Analysis: A snowstorm delayed Ireland's first ever clash against England, but the message nearly didn't reach the team
By Helena Byrne, British Library
Tonight the Republic of Ireland WNT take on England in Norwich in front of a sold out crowd, in their fifth and penultimate Group A3 match in the UEFA EURO 2025 Qualifier. Although they have not taken any points away from the matches so far, the Girls in Green still have a shot at qualifying for UEFA EURO 2025 through the playoffs. England are currently ranked third (France superseded England last month) while the Republic of Ireland remains 25th in the FIFA Women's World Rankings. This is the ninth time that the sides have faced each other, but so far we haven’t beaten England, and have only managed to score one goal against them, at the first meeting in 1978.
In its inaugural year, the Republic of Ireland WNT played four international matches: one at home against Northern Ireland and three away against Wales, France and Northern Ireland in 1973. The following year they played Scotland, but it was not until 1978, almost five years since their first international match, that they faced our near neighbours, England.
There has always been a close connection with the football community in England as Dundalk Ladies were founding members of the Women's Football Association (WFA). So why did it take so long to organise a match between the two sides? We don't have all the answers to that as many of the people involved in organising these matches have passed away. Nevertheless, we can infer from the club matches that took place between the countries, as well as snippets of correspondence and documentation that has survived, as to why this might have been the case.
From FAI TV, meet Marie McKenna (née Brown) - the first WNT player to captain our country against England in 1978
İn 1970 Dundalk Ladies, managed by Kevin and Nan Gaynor, travelled to Wales to take on the Manchester club Corinthian Nomads in a friendly match. As neither country had a UEFA recognised international team at this stage, this meeting was dubbed England v Ireland even though it was a club match. Dundalk Ladies travelled with three guest players from the Dublin club All Stars to strengthen their team, but although they played well they lost the match 7-1.
The gulf in standards between the two sides was notable but this was still a respectable score, as it wouldn't have been uncommon for Corinthians to score as many as twelve goals in a game. The following year, Dundalk Ladies played a home and away tie with Prestatyn Ladies from Wales. This time the team had the guest players from All Stars as well as two players from Mayfair Ladies, based in Portadown, Northern Ireland. The score lines were not as high as their previous foray into international club football.
It is likely that with Kevin Gaynor's first-hand knowledge of the level of play in England, he was hesitant to organise an official international match during the early years of the WNT. Instead, it seems he tried to organise a joint team with one of the neighbours to face England. The March to April 1972 Women's Football Association newsletter mentions a potential forthcoming international match of a combined Wales and Republic of Ireland team against England. It is not clear why, but this match never took place.
It's a scanning morning! Digitising some more of our brilliant women's football collection pic.twitter.com/ezVHEY2qVK
— Dr Alexander Jackson (@DrAlexJack1) October 11, 2023
When the Northern Irish Ladies Football Association (NILFA) was formed in late 1972, Kevin Gaynor reached out to the committee through representative Alex James with two questions: one, fix a date for an international match between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, and two, field a joint team to play against England. It was this second request that caused a lot of debate amongst the NILFA, but after a lot of deliberation, they decided that they would prefer to field an independent team. Consequently, that seems to explain why it was not until 1978 that England and Ireland met for the first time.
The match, originally scheduled to take place at St James' Park in Exeter on February 15, 1978, would cost everyone attending (players and officials) £48 (when adjusted for inflation this would be €369.39 in 2024). Twenty-four people were due to travel from Ireland, while three players on the team were based in London and would join up with them in Exeter.
But just days before the match was due to take place a massive snowstorm passed over Exeter and made it impossible for the match to go ahead. However, due to a postal strike there were no phone lines working at the time and the WFA could only get a message to the Irish team - through the radio and ferry services - with a few hours to go before they were due to travel. The match was rescheduled to May 2, when the weather would not have an impact on the match.
From FAI TV, Ireland WNT squad announcement for the final two EURO 2025 qualifiers against England and France
Limerick's Marian Leahy made her international debut in this match in goals. The match finished 6-1, with Catherine Hynes (listed as Kathleen in the programme) scoring the only goal for the Republic. Despite the high score line, the newspapers were full of praise for Marian’s performance in goals. The Irish Press said "but for the bravery of Irish goalkeeper Marian Leahy, making her international debut, the margin would have been greater". In an interview with The42, Marian, who hadn't even been supposed to play that day, recalled, "when I walked off that field, I actually got a standing ovation from the crowd. The report afterwards said it could have been 10 or 11 had I not played that day and I just seemed to play on my skin".
Hopefully, Catherine Hynes’s record can be broken tonight and Ireland will score some goals against England.
Helena Byrne is a librarian that specialises in web archiving and an independent researcher focusing on the history of women’s football in Ireland. She regularly contributes history segments to FAI Women's National Team match programmes and recently contributed to projects that celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of the formation of the Republic of Ireland's Women's National team in 1973.
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