Battle of the sexes on the football field
WOMEN’S football has really taken off in recent years, but here in the Black Country we have a long, proud history of it.
Regular Bugle readers will have read about the Handy Angle girls, who represented a Brierley Hill factory and travelled the country, thrashing virtually every team unfortunate enough to cross their path.
And here, from the Bugle archives, is another women’s side from more than two decades ago, in 1995.
They were Tipton Town Ladies FC, and this, we believe, was their first line-up. They were, from left in the back row: Sue Turner, Anna Mcmillan, Donna Lewis, Vicki Banks, Rachel Laird, Sue Summers. Behind them are manager Paul Laird, chairman Adrian Hoffman and fixture secretary Rob Mills.
Front row, left to right: Debbie Hoffman, Angela Mockler, mascot Shannon Mockler, Kerry Cooper, Anna Wright (captain), Lisa Butler, Leanne Fellows, Jayne Hodge.
Clash
On this occasion they were about to take on Tipton’s men’s team, who are shown below. They lined up as: (back row, from left): Steve Mills, Steve Fellows, Carl Sayce, Wayne Thornton, Richard Bastable, Gary Steven.
Front row, from left: Martin Hickman, Garry Morris, Mark Hudson, Dave Edwards (manager) Dave Whitehouse, Paul Shaw, Allan Jesson.
Apparently as soon as the photos were taken, the girls changed into their away strip to avoid an all-stripes clash.
The boys won by a comfortable 8-1, but Bugle columnist Harry Harrison, who was there for the game, witnessed some decent passing and a header from Angela Mockler which he claimed Steve Bull himself would have been proud of.