Thursday, 17 July 2025
Pioneering Women: The Manchester Corinthians
Free Talk And Short Film
Hebden Bridge Picture House
4-5.30pm, 2 August 2025
- Members of Manchester Corinthian Ladies Football Club, who played from 1948-49 for over forty years, raising huge sums for charity, to be on stage at free talk and film show at Hebden Bridge on Saturday, 2 August, 4pm-5.30pm
- Women who played in major trophy winning successes in Venezuela (1960), France (1970) and who toured the world during the fifties to eighties will be interviewed about their experiences
- 'Oh What a Team' – a short film highlighting the Corinthians' story will be shown, for the first time on a cinema screen
- Corinthians historian and author Dr Gary James will host the event, telling the story of this amazing group of women footballers who played their part in challenging the establishment to set the foundations for women's football today
- This is a wonderful opportunity to hear directly from the women who played, while ensuring they receive the recognition they deserve
- Culmination of a ten year project researching women's football in Manchester, which led to the publication of Manchester Corinthians: The Authorised History. The book will be on sale at a discounted price of £20 at the event. £5 from every sale will be donated to the Hebden Bridge Women's Walking Football Team to help them promote the game and tour in the spirit of the Corinthians
- Hebden Bridge is significant as at a talk in 2021 the idea of erecting a blue plaque to the Corinthians was first publicly raised
Margaret Whitworth with the rest of the team
at British Guiana (now Guyana) in 1960
Join football historian and author Gary James in a celebration of the Manchester Corinthians, a women's football club that toured the world during the 1950s to 1980s. Established in 1948-49 these pioneering women played at a time when a FA ban on women's football was in place, winning trophies in major tournaments across Europe and South America. This celebration of the Corinthians will include interviews with some of the players, many now in their 70s and 80s, and the showing of 'Oh What a Team' (a short film telling their story).
The Corinthians interviewed on stage will include players who contributed to the development of the women's game and the successes of the Corinthians, including Margaret Whitworth, Margaret Shepherd, Jan Lyons, Lesley Wright and Gail Robertson.
There will also be an audience Q&A session. Host Gary James has been researching the Corinthians' story for over a decade and has interviewed over fifty women who played for the club. He's also published the official history of the team.
The Corinthians raised significant amounts of money for charity during their existence while also promoting football and female endeavour at a time when participation in the sport was often frowned upon (a FA ban was in place for fifty years from 1921).
During the 1950s, playing as an unofficial England side, the Corinthians won a major European tournament in Germany and were supported on their travels by legendary Manchester City men's goalkeeper Bert Trautmann.
Margaret Shepherd, Gary James and Margaret Whitworth with a
blue plaque marking the Corinthians' contribution
In 1960 they found success in an international tournament (officially the first 'Torneo Internacional De Futbol Femenino') in Venezuela as part of a significant tour of the West Indies and South America. Former player (outside right) Margaret Whitworth recalls: 'We were treated like film stars. There were crowds everywhere we went. Playing in front of 56,000 was thrilling and the way women's football was treated was so different to how it was back in England at the time. Here we had to play on park pitches or at other sports grounds, but there we played in major football stadiums.'
Today at least one former Corinthian, Lesley Wright, plays walking football at the highest level possible and continues to coach women's football, continuing the Corinthian influence through to the modern day development of the sport.
In 2021 Lesley, Margaret and other Corinthians participated in a talk at Hebden Bridge where Gary James first publicly raised the idea of erecting a blue plaque to the Corinthians. This event follows the success of that one to recognise the part Hebden Bridge played at that time.
A short film (by Imprint Films) 'Oh What a Team' providing an overview of the Corinthians' remarkable story will also be shown.
At this free event copies of Manchester Corinthians: The Authorised History will be available at the discounted price of £20. £5 from every sale will go to the Hebden Bridge Women's Walking Football team to support them in their fundraising for overseas tournaments in the spirit of the Corinthians.
The event is free to attend but tickets must be booked in advance here.