Manchester City has a long history of involvement with women’s football.
Over 100 years ago games were staged at the club’s Hyde Road ground, while film star Charlie Chaplin was expected at a game between a French team and Preston’s Dick, Kerr Ladies team, though he never actually made it.
Fast forward to 1988 and City established its own women’s team that has since found great success.
But there are many other stories, people and moments that connect this club to the long history of women’s football.
One of the largely unknown connections is with the Manchester Corinthians team that was established in 1948/49 and played on for over four decades.
At the recent WSL Manchester derby, staged at the Etihad, City invited several women who played for the pioneering Manchester Corinthians between 1948/49 and 1991/92.
This included a couple of players in their 80s and 90s who had not met since the early 1960s.
They had a wonderful time and were delighted that the club recognised their part in the development of women’s football.
Over the coming weeks Gary will be writing about some of the connections between City and the Corinthians, focusing on women who played for this remarkable, pioneering club as they toured the world finding great success.
Gary has been interviewing women who played for the Corinthians for over a decade and first met some Corinthians back in 1988/89 when they played with his wife for the original City Ladies team.
At the start of 2025 he published Manchester Corinthians: The Authorised History to allow everyone to find out more about this pioneering club.
The Corinthians played their part in developing leagues, competitions, governing bodies and even helped establish the first England international team. All of this is captured in the book.
There are some truly remarkable stories, told by the women who played.
Earlier this season Gary organised a reunion for the Corinthians at the Etihad where over 90 people came, including a woman in her nineties who first played for the Corinthians 75 years ago.
Next week he’ll write about how the legendary City men’s goalkeeper Bert Trautmann asked her and the other Corinthians to represent England on a football tour to Germany.
Many of the women who played for the Corinthians were fans of City and some of them will be featured here over the coming weeks.
Gary will also explain a few other connections involving former City men such as Dave Ewing and Matt Busby but, more importantly, highlight the stories of City fans, such as Margaret Whitworth, who played her part in a major trophy success for the Corinthians in Venezuela in 1960.
To get a feel for these remarkable women and the Manchester Corinthians, you can watch a film, produced by Imprint Films and driven forward by John Tueart - son of City legend Dennis - at the reunion in December.
The women who played for the Corinthians are truly remarkable and their stories tell how women’s football developed over the last eight years, from a time when women’s football was banned to the establishment of clubs like our own City team playing in the WSL.
Next week Gary will be talking about City supporting Corinthians who found major success with the club in the 1950s.
Manchester Corinthians: The Authorised History can be ordered direct from Gary by clicking here.