The Lost Lionesses

Paul Rance looks back to the 1971 Women's World Cup and the former bus driver and Spanish civil war veteran who coached them

- Paul Rance

In the early 1970s, women's football in England was a far cry from what it is today. Today, England's Lionesses such as Beth Mead, Lucy Bronze and recently retired international goalkeeper Mary Earps are as well-known as their male contemporaries. However, more than 50 years ago, Harry Batt, a one-time bus driver from Luton and veteran of the Spanish civil war and World War Two, set out to push women's football forward.

In 1971, Luton boasted one of the strongest women's teams in England in Chiltern Valley Ladies. Luton Ladies was another excellent side, and the Bedfordshire town was really the epicentre of women's football in England in the early 1970s. Harry Batt was the manager of Chiltern Valley Ladies, which was trained by his wife, June. Harry, though, had national and international aspirations regarding spreading the growth of women's football. There was an unofficial Women's World Cup in Mexico in the summer of 1971, and Harry set out to assemble a team called the British Independents for the tournament. It was, in effect, an unofficial England Ladies team, and in the programme for the tournament the team was called England.

This team would become known as “the Lost Lionesses”, although “the Forgotten Lionesses” seemed more apposite for many years. The team of 1971 included players from Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Leicestershire, Warwickshire, Yorkshire, and Hampshire (Southampton Ladies was another notable team of the time). Captain Carol Wilson was from Newcastle upon Tyne.