SPORT 1913 - 2013

part two_CHAPTER 8

allocation spreading slowly and even influ- encing activities in amateur clubs” (Kssis 2008). 1912-1920: First Activists for Women Doing Sport Women sport booms particularly after World War I. The first official women football match takes place in 1918, in the stadium of Saint Ouen, near today’s Stade de France, and was organised by “Femina sport”. At that time it was the only women’s football club, founded in 1912 by a gentleman, Pierre Payssé, former world champion in gymnastics. Critical voic- es came from athletes who said that football is too violent or unsightly for women. Espe- cially the sport journal “L’Auto” led the way by asking “Should women play football?” In the May/June issue of “Les Sports féminins” Pierre Payssé (1918) wrote that “how could someone think that the fatigue of a game should be considered superior to a complete lesson of Swedish medical gymnastics? Lose their grace? (…) Among the 22 players of the France versus Belgium game, there are some, including the 2 women captains, who are able to dance after a melody of Gluck or a waltz of Schubert with the same ease as Isadora Dun- can’s ballet dancers”. In 1917, “Femina sport” and “En Avant”, another multisport club and pioneer in wom- en sport, merged to create the “Fédération Féminine Sportive de France” (FFSF). In 1918, Alice Milliat, today nearly unknown to the public, becomes secretary general then presi-

Vincennes underground station. A serious grid of Paris! Since 1 p.m. all the rows are packed. People find themselves refused to ac- cess the terraces where spectators already crowd together as far as the running track. The competition is chaired by Henry Paté, high commissioner of physical education at the ministry of war. Fifteen thousand specta- tors, estimations of the paper “Le Matin”, many ladies in white and colourful dresses between gentlemen all dressed in black, with frocks and bowler hats. Women change their habits, men do not… It is no more the mascu- line crowd who watched the match against the British on these terraces two years ago; nowa- days there’s a feminine audience for feminine sports”. All in all a real success for these first games, which were also well covered by the media. The second games took place in Go- thenburg, Sweden, in 1926, and were a two days event. Women were allowed to partici- pate in Olympic Games organised by the IOC only in 1928 in Amsterdam, exclusively in the following events: athletics, gymnastics, swim- ming and fencing. Leo Lagrange, under-Secretary of State for Sport and the organisation of leisure in the Popular Front’s government, wants to popula- rise sport and leisure culture. He builds more stadiums and creates the “Brevet Sportif Pop- ulaire” (peoples sport diploma). In line with the enactment of paid holidays and the reduc- Popular Front: Right for Women to participate

dent of the Federation. Born in Nantes, a row- ing athlete, she is the first woman in a leading position in sport in France and dedicates her whole life to increasing the participation of women in sport. From 1919 she demands for the International Olympic Committee to allow competitions for women at the coming Olym- pic Games but her demand was refused. At the same time the Federation organises the first championships in France in football, basket- ball, swimming and hockey. The French wom- en football team is formed in 1920. The “Fé- dération Française Féminine des Sports Athlétiques” (FFFSA) is founded in the same year. One year later, in October 1921, the “Fé- dération Sportive Féminine Internationale” (FSFI) is created. 1922: The First Feminine Olympic Games While the IOC is still refusing the participa- tion of women in Olympic competitions, the FFSF decides to organise the first feminine Olympic Games under the auspices of FSFI at the Pershing stadium in Paris on August 20th 1922, two years before Paris hosts the Olympic Games. In his biography of Alice Milliat, An- dré Drevon (2005) writes, “since 9 o’clock, the spectators who want to attend the preliminar- ies are already numerous on this calm and bright summer morning. To better reach the Pershing stadium in the woods of Vincennes special bus services have been set up leaving from Saint Lazare’s train station, from junc- tion Barbès Rochechouart, from Place de la République, from junction Médicis and the

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