The Corinthians: We Were The Champions (PG)

Preview by Steve Cooke

Women’s football is now a worldwide top level sport with millions of viewers and a rapidly increasing number of players from grass roots to highly paid superstars.

The first recorded women’s football match was on 7 May 1881. During WW1 the women’s game grew in popularity and by 1921 there were about 150 women’s football clubs . Matches were very popular with spectators with some drawing up to 45,000 fans.

Then on 5 December 1921 the FA announced a ban on the women’s game being played at grounds of clubs affiliated to the FA, stating “the game of football is quite unsuitable for females and ought not to be encouraged”.

The ban meant that the women’s game was sidelined to be played in public parks for nearly 50 years.

The Corinthians: We Were The Champions is the incredible real-life story of the original rebel girls of football – The Corinthians Ladies FC from Manchester – who defied The FA’s 50-year ban on women playing to become global champions.

Told exclusively by 10 surviving players, this is the first feature-length documentary to reveal the incredible tale of how a gang of working-class girls from Manchester took on the all-male establishment and won.

At a time when women were banned from playing on any official football pitches in England, the Corinthians found fame in top stadiums around the world. Beating Germany to a European Cup in 1957, and winning an unofficial World Cup in 1960, they were one of the most successful women’s teams the UK ever had. Yet, for decades, their world-beating triumphs were forgotten.

Now, The Corinthians: We Were The Champions reveals the full, raucous, rebellious story, from the women who were there.

Packed with unseen archive, forgotten footage of the team in action, comic style animations and a punk girl soundtrack, it’s a rollercoaster ride to a nail-biting final that I can highly recommend to all whether interested in football or not.

Visit: https://homemcr.org/whats-on/the-corinthians-we-were-the-champions-pg

Box Office 0161 200 1500

Until Tuesday 28 April at HOME, 2 Tony Wilson Place Manchester M15 4FN.