The daily morning journal and courier., 1895-03-14

| "You are quite right" said Miss Hon ] eyball, putting aside an ominous batch | of correspondence to give me some de- | tails; "there is nothing of the farcical
 nature about the British Ladies' Foot
 ball club. l founded the association late 1 last year. with the fixed resolve of prov
 ing to the world that women are not | the ornamental and useless creatures men have pictured. l must confess, my convictions on all matters where the
 sexes are so widely divided are all on the side of emancipation, and I look for ward to the time when ladies may sit in parliament and have a voice in the
 direction of affairs, especially those
 which concern them most"
 "Then, take it, you also anticipate time when big league football clubs
 will be composed of players both male and female?"
 "Such consummation is, of course, very far distant but 1t is possible. You must remember we do not profess to the strength of men"-Miss Honeyball did not mention brute force,' like the lady in "Rebellious Susan"-"but we claim the science, and, in my opinion, football IS just the exercise to promote health and grace among women"
 But have all your members a moral courage to face public attendance on the fleld?"
 "Why not? There is nothing at all questionable in our costume, When Lady Florence Dixie consented to be- come president she specially stipulated that if the club were to attain it's end the girl should enter into the spirit of the game with heart and soul. I will have nothing to do with the balloon sleeves and trained skirts, and any thing like that she said; don't court ridicule by ridiculing yourselves Ac- cordingly we all have our costumes of divided skirts-a sort of blue serge knickerbocker-and the teams will be distinguished by wearing, respectively, cardinal and pale blue blouses. You will detect no nervousness in the girls when they make their first public ap- pearance. We practice twice a week" |"
 q suppose you had good deal of trouble in obtaining members?"
 Not at all I have players from all parts of London, and a few have to travel from farther suburbs, They num- Der close upon thirty, and three or four are married, the ages varying from fif- l teen to twenty-six. Of course, when we first began, complaints were made of stiffness and soreness, but that soon wore off, and you would be surprised to see the energy thrown into the game Our original idea was to play our first match on January 12, but good many difficulties stood in the way, SO we de- cided to postpone it until the end of the month on the Crouch End Ground, and | we will call 1t north vs. south. Then, | if we attain any sort of success, we | hope to visit few of the provinces | and endeavor to foster the game among | the ladies there"
 "You may expect an amount of ad- ! verse criticism"
 q know it, Already the comic pa pers have burlesqued the notion right | and left. All the members are of the middle class, else how could they spare | the time and expense to indulge in practice?"
 "How did you go about getting the team together?"
 Well, in the first-instance I adver- tised, and, as you can guess, I received a few bogus applications from young | men, However, called all the ladies to a meeting, and we soon proceeded | to business. None of them, of course, had previously played, but like myself, | had gained all their experience and love | of football from frequent onlooking. | Then came the question of ground The of the Oval refused to allow | us the use of that ground. and event. ually we made arrangements with Mir c. ". de Lyons Pike to practise and | play on the Nightingale Lane enclos- ure. We have been out so far very regular no matter what the weather, | and each time the improvement in style Is more marked Mir J. w. Jul Ian, the well known half-back, is acting IS coach, and rendering valuable assis- tanoe"
 "Then may take if there will be no the club is come to stay and astonish creation?"
 You need have no fear of the col apse of the association" said Miss confidently q told the girls plainly at the outset-they were III SlTdHBeIS tO ult, except my SlSleF- hat if they ever wished to give up to ell me at once, and I would get others Q take their places; but, so far from hat, the attendance at practice is as- good. We had little test game one day, and one side won 8 soals to 6; but, of course, all interest s being centered on the day we admit he public, for, as you may guess, our practice is strictly private Lady Dix e. who has evinced great interest, will loubtless be present, and has offered { o present the winning eleven with cop- es of her 'Glorana, work which will [ ppeal to us all. In addition, weekly l