Barmy Archives - Donna Douglas
With the team stepping out at Old Trafford again today and demonstrating the growth of women’s football, let’s take a look back at another player from before the women’s team was disbanded. Donna Douglas was recommended by former team mate Michelle Wilcock who we covered here in issue 2.
Below, from the sold out issue 8 (pdf version still available from here) we spoke with Donna about her experiences in football and in particular at United
In issue 2 we interviewed Michelle Wilcock who played for United before they were disbanded in 2005. She listed Donna Douglas (Dougie) as one of her footballing heroes and labelled her as Mrs Man Utd. I was fortunate enough to beat the time difference and catch up with Dougie, the best footballer to come out of Bridge Hall, for Barmy Article.
Tell us a little bit about where it all began
I grew up in Bridge Hall where Phil Foden grew up
I supported United and had a soft spot for Stockport as they were just down the road. I used to play around Bridge Hall as a kid and was itching to play for the lad’s team but they wouldn’t let me. A coach saw me passing the ball from one foot to the other and told his lads that’s what he wanted them to do on the pitch. I asked every week if I could play but the coach always said no.
At 14, my cousin invited me to play for Dukinfield Ladies, I took 2 buses to get to Dukinfield town hall where I'd get changed into my kit before my cousin picked me up. I was too shy to get changed in the changing room surrounded by adults.
I remember one game where a reporter came to report on a young girl who was considered a prospect, they came up to me after the game saying maybe their feature should have been about me.
I stopped after a season though as the travel was too much. I continued to play locally with the lads though, just not in any teams, but always playing.
How did you get back into competitive football?
I moved to Australia in around 86/87 but came back home to my old job and then it wasn’t until I was around 22 or 23 that I watched an FA Cup final and thought I could compete against those players that I decided I want to play properly again.
I got in touch with a girl who I used to go to school with and asked if she was still playing. She played for Stockport Ladies at the time and said I should come along. I only played a handful of games for Stockport Ladies before they merged with Man Utd, not affiliated with the club but it carried the name which suited me just fine.
We trained at Lower Broughton on a 5 a side pitch, playing 5 a side midweek and then 11 a side at weekends. Our home ground was Priestnall School.
What was it like to play for Man Utd?
My time at United was almost like a full time job on top of work. Coaching and playing, I used to coach the u14 girls and help Michelle with the u12s on Mondays and Wednesdays, trained ourselves on Tuesdays and Thursdays and then extra training Friday if we had a big game to prepare for.
We had some real talent at the time who we knew could go on to make it in football. Dan Turner and Izzy Christiansen were training with us and Jess Holbrook had bags of potential.
We were coaching girls up to the age of 16 then letting them go to other clubs to reap the benefit. Can you imagine that happening with promising young boys, getting their football education at United then being let go to rivals?
We had Izzy on the left and Dan on the right and they’d ping passes from one side of the pitch to the other. They’d discuss before the games how many times they’d switch it to each other.
As well as coaching I also drove the mini bus and I’d promise the kids before the game that if they scored 3 i’d go around the roundabout once, if they scored 10 I’d go around 3 times. The number of times we were doing laps of the roundabout, kids loving it while a convoy of parents were following behind.
I swear if you’d have put those kids against boys the same age they’d have definitely held their own. When they were at United I swore there was a pathway for them but it seemed to die off. Appraising kids at the end of each season, I’d tell them the pathway was there but that pathway ended up being at other clubs.
It was clear from the start it was low on the priority list for United at the time. While we were brought under the United umbrella they never really acknowledged the fact they had a women’s team. It was great to have the Cliff but the support wasn’t there.
I think there was also a bit of jealousy, we were taking the young girls all over the place where at the time, some of the boys teams weren’t getting to go.
It was great to play in some of the places I’ve played, City, Chelsea, Villa, Wembley, up at a few Scottish teams, and some of the coaches I’ve had who’ve stood me in good stead even up to now. The pride was immense. Even putting that Stockport shirt on just those few times. I felt pride for every shirt I’ve put on. Whether it's Gosnall who I pay for now, Dukinfield Ladies, Stockport, United probably more so because of the magnitude of the club but every shirt, every time filled me with pride. It’s fantastic to look back on.
Tell us a little about you and Michelle and your history in football together
Before we ever played together, she skinned me when she was a 15 year old playing for Wigan. I told her if she did it again she’d be booted off the pitch. She put it through my legs again and I kicked her not just for the rest of that game but every time we played them again that season. Then shortly after she was at United playing in the same team and I had to stop kicking her.
What about the difference in culture now you’re in Australia?
It was a little frustrating to me how much of a social activity football was in Australia when I first moved over. I wanted to compete, I wanted more commitment but that wasn’t how women's football here was then. Now it’s grown more into what I’m used to. My friends play the equivalent of Sunday League and it's very competitive at grass roots levels.
Before I moved to Australia, my son was 12 and he’d never been able to focus on his own football as it was all about me. If I couldn’t get him to his grandparents he’d be at the Cliff with me, at training or at games. 5 or 6 days a week there’d be something football related I was involved in so when we got here the first thing I did was look for a team of his own that he could get properly involved in.
I took him to a local team who were full so I searched the internet and found a team who needed players. I got him in there and I now play for the team who were full and coached my sons team for 3 years. Unfortunately my son tore his ACL so only plays 5 a side now.
Michelle mentioned frustrations about the club’s lack of acknowledgement of the women’s team’s history, what are your thoughts?
My playing days are great to look back on. It is a little annoying but anybody who knows football knows these girls weren’t the first. I think that goes for all teams. We used to play against these clubs when it was Knowlsey FC before Liverpool and Leasowe Pacific before Everton. All of them started under different names and became these teams through affiliation. Going right back to Dick Kerr Ladies and the FA ban because they were getting more supporters than the men, every woman who played through that period has contributed to bringing women’s football to the point it is today.
It’s now not only being recognised that women can play football, but that any woman can play, that it’s a valid career choice, that girls can aspire to be a professional footballer rather than fit it around the rest of their life.
Players play because they love it. I've cancelled family holidays to play football. The commitment has always been there, you need to love what you do and now the whole of women’s football is reaping the rewards of all those years of women continuing to play football because they loved it. Right up to the Lionesses winning the euros.
I have friends here now who are going out specifically buying an England Women’s shirt, me and some friends are going over to Sydney to watch the World Cup next year.
I actually went to LSV with Michelle last time I was over. I think they’re doing alright, I think they’re promoting it in the right way. They’re giving girls the opportunities I wish I’d have had. I think it's great it’s getting publicised properly, United really seem to be pushing it, I’m certainly not going to knock the girls for it, good luck to them.