Dawn of a new goal-den era

After decades in the doldrums, women's soccer is finally enjoying mass appeal, as Agence France-Presse reports

Women's soccer has fought a long battle for recognition - but after several false starts the game has swelled in popularity and this year's World Cup finals in France promises to be the most-watched in history.

The women's game first emerged in Britain after World War I and found a new wave of support in the late 1960s before receding - only to re-emerge in the 1990s.

The emancipation movement after World War I triggered what many historians consider to be the golden age of women's soccer.

As men were drafted to the front, women took their place on the factory floor. During their breaks, some enjoyed kick-arounds in the yards, a tradition the male factory workers had previously enjoyed.

The era's great team was formed at the Dick, Kerr & Co.'s munitions factory in Preston, northwest England, and their star player, Lily Parr, remains the sole woman in English soccer's Hall of Fame. She was inaugurated in 2009.

On Dec 26, 1920, over 53,000 fans filled Everton's Goodison Park in Liverpool to watch Dick, Kerr Ladies beat St. Helen's 4-0.

However, the following year, the Football Association banned women from playing on Football League grounds, saying "the game of football is quite unsuitable for females and ought not to be encouraged".

Feminist movement

Women's soccer then began to gain ground in Belgium, France and Germany. But without national infrastructures, it faded in the 1930s.

By the 1960s, the burgeoning feminist movement gave the game fresh impetus.

"The movement liberated women not only politically but physically," said historian Anais Bohuon of Paris Sud university.

"We could do what the men did and if we wanted to pursue physical pastimes, we could."

The women's game once again raised its head when the first European championships took place in 1969. Italy emerged the winner, although neither UEFA nor FIFA recognized the event as official.

A seven-nation World Cup was organized in Italy in 1970, won by Denmark, and several other events took place without FIFA's sanction.