The Corinthians mural at Fog Lane Park (Credit: Ayla Kerguiduff)

A Manchester football team that defied the FA’s ban on women’s football 60 years ago is at the centre of a new documentary film screening at HOME in Manchester this week. 

The Manchester Corinthians were formed in 1948 by Bolton scout and referee Percy Ashley, playing in Fog Lane Park, in Didsbury, during the FA’s ban on women’s football in England. 

Their forty-year span saw them become one of the most successful teams in the region, playing charity games in front of big crowds all over the world, and producing pioneers of the game. 

Helen Tither, director of upcoming documentary, The Corinthians: We Were the Champions, said:  

“These are the original rebel girls of football. It’s a real David versus Goliath battle. These girls formed a team when it was truly banned, and women’s football had been crushed for fifty years, and they stood up to the establishment. Everything that they did has been since forgotten. They’ve waited 50 years for this recognition.” 

Recognition has been long overdue, but the last ten years have brought much more attention on the defiant team that spearheaded the growth of the women’s game in the Northwest. 

Manchester football historian Dr Gary James was introduced to the team in the late eighties through his wife, whose teammates at Manchester City were former Corinthians. He interviewed a few of them while working on his book on Manchester City’s women’s team. 

His research into this team resulted in his book Manchester Corinthians: The Authorised History, published last year, which compiles his interviews with over fifty former players. 

One of the players he interviewed was Maureen Charlton, who played for Corinthians from its inception and was part of the team that won a European Cup held in Germany in 1957. 

“She had a twinkle in her eyes,” said James. “She was talking about playing football when she was a young girl, about going to Germany in 1957, about going to Portugal, about all these great moments. And there she is, a 90-year-old lady who’s basically sat in her house. And when you talk about football, she came alive.” 

In the team’s trip to Portugal in 1959, they played games at Benfica and Sporting’s stadiums, both in front of over forty thousand people. Their exhibition matches, all over the world, brought in big crowds, and the team had raised over £200,000 for charity by 1965. 

Individuals from the club were influential in women’s football’s history and development. One of Corinthians’ managers, Gladys Aiken, was part of the Women’s Football Association’s first committee when forming in 1969. 

Lesley Wright, who played in the Corinthians team in the 1970s, is involved in roles at Stockport County Women and the Cheshire FA and has captained England’s over-60s women’s walking football team. 

“One thing that became clear was that the Corinthian story was sort of disappearing,” said James. “This story needed telling, and I just decided to establish my own project, with the initial aim of getting a blue plaque.” 

With the help of community group Friends of Fog Lane Park, the Football Association and Manchester City Council, the football team was celebrated in October 2023 with the unveiling of a blue plaque, two painted murals and an information board. 

Going through the interview process allowed Dr Gary James to bring the team together decades after the end of the Corinthians’ glory age. That reunion, with over 80 people, proved how important it is to tell the story of this football club, of these individuals who played a defining role in women’s football in Greater Manchester. 

“In many ways, it’s not about the football, it’s about the community,” said James. “It’s about society, it’s about the way people were treated, it’s about the way the way women had to stand up for rights, but it’s also about opportunity.” 

The time to tell the Corinthians’ story has come, as more pieces of work come out, documenting forgotten periods in sporting history. Their time for recognition has come, through books and films, ensuring that their fight can no longer be erased.