It was in England during World War I. Men were being sent off to battle for the country and risk their lives, and women were more than willing to help with the war effort. They did this by working at the munitions factories to make the equipment that the soldiers needed. Then they began to entertain their fellow civilians on the soccer field, per the BBC.

A league even formed among the factory workers. The Dick, Kerr ladies from a munitions factory in Preston was the one that essentially started it all. These women were not dainty waifs, either. Apparently, Lilly Parr, who played on the team, had such a booming shot it broke a male goalkeeper’s arm.

There was a lot of success, but then the men started returning home from the war in 1921. After which, the women were pretty much told that their place was in the home, not on the football pitch. They were refused entry on the field. 

Yet, over the generations, women never stopped working to be able to do the same things that men do, and the efforts have succeeded in sports like soccer and basketball thanks to Title IX, which passed in 1972, per History, along with many Olympic events. Surely, the women from the Dick, Kerr soccer team would watch all of this with pride.