What an astonishing book!! Having played football myself when I was younger, this was an eye opening story into the goings on in Women's football during the 1960's and 70's. Brilliantly told by the author whose Mum was one of those women who went to Mexico in 1971 to compete for England in the World Cup, I found myself staggered by the backlash faced by them all!

I loved the way this book is set out too - we are introduced to the women and girls as they are growing up and how they came to play football, and the obstacles they faced in trying to play a 'man's game!', and how the history of Women's football has evolved over the ages in this country and abroad too. The success of the 1966 World Cup Final made football more popular for girls too, so many teams were set up, although staggeringly the FA banned them from playing on FA affiliated pitches.

We're also introduced to Harry Batt who put together a women's team and I am left with deep gratitude and admiration for his determination in fighting for the rights of the girls to play, and also feel so sad about how he was treated by the FA - shameful!!

We go behind the scenes in Mexico for the world cup where the girls got to play in front of 90,000 spectators and how they all coped with the attention and heat. And we also get to see what happened to them when they came home, and how attitudes to girls playing football took time to change - we only have to look now to see how far things have come.

A powerful story and very important that it's now being told and I highly recommend it to anyone!! A brilliant read!

This is an important book and a more than humbling read as it describes the struggles and obstacles faced by what was dubbed the first England Women's international football team as they overcame seemingly overwhelming odds to compete in the 1971 Women's World Cup in Mexico.

Featuring interviews with many team members and their families who were all amateurs this is a comprehensive account of the politics behind the scene, blatant sexual discrimination and scrimping and saving that took place before the team was able to compete, and compete they did finishing in sixth place after playing in front of massive crowds in Mexico.

They were hounded when they returned to this country and amazingly faced bans for taking part in this competition as politics and petty turf squabbles were paramount.

Merely by competing the team succeeded against all odds and it is fitting that their accomplishments are recorded and recognised after they became the precursors for the all conquering Lioness team that became European champions in 2022.

A stirring and important read.