Lily Parr to be first female to be honoured with statue at National Football Museum

Lily Parr - Lily Parr to be first female to be honoured with statue at National Football Museum
Sculptor Hannah Stewart has created a life-size bronze statue of Lily Parr

A 32-year career during which 980 goals were scored will be celebrated by the historic unveiling of the first statue of a female footballer in the UK next month.

Lily Parr’s trailblazing story will be commemorated with a life-size bronze statue, created by sculptor Hannah Stewart, which will be on show at the National Football Museum in Manchester early next month.

Parr played for Dick, Kerr Ladies, a team comprised of workers at a munitions factory in Preston after which it was named. It is one of the earliest women’s teams in England. She played from 1919 to 1951.

Female participation levels surged during the First World War and Parr’s career began at a time when the women’s game overshadowed that of the men’s. 

A Boxing Day match in the same year between Dick, Kerr and St Helens Ladies at Goodison Park was watched by a crowd of 53,000, with 14,000 more unable to get into the ground – yet the Football Association soon outlawed the game, deeming it unsuitable for females. Parr’s career continued for Preston Ladies. She was an outside-left winger who was reputedly armed with one of the most powerful shots in the game.

Such was her prolific goalscoring record that in 2002, the St Helens-born player became the first woman to be inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame at the National Football Museum. The statue of Parr, commissioned by the Football Association sponsors Mars, will join strikingly few commemorating individual named sportswomen in the UK, where there are believed to be just two: double Wimbledon tennis champion Dorothy Round in her home town of Dudley and Olympic pentathlon champion Dame Mary Peters in Belfast.

“We have come a long way since Lily Parr’s days and she deserves recognition as a true pioneer of the sport,” Marzena Bogdanowicz, head of commercial and marketing of women’s football at the FA.

“Lily Parr was the first woman to enter the Football Hall of Fame, an iconic achievement in itself, so it’s only fitting that she takes her place alongside other football legends and becomes the first woman to be celebrated with a statue.”

Gemma Buggins, Mars brand director, said: “Lily Parr was the heroine of her time in the sporting world. It’s an honour to be able to recognise her and commemorate the inspirational woman that she was.

“With England’s Lionesses preparing for this summer’s tournament, we hope the unveiling of the first ever female footballer statue spurs them on and gives them the motivation to go all the way.”

  • Support England’s Lionesses this summer on social media using the Mars hashtag #SupportHer
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