Women's football pioneers finally recognised 100 years on

A pioneering women's football team is being formally recognised more than 100 years after they played their last game. St Helens Ladies were regarded as one of the greatest women's teams of the early football era. However, just as women's football was starting to flourish as a spectator sport in the wake of World War One, the FA decided to impose a ban on the women's game.

Now, the grandson of one of the players has helped ensure the team will never be forgotten by helping put up a plaque commemorating their achievements. Football historian Steve Bolton, 60, whose nan Lizzy Ashcroft made her debut for St Helens in 1921 at the age of 16, said: "They were amazing women - real pioneers."

According to Steve, women's footballers were regarded as celebrities at the time. Speaking to the ECHO, he said: "They were superstars. They met lord mayors, they went to the Houses of Parliament and all kinds. They were celebrities in their day."

Women's football took off in a big way during World War One. With men away fighting at the front, women took on traditionally male jobs, with many working in factories. Sport was encouraged as a way to boost the workers' health and aid productivity. A number of factories developed their own teams, and local clubs were formed.

By 1921, there were around 150 women's football teams in Great Britain, and matches were wildly popular events. In 1920, a charity football match between St Helen’s Ladies and Dick, Kerr’s Ladies at a packed out Goodison Park on Boxing Day 1920 set the record for the biggest crowd at a women's game in the UK - a record which lasted for over 90 years until the London Olympics in 2012.

The stadium was reportedly packed out with more than 50,000 fans, and thousands more were waiting outside. Match receipts were £3,100, which when added to the £3,000 receipts for a match at Anfield on the same day, was reported by the ECHO to be the most ever raised in a single day in football.

The match report said: "The ladies at Goodison Park gave us all great pleasure. We appreciated their skill, their stamina, their determination and their manner of taking hard knocks ‘without turning a hair." But less than a year later, the FA banned women's football from its grounds, having decided "the game of football is quite unsuitable for females and ought not to be encouraged". The ban lasted 50 years, until 1971.

Having defied the order for two years, St Helens played their last match in 1923 against Dick, Kerr Ladies – who had won all 18 of their previous encounters. The match was played in St Helens, with the home team winning 5-1.

Steve only found out about his nan's footballing exploits seven years ago while looking through old suitcases hidden in the loft. He said: "It was an amazing discovery. She'd packed all her memories into a suitcase. We knew none of this about her. She didn't talk about it. The best way to describe it is to compare it to the soldiers who came back from the war and never spoke about their experiences. That generation were very different."

He will be in St Helens tomorrow for the unveiling ceremony at 10am in Queens Park, St Helens - the site of the famous 5-1 victory. Local MP Marie Rimmer will be present at the ceremony. Steve is encouraging people to turn up to remember the team. He said: "The more the merrier. It's all thanks to the wonderful team at St Helens Borough Council - it's very much their initiative."