Football is no longer just a man’s game and the exploits of the England Ladies football team in the World Cup really has proved the point. The England ladies have done us proud!

But it is a common misapprehension that women’s football is a relatively new phenomenon.

The famous Dick, Kerr Ladies Football Club from Preston played between 1917 and 1965 and dominated women’s soccer. One of the golden girls of that team and indeed British Women’s soccer was Nan Thomson who later became an assistant matron at the Old Manor Hospital and a founder member of the Salisbury Samaritans.

Nancy, as she was known in her footballing days was proud to have been associated with this team who had a formidable playing record.

Of 825 games they won 758 and lost only 24 matches in 48 years.

They also drew huge crowds, including the 53,000 who packed into Goodison Park, Everton, on Boxing Day 1920 to see them play.

Unfortunately the women’s game wasn’t so popular with the football association.

In 1921 it banned women from playing at the grounds of FA clubs and for 50 years refused to recognise the existence of women’s football.

“The men didn’t want us, they were jealous,” Nan later reported.

Her own footballing career began in Scotland with Edinburgh Ladies. But she soon came to the attention of the Dick, Kerr side when she helped inflict a rare defeat on the team by scoring a hat-trick.

Manager Alfred Franklin was quick to try to persuade her to join the Preston team.

She played her first match for Preston Ladies (as they later became known) in 1939 as a guest player and ended up staying for over 15 years.

She captained the side and also played for Scotland.

Playing centre forward or centre half, her chief playing strengths were speed and ball control while team-mates nicknamed her Cannonball because of the power of her shot.

When she moved to Preston, a job was arranged for her at the Whittingham psychiatric hospital and psychiatric nursing was to become her career.

She eventually came to the Old Manor Hospital and was fondly remembered by Richard Avery: “I knew her from 1963 to late 1970. She was a stocky lady, about 5ft 6in. She was of an outdoor rugged appearance because she was crazy about golf.

"A generally kindly person with a wicked sense of humour – but she took no nonsense from anybody. She used to get about town on her bicycle after she retired.”

As mentioned by Richard, Nan was passionate about golf. Indeed, she became the captain of the women’s section of the Salisbury and South Wilts golf club and she was still playing three times a week well into her 70s!

In the 1990s Nan Thomson was recorded as saying that she was confident that a future existed for women’s football and that she’d like to see more sponsorship. “Girls should have the chance to play football at school, it’s such a lovely game” she said.

So as we enjoy the richly deserved success of the England Women’s Football Team, let’s raise a glass to Nan Thomson, one of the early pioneers of ladies football!