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.

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