Editorial – At a time when we’re savoring the sight of the women’s game in full bloom, it’s impossible not to wonder how much bigger it might already be – and how much richer its story would read – had jealousy and sexism not slammed the brakes on progress in the early 20th century.

The records tell us this is no modern fad. International women’s matches were being played in Britain as far back as 1881. The British Ladies’ Football Club, formed in 1895, regularly drew crowds north of 10,000. During the First World War, teams sprang up from the munitions factories; a cup competition followed, and when Blyth Spartans met Bolckow Vaughan in the final, 22,000 people turned up to watch.

By 1921, women’s football was often more popular than the men’s. And that, perhaps, was the problem. The English Football Association intervened, declaring that “the game of football is quite unsuitable for females and ought not to be encouraged,” and banned...