FOOTBALL4GOOD MAGAZINE | MARCH 2020

18 93 18 89 18 91 18 94 18 87 18 92 18 95 18 88 18 90 18 96 A little over two years ago, artist and historian Stuart Gibbs believed he had uncovered the first black woman to play professional football. While trawling through the annals of female footballing history for an upcom- ing exhibition, Gibbs stumbled across an article in the Sterling Sentinel dating back to 1886. In it, the author referred to “a coloured lady of Dutch build” playing in goal for the inaugural British Ladies’ team in 1895; the player was thought to be Carrie Boustead. For seven months, Gibbs was sure his revelation was ground-breaking, with Boustead representing a lost pioneer. That was until his colleague eventually found a teamphotograph, showing Carrie Boustead as white. The player thought to be Boustead was more Bootle build than Dutch and by no means foreign, going by the name Emma Clarke. Though usually an attacker, the case of mistaken identity was down to her playing versatility, on some occasions taking to the pitch as a goalkeeper. EmmaClarkewas born inLiverpool in1876, as one of fourteen children to parents William and Wilhelmina Clarke. Clarke’s younger sister, Jane, also featured for the team, and Gibbs thinks there may have been a third sister, Mary. Merseyside could be a very hostile place for youngblack people to live. Black people were considered second-class citizens and there was very little solidarity be- tween white and black communities. In Jacqueline Jenkinson’s book ‘Black 1919: Riots, Racism, and Resistance in Imperial Britain’, she details one occasion where 120 blackmenwere fired froma factory in Liverpool after white co-workers refused to work with them. Racismwas ingrained into the fabric of the culture at the time, andwomen’s working rights did not stretchmuch further than lower skilled and lower paid jobs. At the age of fifteen, Clarke began work- ing as a confectioner’s apprentice. Her footballing education, however, was forged on the cobbled streets of her local neighbourhood. Her official football career dates back to her first appearance for the British Ladies, the first women’s association club team founded in 1894 by the enigmatic character going by the pseudonymNettie J. Honeyball and patronised by Scottish writer, war correspondent, and feminist Lady Florence Dixie. Through an interviewwith British tabloid newspaper The Daily Sketch in 1895, Honeyball declared she formed the club “with the fixed resolve of proving to the world that women are not the ‘ornamental anduseless’ creaturesmenhavepictured.” On Saturday, 23 rd March 1895, Clarke lined up for the inaugural exhibition match, representing the ‘South’ in their game against the ‘North’. “All through the afternoon”, wrote The Daily Sketch, “train-loads of excitedpeople journeyed over from all parts, and the respectable array of carriages, cabs, and other vehicles marked a record in the history of football. Yet all that this huge throng of ten thousand had gathered to seewas the openingmatch of the British Ladies’ Football Club.” Though Clarke’s ‘South’ team fell 7-1 to their northern opponents, the game is recognised as the first fully fledged women’s game playedunder the football’s founding association rules. Enthusiasm in the late 19 th century for the women’s game was high, with thou- sands of supporters attendingmatches, prompting widespread press coverage albeit often drenched in ridicule. Football was not seen as a sport for fe- males, with women’s teams even forced to wear bonnets, specially tailored high- heeled boots, and corsets. The first record of a women’s football match dates back to 1881. Clarke would only have been five years old when the international match between England and Scotland took place on 9 th May 1881 at Easter Road, the home of Hibernian F.C. Eleven days later, another game played in Glasgow in front of 5,000 people was abandonedafter hundreds ofmen invaded the pitch and the players had to flee in horse-drawn carriages. Despite discarding corsets and being able to wear more practical boots, bonnets were still being worn in Clarke’smatches and caused much disruption. The game was regularly stopped if anyone headed the ball so that players could fix their bonnets before the play resumed. The Manchester Guardian reported at the time that: “Their costumes came in for a good deal of attention (…) one or two added short skirts over their knick- erbockers. When the novelty has worn off, I do not think women’s football will attract the crowds.” A year after Clarke’s debut, both Emma and her sister Jane joined Graham’s XI on the tour of Scotland in 1896, led by Helen Graham Matthews, though famously known as Mrs. Graham, who FOOTBALL4GOOD IN HISTORY EMMA CLARKE, FORGOTTEN PIONEER Britain’s First Black Female Footballer Emma Clarke, second from the left in the back row, was the first black, female footballer. She is pictured here with teammates from Mrs Graham’s XI in 1895. lived just a few streets away from the Clarke family home. Clarke and her sisters would have earned around a shilling a week each playing football – plus food and lodgings – a substantial sumfor aworking-class family of the time. The tour frequently drew larger audiences than their male counterparts, with the teamplaying in the country’smost pres- tigious stadiums. FromNewcastleUnited’s St. James’s Park, to gracing the hallowed turf of the home of English football at the old Wembley Stadium. Little is known of Emma Clarke’s life in or away from football after 1903. However, in terms of givingwomen, andparticularly blackwomen in Emma’s case, a chance to display their sporting talents in the public domain, the tour and the team itself was ahead of its time. The game continued to flourish until the early 1920swhen the Football Association invoked a ban on the women’s game, stating that, “the game of football is quite unsuitable for females and ought not to be encouraged”. The ban lasted fifty years until 1971. In the landscape of British football culture, Emma Clarke offers today’s generation a sense of belonging within a football culture known previously to ostracise. PlayerslikeEniolaAluko,RachelYankey,and EarthaPond, havesufferedfromandfought to curb racial discrimination in football. In 2017, Aluko shed light on the racial discrimination and bullying she faced as part of the English Women’s National Team. While Rachel Yankey, England’s most capped female international, when growing up in Londonwas forced to shave her hair and give herself a nickname (Ray) toplay on a boys’ team. Inher professional career, she would deal with multiple in- cidents of racial abuse from supporters in the terraces. “You can heckle us if you want if we’re not playingwell, but toheckle us because of the colour of our skin is simply unacceptable.” Pond, a former Tottenham Hotspur Women’s player, places this formof mar- ginalisationdown to the attitude that once heard her referred to by a coach as, “not looking like a footballer”. In Britain, there are over 200 statues of sportspeople, yet only twodepict women. Though in 2019, thanks to a campaign following EmmaClarke’s chancediscovery, a commemorative blue heritage plaque celebrating her historic contribution to women’s football was erected at the home of former club Crouch End F.C. in London. Emma Clarke is no longer remembered as “the fleet footed dark girl on the right wing”, asphrasedby theSouthWalesDaily News, but rather as an inspiration toyoung girlsplaying football today. Rolemodelsare hugely important for the next generation of players, andwhile the representationof black femaleplayers is steadily improving, there is still much work to be done. 74 FOOTBALL4GOODMAGAZINE | MARCH2020