by You may not have heard of Bella Reay, but with an impressive record of 133 goals in 30 games for Blyth Spartans, she is the most prolific goalscorer in North East football’s long and illustrious history.
The goal-scoring feats of Jackie Milburn and Alan Shearer have been celebrated for generations, but Reay’s exploits have been largely forgotten – for the simple reason that she was, they say, a woman playing a man’s game.
Wor Bella, a play written by Ed Waugh and being performed this month in Clapham and then at the Newcastle Theater Royal, aims to change that.
It’s just a story about a young girl who became famous locally for her amazing scoring statistics. It also provides an insight into a turbulent period in the history of the Football Association, when men in suits – in football and politics – were trampled all over women’s rights in a post-war world.
After playing a central role in the First World War effort, with over 800,000 Munitionettes brought into the factories to keep the industrial machine going and the guns on the front line firing, women were returned to their previous roles in society when the peace broke. out and the male workforce came home.
“It’s a period of English football that has been banished from history,” says Waugh. “I came here because I read a book by Patrick Brennan about women’s football in the North East during the First World War. It opened my eyes because a lot has been said, all right, about the women from the North West – like Lily Parr – who are portrayed as pioneers in women’s football in the First World War and the 1920s.
“They deserve everything, don’t get me wrong. But Patrick’s book highlights the fact that women’s football in the North East was at the forefront of the game, as our first game took place in Wallsend in February 1917. The Blyth Spartans women’s team was formed in July 1917 and played their first game in August of that year.”
The public was still keen to watch the national game during the war and women’s football filled the void. He also helped raise money for wartime charities.
“The reason women started playing football was because of the savagery that happened on the battlefields of Europe,” says Waugh. “Nearly a million men, British and Commonwealth soldiers, were killed, killed or wounded in a few months, leading to conscription in 1916.
“Men were called up and women stepped into their roles in the workplace. It was a war economy, it could be anything from shipbuilding to weapons.
“Spontaneously, these women started playing football in the bait time of the North East – lunchtime. Because men’s football was banned in 1915, there was a huge gap for people who wanted to go see football.
“The war had ended before Christmas in 1914, which did not happen, but the Government had made no provision for people who lost men fighting in the war; orphaned children, sick, injured, widows. People started collecting money to help them at cinemas and theatres, but these women’s games first started to raise money for these charities.”
Reay, who was born in 1900 in the Northumberland coastal town of Blyth, was still a teenager when she joined Spartans and finished her lone season unbeaten, also winning a cup final. Waugh came across her when he was trying to write a play telling the story of another player involved in that 1918 Munitionettes Cup final.
He says: “The two best teams, Bolckow Vaughan and Blyth Spartans, met in a final at St James’ Park in March. It ended in a 0-0 draw in front of 18,000 people. The replay was held six weeks later at Middlesbrough’s Ayresome Park and Blyth Spartans won 5–0 in front of a crowd of 22,000. Bella Reay scored a hat-trick.
“She wasn’t the player of the match, that went to Mary Lyons. She was the youngest player to play for England when she was only 15. So the idea was initially to make a play about her, but the club historian at Blyth gave me all the records and it was Bella the most obvious person to write about, easily. 30 games, in 14 months, scoring 133 goals.”
The women’s game was banned in England until 1971
Her time in the spotlight was short. Reay was one of the best footballers in the country in 1918 but three years later, she and all other female players were banned from playing – a law that would remain in place until 1971.
“Football was caught up in a wider change after the war,” says Waugh. “These men who were running the game were afraid of the rise of women’s football and they were afraid it would undermine them.
“On top of that, the mines that were nationalized during the war were returned to the coal owners. They had made a lot of money during the war but told the miners they had to take a 40 percent pay cut now that it was over. It was April 1921.
“On December 5, 1921, women’s football was banned. It was a shame. It is a shameful piece of FA history. The game is not just about football, it’s about women’s rights. These women who saved the war effort, were not even allowed to vote. The women who helped save the country were not able to vote until 1928. Women were sidelined after the war, football was a symbol of that desire to put women back in their rightful place – to have children and take care of the men. Women like Bella were forgotten and cast aside. That’s why I wanted to tell this story.”
Wor Bella takes place at the Bread & Roses Theatre, Clapham, on 22-24 April and at Newcastle Theater Royal on 27-28 April.
