In May 1920, Stamford Bridge hosted the climactic final match of the Dick, Kerr Ladies’ historic English tour against a visiting team assembled of top French players. Drawing over 10,000 spectators, the game marked not just a sporting contest but a milestone in the early popularity and reach of women’s football.
Who Were Dick, Kerr Ladies?
Dick, Kerr Ladies were one of the earliest women’s football teams, founded in 1917. They dissolved in 1965, by which time they had played 755 matches, winning 682 of them. The club was initially formed of players who were working for the Dick, Kerr & Co company. As it was WWI at the time, many of the employees were women, giving the company a large pool of potential players to choose from.
The company had been producing ammunition during the war but demand slowed by late 1917, allowing the workers more opportunities for breaks. At this time, the women would often play football, and after beating the men in a game, they decided to form a team led by one of the male office workers, Alfred Frankland.
International Charity Matches
Without any formal league to play in, Dick, Kerr Ladies FC often played in charity matches and they soon became the team that the best women wanted to play for. Word of their ability soon spread and this enabled them to arrange the first women’s international fixtures against a French team, comprised of players from several Paris-based clubs. The visiting side were led by Alice Milliat, who was a pioneer of women’s sport across the Channel and particularly football. She managed the French side that enjoyed this historic tour of England.
The tour began at Deepdale (Preston) before clashes at nearby Stockport and Manchester. After giving north-east spectators several chances to view the action, a London venue was sought for the final of the four-match series. Stamford Bridge, which had enjoyed much investment in the preceding years, made for an obvious choice. This investment, which had transformed the ground, also saw the Bridge given the task of hosting the 1920 FA Cup final.
Stamford Bridge Welcomes Dick, Kerr Ladies
With Chelsea’s ground hosting the final match, there was much excitement and anticipation in the air as the two teams travelled down south. As for the match itself, the French side ended up winning 2-1 in what was their sole victory of the tour. The change in fortunes was largely because the home side were reduced to 10 players after Jennie Harris was knocked unconscious early on by a forceful shoulder charge. With substitutes not a thing at the time, Dick Kerr were forced to play on a lady down.
Over 10,000 people bought tickets for the charity match. This was a big reduction on the 25,000 that saw the initial encounter at Preston, but still a very respectable number for a game of women’s football at the time. Speaking about the Stamford Bridge crowd, one of the French players said the fans in attendance “are so wonderful – so excitable, so demonstrative that it seems almost as heroic to lose as it is to win.”
So there you have it – the tale of when Stamford Bridge hosted one of the earliest international women’s football games in 1920 – yet it was not Chelsea in action but the Preston-based Dick, Kerr Ladies FC taking on a team comprised of some of the best Parisian players. It would be nearly a century before Chelsea Women played at the Bridge for a competitive match.
Did Stamford Bridge Host More Women’s Matches?
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Being one of the best grounds in the capital, Stamford Bride would have been well quipped to host more charity matches featuring Dick, Kerr Ladies. However, in December 1921, the FA banned women’s football at its members’ grounds. One of the official reasons for this was “the game of football is quite unsuitable for females and should not be encouraged.” There were also concerns about the conditions some matches had been played in and where all the money raised was going.
As a result, Dick, Kerr Ladies saw an average of just 5,000 spectators at their matches throughout the 1930s as the biggest stadiums, including Stamford Bridge, were part of FA member clubs. This marked a huge step down for a side that, on Boxing Day in 1920, played in front of 53,000 fans at Goodison Park as they raised money for the Unemployed Ex-Servicemen’s Distress Fund. This ban stayed in place for 50 years and by the time it was lifted in 1971, Dick, Kerr Ladies FC no longer existed.
Women’s Football Returns to Stamford Bridge
After hosting Dick, Kerr Ladies in 1920, it took 96 years before Chelsea’s own women’s side played their first competitive match at the Bridge. This historic encounter in October 2016 saw them take on German side Wolfsburg in the Champions League. While a major milestone for the team, it was a game to forget for the Blues as they fell to a 3-0 defeat, a result which all but ended their Champions League hopes.
A small crowd of 3,783 showed up to attend this European fixture, around a third of the total in attendance for the first time the Bridge hosted a women’s match in 1920. Attendances began to rise though and by November 2022, the club beat Tottenham 3-0 in front of a sell-out crowd of 38,350, having seen 24,564 attend the same fixture three years earlier.
As for non-Chelsea matches, Stamford Bridge is not usually used for women’s football fixtures like it was in 1920 but there have been a couple of exceptions. The stadium was selected as the venue for the 2013 Women’s Champions League final, and it also hosted the England v World XI Soccer Aid match in June 2024.