We were girls. We wanted to play football.

Girls don't play football. Oh yes, we do.

Welcome to It Was What It Was, the Football History Podcast. I'm Jonathan Wilson and with Rob Draper.

And that, excitingly, was the voice of producer Beth, somehow summoning up all her acting chops to play the role of Northern Woman and quoting Linda Hallam, who is a Manchester Corinthians player in the 1960s and 70s.

And what we're talking about today, a few weeks after England's success at year 2025, is how we got to this point.

So if you listen to our Dick Kerr's Ladies' podcast a long time ago, do go back and listen to that.

They were getting huge crowds at the end of the first war just afterwards.

But then women's football is banned in 1921. So what we're

going to look at today is what happens between 1921

and the present. How do we get from the ban, from women not being allowed to play

football to England's glory of successive euros? So Rob,

how are we going to do 100 years, just over 100 years of history in, in what, two episodes?

Well, to be fair, we're going to do about 50.

I think we're going to get us to the first ever official lioness's game in the early 70s.

We won't be doing right up to the Euro.

Try it if I think we can save that for another podcast.

Because this is a fascinating journey. I think still an undertold journey. I think if you ask most people, they would know that

the FA now banned women's football. Most people are cognizant of that fact. But watching the lionesses

and their triumph and watching that fantastic parade on the Mall in London.

The euphoria is incredible.

And I think people appreciate that these are women who've had a difficult backstory if you look back in history.

But I really don't think people understand quite how difficult it was.

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