Arsenal’s 0-3 loss to Chelsea in the Vitality Women’s FA Cup Final was part of a bigger victory for the women’s sport.
The final Wembley on Sunday marked 100 years since the FA banned women’s football from its stadiums.
Arsenal’s captain, Kim Little, spoke about the anniversary at a pre-match press conference. She said the progress of the women’s sport was “credit to everyone involved”, but added “As players we get to do the best part, play on the pitch and hopefully win.”
“We all wish it could be like this every week,” added head coach Jonas Eidevall.
Despite Arsenal’s defeat, fans celebrated the wider accomplishments of women’s football as a whole.
“It’s a significant moment”
On 5 December 1921, the FA forbade women to play on any of its grounds, a ban which lasted for 50 years. The FA stated that “the game of football is quite unsuitable for females and ought not to be encouraged”, although the women’s events had been attracting great crowds.
“It’s a significant moment,” said Richard Butler, creator of Arsenal fan podcast, Over and Over and Over Again.
“I mean 50 years of women’s football not being allowed to be played – it just seems crazy to even be saying it like that, but it’s the way it is isn’t it? It’s mental really.”
Butler has been following the women’s team since it was formed in 1987. “At that time, it was all amateur football really,” he said, “people didn’t really watch it that much.”
“I want women’s football to come out of this with the most credit really, you know,” Butler added. “That everybody who’s watched that game will come away thinking wow, the women’s game is great to watch, and hopefully people will see how much it’s improved as well.”
Aliyah, a 17-year-old Arsenal fan, said, “I think it’s just as interesting as the men’s. People don’t realise the potential of how good the women’s team is and how good it can be.” She went on, “The same way everyone’s so crazy about men’s football I feel like that can also be replicated with women’s football.”
Another young Arsenal supporter, Sophie, 14, said: “The team is successful in my eyes because the teamwork and determination they have on the pitch is amazing.”
“I think more people should watch women’s football because it shows a lot more football than the men’s just kicking it up all the time.”
The BBC, which televised the match, commemorated the anniversary by interviewing players from the first women’s FA cup final in 1971. Lesley Lloyd, who captained Southampton Ladies to victory, called the progress of the tournament since her career “amazing”. Considering the turnout of spectators, the scale of funding and the increased media attention in 2021, Lloyd beamed that women’s football had “come on leaps and bounds”.
