Goodison Park, a Greyhound Stadium and Walton Hall Park
Everton and the Rise, Fall and Revival of Women’s Football
This December marks a centenary of one of the most significant football matches played at Goodison Park – but it did not involve Everton FC.
The participants were Preston’s Dick, Kerr Ladies FC and their St. Helens counterparts. The festive season match, in front of a record crowd for a women’s match, suggested that the women’s game was on the way to establishing itself as a mainstream spectator sport. 15 years later Dick, Kerr Ladies - rebadged as Preston Ladies - were back in the city, but were consigned to playing in a greyhound stadium. In spite of the presence of Dixie Dean, the crowd size was only a fraction of the one present at Goodison in 1920. How did this come to pass?