Alice Woods (footballer)
English footballer
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Alice Stanley (née Woods; 20 March 1899 – 1991) was an English footballer. She played for Dick, Kerr Ladies, one of the earliest women's association football teams. She was also a sprinter and one of the first women to race under Amateur Athletic Association of England (AAA) laws.
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| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Alice Stanley | ||
| Date of birth | 20 March 1899 | ||
| Place of birth | Sutton, St Helens, England | ||
| Date of death | 1991 (aged 91–92) | ||
| Place of death | Manchester, England | ||
| Height | 1.65 m (5 ft 5 in)[1] | ||
| Position | Midfielder[2] | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1919 | St Helens Ladies | ||
| 1919–1928 | Dick, Kerr Ladies | ||
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* Club domestic league appearances and goals as of 09:14, 1 June 2019 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals as of 09:14, 1 June 2019 (UTC) | |||
Early life
Woods was born in Sutton, St Helens, in 1899, the youngest of seven children in a mining family.[3] Her father died in 1902, and her brother James assumed the role of head of the household.[4] She attended Sutton National School.[5] As a teenager she won several local sprint races.[6]
In 1917, Woods started working at a munitions factory in St Helens, where she began playing football.[5] She played her first organised football match in 1918, and in the same year became the first woman to win a race held under Amateur Athletic Association of England (AAA) laws.[6][7] This historic meet, held in Blackpool in 1918, was the first in England to allow women runners, with thirteen female athletes competing in the 80-yard race. Woods developed a rivalry with Elaine Burton.[6]
Club career
Having lost her job in the munitions factory at the end of World War I, Woods was a founding member of the St Helens Ladies football team. Her brother John Woods, who was playing for Halifax Town at the time, was a coach for the team.[5]
In the St Helens team's second match, they were beaten 6–1 by Dick, Kerr Ladies; as St Helens' only goalscorer, midfielder Woods and her teammate Lily Parr caught the attention of Dick, Kerr manager Alfred Frankland.[5] Soon afterwards, Woods began playing for the Preston-based side.[8][9] According to verbal evidence from Alice Norris, it was Woods who suggested to team manager Alfred Frankland that Lily Parr would be a good addition to the club.
Woods scored her first goal for the Dick, Kerr Ladies against a touring team from France on 1 May 1920. Later that year, she travelled to France with the team and also played in the Boxing Day match at Goodison Park.[10] Woods has been described as a "crowd magnet" who helped boost the team's popularity.[11] She also went on tour to the United States in 1922.[12]
Personal life
Woods retired from football in 1928 when she married Herbert Stanley.[3] After starting a family together, the couple moved to Heaton Moor, where Woods remained for the rest of her life.[13] Woods had four children and became known to her family as 'Grandma Boss'.[5][4] She died peacefully at her home in Manchester in 1991, aged 92.[14]
Woods' granddaughter Gaynor Stanley competed in swimming at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.[5] Her great-granddaughter Lauren Quigley also became a swimmer and won three silver medals at the Commonwealth Games.[7]