As part of the programme to celebrate the UEFA Women’s EURO 2022 tournament, The FA, with its ten host city parties, ran a large-scale heritage programme between June – December 2022.
The project, which was supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, shone a light on the experiences of women footballers that had never before been told through stories and objects that were gathered for the first time. It highlighted women’s rights, equality, and activism through the lens of the game with exhibitions across the Host Cities, through 117 family events and activities in museums and fan parties, with the collection of 92 oral stories, and through the making 40 memory films some of which you can see on this page and the rest remain available on The FA’s You Tube channel.
Eight outdoor and eight indoor exhibitions ran in the host cities including Brent Museum and Archives, Brighton Museum and Gallery, Gunnersbury Park Museum, the National Football Museum, Clifton Park Museum, SeaCity Museum, Trafford Local Studies Centre, and Wigan and Leigh Archives. Working closely with 100 former players, each exhibition spotlighted local footballers in each city through portraits, objects and stories which told of the resistance and perseverance of women players, as well as their passion for the game.
Across the course of the programme over 405,000 visitors went to museum exhibitions and over 3.9million people saw the outdoor exhibitions. The programme exhibited 1,450 objects, many of which were on display for the first time and a number of these have now permanently entered the collections of local museums for future generations to enjoy.
You can watch a film about the programme here.
Thanks to the programme, we were able to research and list for the first time all the women who have ever played for England. From 1972 goalkeeper Sue Buckett (no.1), through to latest debutant Katie Robinson (no.227), all former and current players are now able to collectively acknowledge their own part in England’s history. You can view the list here.
As part of the programme, we also worked with our partners the Football Supporters Association and with Getty Images to capture the fan experience for the first time. A competition for fans and a workshop programme for young students in host cities generated a new bank of images which are displayed alongside images of Getty Photographers in a new online gallery, which is available to view here.
