Brunshaw Youth Club girls take part in an intensive pre-match training session.
It is often said that "there is not enough to do" for girls in youth clubs, and they themselves bitterly complain that they are always expected to serve in the coffee bar, play net ball in a ladylike manner, and to carry out those youth club duties for which they appear to be eminently suited. Too often, they say, the table tennis tables are monopolised by the boys, and even in recent years, the boys have done well in the cookery competitions. But all that is over as far as the girls at Brunshaw Youth Club are concerned, for they are invading that, predominantly male preserve, the football field!
The team captain, 17-year-old Pat O'Brien, will lead her team out at Higher Towneley on Sunday afternoon, 18th October 1970, not to serve refreshments, or to dish out lemons to the boys, but actually to play soccer. Their opponents will be another group of girls seeking emancipation via the football field, girls from Todmorden County Secondary School. The Brunshaw team is Pat O'Brien, Lynda Holden, Susan Barritt, Marjorie Barritt, Kathy Cleaves, Ella Rowan, Mary Rowan, Anna Rowan, Sharon Copeman and Carol Eckert. The team is still without a goalkeeper, but as Peter Mellor, of Burnley FC, is the referee, a little professional advice may be welcome. Kick-off is at 2.30 p.m., and the proceeds will be handed over to the Mayor's Fund.