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       #Post#: 1602--------------------------------------------------
       Big Molly Seaton - The "Georgina Best of Women's Football&q
       uot;!
       By: EalingGreen Date: October 30, 2020, 10:05 am
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       Guaranteed to put thousands on the gate and better still -
       guaranteed to turn up!
       Anyhow, Steve Bolton, an Englishman whose granny played
       alongside Lily Parr - English womens' football's greatest player
       - reckons that Parr's contemporary, Belfast woman Seaton, was
       her equal as a player and just as famous.
       This piece from last year in 'The Newspaper Which Shall Not Be
       Named' gives a flavour of her story, including:
       It wasn't until he paid a visit to the Linen Hall Library that
       Mr Bolton realised Belfast was a hotbed of women's football in
       the early 20th century. "During my research I found that 15
       games had taken place in Belfast in 1931," the schoolteacher
       explained.
       "You had women's teams like Ropeworks, Owen O'Cork, York Street,
       Milewater Mill, Jaymount Mill and Bangor Ladies. This place was
       alive with football, and Crusaders were brokering a lot of the
       games."
       Following [the 2019] Fifa Women's World Cup and the huge viewing
       figures it received after England's run to the semi-finals, Mr
       Bolton believes that Northern Ireland has a wonderful
       opportunity to bring those glory years back with the help of Big
       Molly's story.
       "I think Northern Ireland might be a little bit behind the curve
       on women's football, but in Big Molly Seaton this country has a
       star," he added. "She was very well thought of and I found all
       sorts of references to her, such as refereeing games.
       "She even had her own agent. He was called Joe Farrell, also
       known as Josie.
       "She played in an exhibition game under the auspices of
       Glentoran. There's a massive story there about Molly Seaton."
       Molly's own team, Castle Rovers, played their games at Seaview
       and she was paid 10 shillings a match.
       Because of Big Molly's crowd pulling displays, she was often
       included in the Ireland ladies' newspaper advertisements.
  HTML https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/life/features/big-molly-expert-out-to-tell-story-of-belfast-heroine-of-womens-football-and-irelands-best-38363369.html
       Although a bit rambling, this other, longer piece on Seaton is
       very well researched and gives fascinating background into how
       successful women's football was in NI for a period between the
       wars, including visits to NI by from teams from GB and France
       etc.
       And as for the 1,000 excursionists from NI to the Isle of Man
       whom Glentoran organised to watch two Belfast factory teams,
       well that sounds like a whole story in itself!
       [center]
  HTML https://www.playingpasts.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Molly-11.jpg[/center]
       Full article here:
  HTML https://www.playingpasts.co.uk/articles/football/molly-seaton-irelands-bestmy-tribute-to-the-legendary-irish-woman-footballertalented-pioneer-iconic-figure/
       [center]
  HTML https://www.playingpasts.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Molly-1.jpg[/center]
       [center]1936 Belfast. Grosvenor Park - Carmen Pomies (France),
       Molly Seaton (Ireland) plus Officials[/center]
       [center]
  HTML https://www.playingpasts.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Molly-10.jpg
       12,000 Spectators watched Ropeworks defeat Owen O’Cork 2-0 at
       Pirrie Park[/center]
       [center]
  HTML https://www.playingpasts.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Molly-12.jpg[/center]
       [center]
  HTML https://www.playingpasts.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Molly-16.jpg[/center]
       [center]
  HTML https://www.playingpasts.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Molly-8.jpg
       [/center]
       #Post#: 1603--------------------------------------------------
       Re: Big Molly Seaton - The "Georgina Best of Women's Footba
       ll"!
       By: EalingGreen Date: October 30, 2020, 10:14 am
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       Padraig Coyle has a more general piece on Womens' Football on
       the BBC Website:
       "The Northern Ireland trailblazers for women's football"
  HTML https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/54247598
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