WW1 Lionesses honoured at Kansas World Cup museum a century after FA ban

Memorabilia celebrating England’s first women footballers — players who competed during and after World War One before the Football Association banned the women’s game in 1921 — is now on display at the National World War 1 Museum and Memorial in Kansas City, one of the host cities for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

Historian Steve Bolton, whose grandmother Lizzy Ashcroft made her debut in front of a crowd of 30,000 in 1921, shipped the collection to the United States alongside experienced military historian Clive Harris. The items — postcards, a period shirt and boots — form part of an exhibition titled “The Beautiful Game,” which is expected to attract over a quarter of a million visitors.

The display pays particular tribute to Maud Smith and Sterling Ladies FC, known as the ‘Dagenham Invincibles’, who Bolton describes as the greatest women’s team of the WW1 era. The club went two seasons undefeated, featured regularly in the Daily Mirror, had their photograph published in the New York Herald, and had four of their matches filmed by Pathé News for cinema audiences — all more than a century before the modern Lionesses rose to global prominence.

“We had media superstars over 100 years before the Lionesses did us proud,” Bolton said. “Despite all the barriers put in their way, women have always excelled at the beautiful game. It is somewhat of an irony that it has taken an American museum to recognise their greatness, and it is my hope that this country does the same. They have been waiting patiently for a very long time.”

Bolton, who has spent years researching the more than 250 women’s teams that played over 1,000 games during the WW1 era, said the project carries deep personal meaning. “My granny made her debut in front of a crowd of 30,000 in 1921. Once she finished playing she was never appreciated in her lifetime for her achievements, and neither were the Sterlings,” he said.

“I now know different, and a little part of me will be forever sad that we weren’t able to appreciate her when we knew her. Come hell or high water I am going to make sure the women footballers of WW1 are going to be remembered for what they did and what we forgot.”

Kansas City is the base for the England team during the 2026 World Cup, lending additional significance to the timing of the exhibition.