Pupils from six of Manchester United Foundation’s partner schools were inspired by the city’s rich history of women’s football in a recent event at the National Football Museum.

Young people descended on the city-centre football haven to inspect artefacts and exhibits from the museum with a specific focus on women’s football’s past.

December marked the 103-year anniversary of the FA’s ban on women’s football – brought into force on 5 December 1921 and, incredibly, remaining in place for almost half a century. Jolene Murray, Female Football Education Coordinator for the Foundation, said: “It was brilliant to bring together our young people at the National Football Museum where there’s so much to learn about the history of the beautiful game.

“Taking inspiration from past heroes of women’s football is so important for our young people, and it’s a reminder of how far the game has come and the many role models who have come before.

“We’re always striving to provide our young people with more opportunities in women’s football so we hope this event will make our pupils feel proud to continue playing, whether that’s at one of our schools or community football sites.”

Despite the prolonged ban of the 20th century, women continued to be pioneers of the game – in our city, no less.

As part of one of the workshops, the young people also had a talk from Helen Tither, film director of The Corinthians: We Were The Champions – showcasing the success of the trailblazing women’s football team of our city, Manchester Corinthians.

“It’s been a fantastic event,” said Helen. “I think it’s so important to speak to today’s generations about stories that went before.

"Speaking to the girls and seeing that passion for the game is the reason we’re making this film, to give them heroes to look up to and inspire them moving forward.”