we played on poor hard bumpy pitches with no facilities and no media coverage.

We paid for kit, training materials, hiring of pitches, referees and travelling expences. But saying that all we wanted to do was play the game we loved. All of the above were things we had to tackle as a team, by working together we became a very close football family unit and are still the best of friends today.

Let’s start with training that was held on Wormwood Scrubs on a small stretch of grass under the floodlights of the prison wall. This was all that was available as we had to pay for everything ourselves. I visited the current QPR Ladies at their training ground in Heston and the facilities available to them is just amazing I was so envious.

We played in Thailand on a trip of a lifetime some of us were only 15 at the time, we played in front of 30,000 people in their national stadium. But when we got back the FA threw the book at us quoting that we did not have permission to go and play.

We were banned from playing for a while, kicked out of the women’s FA cup, fined and the secretary was suspended.

We gradually got the silverware we wanted by winning the Home Counties league in 1976 and 1977 as well as the league cup as well. In 1977 we were the first London club to win the Women’s FA cup so that is a piece of history you can’t take away from us. Next year is our 50^th anniversary of that momentous occasion.

The book is not just for people who follow football it’s an interesting read and
it’s a book that you can dip on and out of over time. You will see what we were
like as a team the laughs we had, the camaraderie that cemented a bond never
to be broken even now 50 years plus. It’s a friendship that has lasted decades
and still going strong today because we faced and did everything together
when all we wanted to do was play football.

If you would like a copy please private message me on Facebook (Judy
Orsmond) and I can post you a copy, costs is £10.00 plus £2.70 postage, or
you can buy it on Ebay just search QPR Women’s Football book in the 1970’s.
I hope to hear from you.

Want to know more? Even the BBC picked up the story last year. See here

Well, it’s a bank holiday weekend in the UK. This usually means rain, cold, damp etc but this weekend is absolutely glorious in London. Amazing!

A couple of bits of housekeeping. Congratulations to all those who have enjoyed a good season and huge congratulations to Aston Villa for their success in Europe. A fantastic achievement after many years of pain. I’d also like to congratulate Arsenal on claiming the Premier League (eventually!) but obviously can’t and won’t. The only consolation is that this will be the last time in my lifetime that the worthy burghers of Islington have anything to get excited about. Gillingham went from world-beaters to relegation certainties in about three months before a late scramble means they eventually ended up 17th.
The gallant youths at FC Deportivo Galicia had a challenging season and played over 50 heroes. We go again in the Combined Counties in August. Tomorrow is PARTY TIME! See below, all welcome.

Next week, we are all spoilt for choice! Loads of programme fairs. The week after my favourite West London fair is back and on the same day Retro Football Shirts are in town. Busy, busy.



…and just when you thought it was all over, it’s isn’t now as Enfield Town are hosting their first ever event and in July Stephen White has an enormous bookfest in Bradford. Enjoy!

UK BOOKFEST

Bradford Bookfest

Our first bookfest in our new long-term venue, 100,000 books for people of all ages and interests. Mostly second-hand but some brand new.

This venue at Albion Mills will now be the hub of all our UK Bookfest activity, we will still be doing pop-up events around the country but this will be our base and we’ll run three bookfests a year from here. This bookfest is timed to run parallel with the Bradford Literature Festival (check them out!) and will make Bradford the place to be for book lovers this summer.

As usual at our bookfest we’ll have tens of thousands of second-hand books ranging from baby through to adult.

Huge range of Adult and Children books

3-11 July Albion Mills, Albion Road, Bradford, BD10 9TQ.

Always a pleasure to hear from Clare McEwen , my go-to historian for all things women’s football. With the imminent FIFA World Cup just weeks away, (zero interest – I will be watching paint dry) this account from is interesting . If you enjoy, why not join Clare’s Substack ?

The Priest, the Parish Funds and the Women’s Soccer League

They played on dirt, in snow, and with Reader’s Digest magazines as shinpads.

A priest started one of the first women’s football/soccer leagues in the United States.

Yep, you read that right. Father Walter Craig began the Craig Club Soccer League (CCSL) in St. Louis in 1950.

Finding his parish with a surplus of funds, he needed to find a way to spend it or have it taken away by the Archdiocese.

Father Craig came up with the idea of sponsoring local athletic teams and set up a range of teams. He wanted them to be fully inclusive, regardless of race, religion, or background. Alongside more obvious male programmes in baseball and basketball, Walter Craig wanted to create a women’s football/soccer league. The Craig Club Soccer League was born.

There was no shortage of interest. In fact, St. Louis had quite the history of women and girls playing football. As far back as 1909, there’s evidence they were playing in this part of America. When Craig advertised for players, he soon had 70 women and girls aged between 16 and 22 on his doorstep.

The players were divided into four teams:

Bobby Soccers

Bombers

Co-eds

Flyers

Most of the players had been playing football/soccer in the local parks for years but this was the first time the game had been formalised for them. Mary Wright, who was one of the players told The Athletic that “soccer was everywhere while we were growing up”.

The four teams played a winter season from November to February, and each team played 15 games. The matches were on Sundays and were played wherever there was space: a dirt patch, an old car park, and St. Louis’ famous baseball stadium, Sportsman’s Park.

Although the parish funds allowed for kits, boots and shinpads were the responsibility of the players. In the classic style, Bobby Soccers captain, Mary Dwyer, used copies of the Reader’s Digest magazine as shinpads.

St. Louis has always been a part of the US that has embraced soccer/football. Where other parts of the country may have ignored this new women’s league, St. Louis embraced it. The local newspaper – the St. Louis Post-Dispatch – dedicated a whole page to the opening round of fixtures on 19th November 1950.

It included photos as well as text and stated – albeit in tone dripping with casual sexism,

“In its first round of play, the Craig Club Girls’ Soccer league – thought to be the only girls’ soccer league in the country – disproved the widely held opinion that soccer is a game for men only. Wearing usual soccer uniforms and playing with a regulation ball and under men’s rules, they chased up and down the field, intent on a single purpose – scoring a goal. Bruises and scratches attested to the roughness of play.”

In the Co-eds vs Bobby Soccers opening game, Mary Hackett (Bobby Soccers) broke her ankle. An opposition player left the field with a head injury after a heavy fall. The Co-eds won 1-0. In the other opening game, Bombers beat Flyers, 1-0.

Hundreds of people watched the games and, despite the often disparaging tone in the reports, so did the newspapers. That coverage undoubtedly helped grow the league and by the following year word had spread far enough that players from outside the neighbourhood began to join.

Despite women often being described as weaker – and historically being largely discouraged from sport, even in America – when it came to match days, it was the women who continued in all weathers.

It seems that their games were never cancelled, even when the men’s were. Players spoke about playing during heavy snowfall and pouring rain, even when the men’s games had been postponed.

Unexpectedly, the Craig League stopped after two seasons. There doesn’t seem to be a specific reason other than, it “fell apart”. It seems that as the women went to college, got married, and began having children, there were no younger players to replace them.

I think I’d have been a Bobby Soccers fan, what about you?

Thanks for reading She Can Kick It! This post is public so feel free to share it.

A necessary footnote: Although Craig’s work helped many young people find a space for sport, the story is tainted by credible accusations years later that he sexually abused a boy in the 1960s. Reference: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/3457534/2022/07/28/womens-soccer-craig-league-st-louis/

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Some of you may remember “For the love of Darlo“ which chronicles Paul Hodgson’s fifty years supporting Darlington FC. I was delighted to hear from Paul this week and even more so when he told me he has published his first fiction book, “John’s Journey.” I am pleased to spotlight it here.

‘In the blood-soaked trenches of WWI, Private John Wray carries a forbidden secret. A chance encounter with Hans, a college friend turned enemy soldier, changes everything, forcing John to weave a Web of Lies to survive the front.

Decades later, John is pulled back into the fray as an undercover MI5 agent in Nazi Berlin. Hunted by the SS and betrayed by his own handlers, he must rely on Han’s father to navigate a city of Shadows. In a high-stakes race for the Swiss border, John must decide: Can he finally outrun his past, or will the shadows of War finally catch up with him?’

Paul, born and bred in Darlington, had his first venture into writing in the late 1990s when he began work on his first project, Flipper’s Side. Published by Scarsdale Books in 2000, this has now sold out.

This was later made into a film starring Bill Fellows (who very kindly wrote the Foreword for John’s Journey) and singing legend Toyah Willcox, who played Paul’s mother.

His second work was When Push Comes to Shove, a diary-style book that chronicled two seasons of following Darlington Football Club. This book was published by G.W. Belton Ltd. in 2003.

Paul completed his third book, Give Them Wings, which is a rewrite of Flipper’s Side, in 2021. G2 Entertainment published this work.

The following year, his next work, One Hundred of the Best, which details Paul’s favourite one hundred Darlington FC games, was published by Pitch Publishing.

In August 2024, For the Love of Darlo, which is the prequel to Give Them Wings, was published by Pitch Publishing. The book is mainly about Paul’s school life.

In January 2025, Another One Hundred of the Best, which details Paul’s favourite one hundred Darlington players.

The book garnered national attention, and the author was featured in radio interviews with the BBC World Service and TalkSport.

In addition, The David Speedie Story, which tells the story of the former Chelsea, Liverpool and Scotland striker, was published in September 2025 by Pitch Publishing and has performed exceptionally well.

Paul is also an accomplished scriptwriter and has won over 150 writing awards to date.

Paul said, ‘I’m over the moon, this is my first novel, which has been 15 years in the making (on and off).  I really hope people like it’.

JD Crist from Pumkin Head Publishing added, ‘John’s Journey is such an amazing story. I am honoured that Paul has entrusted me with helping to share his amazing work with the world. I hope readers are drawn into John’s life as much as I was’.

John’s Journey

By Paul Hodgson

Paperback 224 pages     Publisher: Pumkin Head Publishing

ISBN-10: ‎ 1971168114   ISBN-13: ‎ 978-1971168111   RRP: £18.00

Delighted to see a new fair added to the calendar. This is a new fair at a new venue and hosted by Ram and Muzzy Ismail at Enfield Town FC’s ground in North London. It’s a great venue with tons of free parking and multiple transport links.

It’s primarily their own stock that will be on sale although they have invited a few London dealers and I know, for example, that my friend Les Easterbrook will have a huge display of badges. As I learn of others, I will add them her.


Enfield Town are an interesting club. They proudly note that they are the first fully fan-owned club in England. They have had their fair share of drama with promotions and relegation and last season they finished 23rd in the National League South. This week they have appointed a new manager, who will be known to many, Billy Holland who is tasked with a better season in 26/27. Want to know more? Check their impressive website

New manager, Billy Holland

My lifelong friend and “Mr Ireland”, Bobby Power has been one of the greatest supporters of the Shirt project. He is a knowledgeable and fanatical Manchester United supporter and a keen follower of the Republic’s teams. He is probably best known for his award winning Go Wild Magazines but always has other methods of promoting the Emerald Isle. A little birdie told me there was an autobiography at the printers and I know he has another very big project in the works. More anon!

This week however he is supporting his efforts with a launch of an Irish merchandise site focusing on the good and the great from the South. I wish him well. Sadly the Boys in Green won’t be at the World Cup this Summer but if you want to feel and look Irish then take a look at his range. Bobby is always open to learning of anything Irish that you are interested in, whether it is a different type of merchandise or featuring your favourite event, restaurant, golf course or hotel. Just catch him anywhere on Social Media.
Here’s his Facebook

What a season Brentford are having. Widely tipped for relegation (along with Sunderland!) but with just a handful of games to go they are riding 7th in the table with every chance of a European place. Head coach Keith Andrews was given until Christmas and one of the favourites in the “First to Get Sacked” betting. Fantastic work by my local team who are proving yet again that they are more than a carpark for Heathrow.

I remember my first game back at the old Griffin Park in Division Four way back in 1971. I still have the programme! The B team this week won the the Professional Development League title after a 2-2 draw against Swansea City Under-21s on Sunday afternoon. These young men would probably have won Division 4 back then. It just shows how far the club has come. Congratulations.

More good news coming in …..

BRENTFORD FC ANNOUNCES INDEED AS NEW PRINCIPAL AND FRONT-OF-SHIRT PARTNER

Indeed, Brentford FC’s existing training wear and recruitment partner, will become the club’s front-of-shirt partner from the 2026/27 season.

Brentford Football Club is pleased to announce Indeed, the #1 job site in the world, as the club’s new principal and front-of-shirt partner from the 2026/27 season. This multi-year deal marks a significant expansion of their existing partnership.

As official front-of-shirt partner, Indeed will feature on all men’s and women’s first-team playing kits, as well as academy matchday kits. The new agreement builds on the success of the partnership to date and will also see Indeed have an increased presence at Gtech Community Stadium on matchdays, as well as the club’s digital channels. The partnership is underpinned by a shared commitment to data-driven decision making, smart recruitment and talent development.

Indeed became the official training wear and recruitment partner of Brentford in July 2025. Since then, the hiring platform has been working with the club on its own off-field recruitment
strategies, as well as with Brentford FC Community Sports Trust to support those looking for employment in London and beyond with access to career opportunities and employability programmes. This extended partnership sees Indeed also become the official Brentford FC Community Sports Trust lead partner, enabling further investment in community initiatives and supporting Brentford’s commitment to creating a positive impact in the local area. Indeed will continue as the club’s official training wear and recruitment partner.

James Whitemore, Chief Marketing Officer for Indeed commented: “We’re thrilled to expand our partnership with Brentford. This has been a natural fit from day one. At Indeed, we help people get jobs and employers find the right talent, enabling better matches and more efficient hiring. Like Brentford, we believe success comes from putting the right person in the right role – on the pitch, in business, or in a job. We both also know the power of combining data and human insight to help drive better decisions. Brentford’s strong community is something we are proud to be part of. Football is powered by fans – their energy, loyalty and sense of community are what truly bring the club to life. Through our expanded partnership, we’re excited to engage more deeply with Brentford’s passionate fanbase and with Premier League fans around the world, creating meaningful connections and opportunities that go beyond the pitch.”

Brentford FC Chief Executive Jon Varney said: “We are very proud to welcome Indeed to the front of our shirts from next season as we continue to grow the club’s profile on both a local and global stage.This expanded partnership builds on an excellent first year working together, which has been driven by our shared belief in using data to inform smart recruitment and a commitment to talent development at every level of the organisation, both on and off the pitch. “Alongside this, Indeed’s commitment to supporting communities aligns closely with the work of the club through our Community Sports Trust, as we seek to create opportunities and make a positive difference to people’s lives in our local area. We are looking forward to building on our work to date and the impact we can continue to deliver together for our fans and community.”

Brentford Under-21s were crowned Professional Development League winners on Sunday afternoon as they drew 2-2 in their final league game of the season against Swansea City Under-21s at Gtech Community Stadium.

Saunders’ side will return to Gtech Community Stadium on Monday 18 May as they take on PSG U21s in the Robert Rowan Invitational.