The Pre-Match Kiss

Where the men exchanged a handshake, the Dick, Kerr Ladies and their opponents exchanged a kiss at the centre circle — and the press photographers, who knew a picture when they saw one, made it one of the signatures of the women’s game at its first peak. It reads now as it read then: two captains, entirely unbothered by the novelty they were supposed to be, running their fixture with its own manners. The women’s game of 1917–1921 was not an imitation of the men’s; it had its own crowds, its own stars, and its own ceremonies. This was one of them.

Maker

press photograph

Date

c. 1921

Medium of the original

Press photograph

Original held by

Unknown press photographer, 1921 · Wikimedia Commons

Credit

Unknown press photographer, 1921 · Wikimedia Commons

Rights

Public domain, verified

Catalogue number

PA-01092