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?

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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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