The 1950s were truly Newcastle United’s last golden age.
Three glorious FA Cup victories, Jackie Milburn, George Robledo, Joe Harvey and a decade when St James’ Park was regularly packed to the rafters.
In the years after World War II, football boomed and folk were determined to enjoy their hard-earned leisure time.
Photos of St James’ Park crowds from that era show mostly men, often smartly dressed, wearing shirts and ties and flat caps.
But there were also women in attendance. What of the female fans who followed United during those halcyon 1950s days?
Now, a new study aims to shine light on the largely neglected experiences of women and girls who watched the Magpies then.
“I’ve been speaking to a wide range of female fans of all age groups. I’ve been able to include some women who went to the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup games in 1968-69. I’d love to be able to include some women who went to matches in the 1950s,” says Dr Stacey Pope, an Associate Professor in the Department of Sport and Exercise Sciences at Durham University .
Her research which aims to uncover women’s experiences as fans of Newcastle United in the 1950s is funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council.
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Dr Pope says: “Women’s experiences as sports fans have been largely invisible with most existing studies focusing exclusively on men. Academic and popular accounts have largely excluded or marginalised women.
“The study is the first of its kind to focus on the experiences of female sports fans in Britain from the 1950s to the present day.”
The project will map wider changes in women’s lives and how these have impacted upon their access to the football stadium.
Dr Pope has so far spoken to 40 women of different ages and is now keen to involve women in the research who attended matches in the 1950s.
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These golden years of English football are usually assumed to have ended in the early 1960s, when crowds started to decline quite rapidly.
Dr Pope would love to speak to female fans who can recall seeing the likes of Jackie Milburn, Bobby Mitchell, Joe Harvey, Frank Brennan and the Robledo brothers at St James’ Park.
Contact Dr Stacey Pope at stacey.pope@durham.ac.uk or telephone 07960090191. The material collected will be used for work at the university, including publications. There are also plans to develop an exhibition from the research.
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