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For much of history soccer has been a man’s game. Women’s soccer had a rough start in the United States. As the 21st century comes to an end, the US is arguably the top country in the world for women’s soccer, however it got off to a late start. European countries had leagues and competitions as early as the 1930’s; in the United States organized women’s soccer did not take root until the late 1970’s (Litterer). After women’s soccer did take off, it took of with a vengeance. It had enormous support at the youth and amateur levels. The fan base skyrocketed and after two World Cup titles and a gold and silver medal in the Olympics the US dominated the world in women’s soccer. However, the road to this success was an interesting one.

In the nineteenth century historians documented informal village competitions in England and Scotland between the women of the towns. This type of play is known as “mob” games (Orlian). By the early 20th century women were playing informal games in Great Britain, France, and Canada in defiance of civil and religious authorities (Litterer). During World War I the Dick, Kerr factory in England organized a women’s team that would influence women’s soccer in United States in years to come. Female factory workers played on the team, and in 1917 there was a challenge between a men’s team and the Dick, Kerr Ladies. It was reported by the press and attracted much attention (Orlian). Soon there were many more women’s teams formed and some of the games attracted fairly large crowds. In 1920, a Lancashire team played Dick, Kerr Ladies and a crowd of over 60,000 fans showed up. This made the English Football Association feel threatened and in 1921 they stopped all women’s soccer for fifty years in England. After World War II woman’s soccer had a come back. More than thirty-five countries had national teams by this time (Radnedge).

In 1922, the Dick, Kerr Ladies team came to the United States only to find that there...