Flo Bilton was influential in the formation of the Women’s Football Association in 1969. She served as WFA membership secretary for many years. 

Flo’s dedication to the game was fantastic, she washed the kit by hand, and created England Caps for the female players after obtaining a men’s cap from a neighbour. She also stitched badges on to kits, chaperoned players and even put together WFA newsletters.

Flo played hockey and netball and cricket of the Reckitt and Colman Factory in Hull where she worked. She was already 40 when the factory leadership tasked her with forming a Women’s team for a charity game in 1963. With Bilton as a Goalkeeper, Reckitt’s saw of rivals Smith and Nephew 2-1 on the 19th April 1963. 

Support from the factory continued and Flo’s team eventually produced future England Captain Carol Thomas as well as Doncaster Belles and England striker Gail Borman. 

Flo passed away in Hull on 22nd July 2004, but her memory in the area lives on.

The Flo Bilton Trophy was contested by girl’s football teams in the East Riding, and her memory lives on through those that she influenced and encouraged within the world of football. 

Carol Thomas was the second captain of England and she is one of the unsung pioneers of the women’s game. 

Carol was born in Hull and played for some of the local teams in the East Riding some of which are still running today. 

As a right back Carol played for England from 1974-1985, earning 56 caps over her 11 year career for her country.

Carol’s love for football came from her dad playing local football on a Sunday, and having a younger and older brother who both liked football, so she came from a football family.

Carol lived a few doors down from the person who ran the British Oil and Cocoa Mills team and they asked Carol to come and join their team,that was just the start of Carol's footballing journey. 

Carol’s role models in football during her playing career were players from the men’s game. As a Hull City fan Carol looked up to players including Ken Wagstaff and Chris Chilton. 

 

The England team was selected through the regional squads that played against each other during the time Carol was selected for the national team. Regional trials would take place to create a team that would compete against other regional teams. The England manager Tommy Trantor at the time Carol was selected would attend the regional matches and invite players to attend trials for England. 

 

In 1974 the FA ran the first Women’s Prelim coaching course at Lilleshall, a week long course which Carol attended. It was here that Tommy invited Carol to attend England trials that weekend after the course had finished.

 

Carols’ first game for England would be against France on 7th November in 1974. After being in the England squad for 2 years, in 1976 Carol was given the role of England Captain. This was something Carol was extremely proud of and was a huge honour for her to lead out her team. The first game for Carol as captain was in a tournament with the home nations in 1976. 

 

It was interesting to find out about the England set up during the 1970’S and 1980’s, as things were very different as to how they are now in terms of training and competitions. When the England team played matches they would meet up on the Friday night, train on a Saturday and play the game on the Sunday. There were no training sessions in the lead up to matches or competitions.

 

A lot of the competitions that Carol played in were unofficial and the competitions/tournaments were done by invitation, similar to the She Believes Cup that the England team have just competed and finished 2nd in.

The England team were invited to play in many invitational tournaments, and Carol got the opportunity to travel to lots of European countries including; Sweden, Italy, France and Belgium to name a few. The furthest she travelled was to Japan in 1981 to play in a competition. Carol enjoyed her time in Japan, the tournament was extremely well organised and the players received free kit during their time there, something which was a huge bonus back then.

Carol was part of the team that made it to the 1984 European Championship where they played Sweden over 2 legs. Unfortunately England were beaten by Sweden but this was a great achievement for England to reach a European Final. The game was televised in Sweden, and there was some newspaper coverage of the game in England. Carol was invited to be interviewed on Breakfast television, which showed the level of interest increasing in the Women’s game. Carol received a £25 fee for this, however this went straight back into the Women’s game. 

Players received expenses for travel during their time in the England squad, however this was percentage of what was paid out and Carol and her teammates did it for the love of the game, as they were honoured and proud to represent their country. 

 

The role of England captain would be one that Carol carried out for 9 years from 1976 till she retired from international football in 1985. During her time in the England squad Carol played under two Managers; Tommy Trantor and Martin Reagan. 

 

After her England career Carol did continue to play football playing for local teams Brandesburton Ladies and AFC Preston. AFC Preston Ladies team are still running today and play in the East Riding Women's County League and have an ever growing girls section at their club. 
Carol has also coached in local primary schools since she stopped playing, and supported coaches at AFC Preston when required. According to local sources she can be often found on the sidelines at Hedon Rangers AFC cheering on the teams there. 

 

Last year Carol was invited to present an award at the FA Women’s Football Awards. She was given the responsibility of presenting the Player of the Year Awards, which was won by Jodie Taylor. 

 

It was a pleasure to meet Carol and speak to her about her footballing career and hear stories about her time playing local football and for England. 

I asked Carol if she had any words of encouragement for any girls or women thinking about getting involved or those already involved. Carol's reply was 'Do it and enjoy it, listen to your coaches, you can learn a lot from them and you can achieve anything.'

Even though Karen is not Hull born and bred she has lived here for a long time and is a dedicated member of the Humberside Police Force and is a positive influence in the communities within Hull. 

Karen started her footballing career at Doncaster Belles where she played for 20 years from the age of 15.

Doncaster Belles during that time were one of the top teams in the Women’s game, and during her time there Karen played in 11 FA Women’s FA Cup Final, winning 5 of them. 

Karen spend the last 2 years of her playing career at Leeds United after moving from the Belles, and finished playing football in 2006. 

Karen was inducted into the English Hall of Fame in 2007. 

It was mostly male role models then. I am a big Manchester United fan so it was Mark Hughes.

What would your message be to any girls or women thinking about playing football and do you have a message for young aspiring footballers?

I would tell anyone to get involved. I got to travel the country and travel the world doing something I love.

It keeps you fit and gives you confidence that you can take into every part of your life.

At this time the world is your oyster as a female footballer.

Don't just sit and watch it on TV! Play, be part of it and have experiences beyond your wildest dreams. You will create memories that you will keep forever until you are old like me.