Our Beautiful Game

by Lou Kuenzler

A hundred years before the Lionesses, Lily Parr, Alice Woods and their teammates were proudly playing their beloved, exciting and skilful game.

They can take our ball, but they can never stop the game.

As men were sent to fight in the war, women and girls took their place in munitions factories. Football became a favourite pastime and, before long, they were creating all-female sides and playing public matches to sell-out crowds, overshadowing the men's football. Despite drawing crowds of 50,000, women's football was outlawed by the Football Association in 1921, who deemed it 'unsuitable for females'.

This is the incredible story of these amazing women.

Genres: War, Sports, Historical Fiction, Historical, Friendship, Family

400 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2021

About the author

Hello and welcome to my Goodreads page. Now you have found me here, you can find information on all my published books and hear about work in progress too.

I write for children from picture books through to middle grade historical fiction.

I am also very proud to teach others how to write for children and work with many now-published authors.

For more information, check out my website:

Reviews

[K M Laume]

I enjoy reading WWI stories and I love football and I’m a woman who grew up interested in more historically ‘masculine’ pastimes - so I thoroughly enjoyed reading this latest book by my brilliant writing tutor Lou. Definitely had me hooked straight away - Polly’s moxie and drive, the push and pull of family life and duty vs burning ambition (a feeling I know well), interesting historical tidbits, genuinely likable and disagreeable characters - all kept me turning those pages. Though I found Polly a little bit tiring at times in her selfishness her character does develop and grow throughout the book. Only thing I wasn’t always sold on was some of the characters having such clear cut modern liberal thoughts in parts, but I suppose those moments help engage readers of this current era. I enjoyed all the historical lingo - several phrases my parents definitely said to me growing up! Pace was spot on for the plot (at one point I was worried the book might turn into one of those stories building up to a single match of underdogs vs champs , but thank goodness it didn’t!) and the story dealt well with heavy topics like war, death, disfigurement and shell shock/mental health within its historical context. Would love to see this as a film someday 🤞🏼

[Saskia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

My relationship with football is ... well ... loose, and I don't particularly enjoy sport books. I do, however, enjoy books with strong and stroppy young women who don't see why the made-up rules of WW1 society should prevent her from achieving her dreams!

Polly is born to play football. Bored to tears by the classroom and frustrated by her mother's life of abject poverty, motherhood many times over, and daily household drudgery, Polly becomes the architect of her own future, carving a place for herself in the world, and learning a few important things along the way.

Very depressing postscript that made me (and presumably Polly) want to punch someone. Hard. Somewhere soft.

CW: verbal derogatory sexist/sexual cat-calling, body horror

Y9, Y10

[Victoria-Melita Zammit · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very sweet story, not only about football and following your dreams, but also about sexism, gender roles, and the poor women who had to go through so much while working at the munitions factories. I didn't know anything about what these poor women went through and it was heartbreaking to learn about.

Highly recommended for girls who are interested in football and those interested in WWI!

[Catherine Ingram · Rating 5 out of 5]

A complete classic. Beautifully written, it's a deep and emotional story. The main character Polly is obsessive about football. She's wonderfully real and modern. A flawed hero, her flaws make her human, and you root for her throughout.

[Wendy Bamber · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book for anyone interested in the growth of women’s football in the industrial towns of England during the First World War and general life for the lower working classes. Very realistic outcomes for several characters, suitable year 6, 7/8+ to junior high school.

[Trisha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Emotional, inspirational, sad (sometimes).

[sgh · Rating 5 out of 5]

I LOVED this book, it taught me so much about the role of women in WWI, and it’s great to read such authentic working-class stories. This feels like an instant classic and I hope it will be.

[Aaron Levene · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rollicking read. Historically interesting, warm and witty with characters you feel for.

[Siba E · Rating 5 out of 5]

A light read yet packed with history.

[Kerrie Durkin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Only one word to describe this book - STUNNING!

A must read for anyone aged 10-100+.

I will definitely recommend this book to my students Year 5+ as well as reading as a class book.