Many problems with women’s football development come from the notion that the sport was, for decades, considered incompatible with girls and women. In the UK, the Football Association banned women from any affiliated grounds in 1921, stating that the game was “quite unsuitable for females”. Other federations then followed with similar claims, and women’s football was affected in countries such as France, Spain, Germany, Nigeria and Brazil.

Younger generations of players can learn a lot from those who fought for the right to play, and learning this history is important if we are to avoid repeating it. In the town of Deal, Kent on Saturday, a tournament will honour the founder of the Women’s Football Association. Some 270 girls in under-16 teams will play in the first Arthur Henry Hobbs tournament at the Goodwin Academy.

“It’s not only about playing the game but also learning that what they are doing is, in fact, revolutionary,” Hobbs’s daughter, Jill Martin, tells Moving the Goalposts. “Although [my father] was determined, he was a lovely, kind and generous man. But he was also fearless of people, of hierarchy. No matter who they were, or what title they had, he was determined to get that ban lifted. And his determination made that come true.”

The Guardian’s own Suzanne Wrack, in her book A Woman’s Game: The Rise, Fall, and Rise Again of Women’s Football, writes that teams continued to form throughout the 50 years of the ban. She says Hobbs teamed up with Patricia Gregory to create the Women’s FA, and Gregory became the WFA’s secretary in 1972. Gregory and her team, White Ribbon, wrote to the FA asking to join a league in 1967, only to be informed of the ban. They then travelled the country playing against men’s youth teams and were invited to join Hobbs’s tournament in Kent.

The Deal tournament started in 1967 with eight teams and by 1969 had 52 sides involved, from the UK and other countries. At the end of that same year Denis Follows, the FA secretary at the time, wrote to Hobbs and the WFA to let them know the ban was ending. Under pressure from the WFA and Uefa, the FA lifted the ban in 1970 and the first Women’s FA Cup final was played in 1971.

Even though the tournament had the support of the men’s side Deal Town, the ban pushed Hobbs’s initiative to alternative grounds. They found the support of local miners from Betteshanger colliery, and the Deal tournament was played on the colliery’s fields. Martin, who lived and worked in London at the time, recalls having former school colleagues and neighbours involved in the local team.

“All the parents were behind their daughters,” she says. “They used to organise minibuses, have meetings in my dad’s house, and all of the miners supported them. Some people at first thought it was a bit crazy, having women playing football, but my dad changed their attitude completely. He was backed by the whole mining community and they had a tremendous amount of support.”

When asked about her father’s legacy, Martin believes that he deserves more recognition for his efforts. “Since there were some football pitches that they were banned from playing on, they had almost to create their own pitch and start drawing their own lines so girls could play,” she says.

Martin shared several newspaper clippings from the time that show how Hobbs reached out to MPs, officials from other counties’ leagues, and even the home secretary to raise awareness about the injustice. “He fought fiercely against all authorities and never gave up.”

Hobbs’s health declined shortly after and he died in 1975. Decades later, Martin feels like “bursting into tears” whenever she thinks of the upcoming tournament. In honour of her father, she will blow the whistle to kick off the Arthur Henry Hobbs Tournament and will also award the winning team with a trophy.

“My father just saw the injustice,” she says. “Sport is so important. I know a lot of youngsters spend a lot of time on their phones and technology now. But sport builds people’s confidence, you create friendships and communities. It can lift your whole life into another dimension.”

Recommended viewing

I strongly encourage you to watch last weekend’s gorgeous cross-turned-goal by North Carolina Courage’s Tyler Lussi. The 28-year-old scored the only goal of the game against Houston Dash and definitely made it worth it for fans who were watching. With the win, Courage still lead the NWSL with 26 points from their 14 games.

Have a question for our writers – or want to suggest a topic to cover? Get in touch by emailing moving.goalposts@theguardian.com or posting BTL.

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