Balshaw's Grammar School Old Girls' Hockey Team Champions

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The role of Balshavian girls and the Old Balshavians, not only academically but also in local sports leagues, is notable. Balshaw’s Grammar School Old Girls were “the ones to beat" and dramatically won the Lancashire Central Women’s Hockey League from 1931 to 1934 against opposition as hallowed as the Dick Kerr Ladies.

Steve Bolton, whose Granny played football for the Dick Kerr Ladies throughout the 1930s, is currently writing a book about this period not only of their football, but their foré into hockey. He contacted Balshaw’s and Dr. Breen provided some of the archival documents relating to the school’s hockey seasons in the 1930s and he stated that “Balshaw’s…GSOGs were so fundamental to starting and running the league.” Liv Cooke, football trickster and recent Balshaw’s Old Girl, has obviously come from a long line of strong female sports stars. It is the centenary of the 1921 F.A. ban of Women’s Football; thus, recent growth in interest in women’s football in the modern game has a long rebellious history in Lancashire as the superstar teams lie the Dick-Kerr Ladies were renowned internationally in the 1920s and 30s. The archive revealed Balshaw’s link to this history over and over.