"Women in Boots: Football and Feminism in the 1970s"
was the first of our book club series in partnership with Beyond 90 which will feature a range of books about women's football from around the world.
"Women in Boots" is the story of women's football in Australia and New Zealand in the 1970s the foundational period that lead to the emergence of the Matildas, written by historian Marion Stell in collaboration with football identity Heather Reid.
This event was hosted by Beyond 90 Editor-in-Chief Cheryl Downes, and featured authors Heather and Marion along with special guests - players from the period the great Julie Dolan who holds Matildas Cap #1, along with Leigh Wardell and Moya Dodd.
This was a night of time travel, the origin story which many may find hard to believe these days. Back then the national team was breaking new ground for women in football - and paying for it via lamington drives and meat raffles.
The book is based largely on interviews with the participants of the time - players coaches and officials - along with the newspaper articles, mementos and scrapbooks.
In this book club session Marion and Heather explained the background to the book, talked about the choices about how it was written and some of the then and now differences that come through strongly.
Stay tuned for the next chapter of the book club which will be a regular Beyond 90/Women Onside feature. And if there's a book on women's football or women in football that you would like to see in the book club discussions drop us a line.
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