On Friday, April 19, 2024, the Football Scholars Forum welcomed historian Jean Williams for a discussion of her new book, Legendary Lionesses: The England Women’s Football Team, 1972–2022. Professor Williams is a historian and author of numerous books on women’s football history, including A Game for Rough Girls? A History of Women’s Football in England (2003), A Beautiful Game: International Perspectives on Women’s Football (2007), Globalising Women’s Football: Europe, Migration and Professionalisation 1971-2011 (2013), and A History of Women’s Football (2021). Legendary Lionesses (2023) is the first academic history of a national women’s football team. It draws on original oral history interviews, institutional archives, and press records to examine the change from amateurism to professionalism, as well as identify each of the 227 players who represented England in 448 matches between 1972 and 2022.
Listen to an audio recording of the event: https://footballscholars.org/uncategorized/the-making-of-englands-lionesses/