Girls Interrupted

Manchester United have a thriving girls’ youth system – the problem is, they still do not have a senior team to which they can graduate.

- Catherine Etoe

For Manchester United supporters, August 11, 1996, is perhaps best remembered for Eric Cantona & Co’s 4-0 demolition of Newcastle United in the Charity Shield at Wembley. It was a memorable day for two regional amateur teams too, as earlier that afternoon, Manchester United Ladies FC played Newcastle Ladies on the same pitch.

The invitational match was a curtain-raiser for the main event, and by the time MULFC left the field having won 2-0, there were 65,000 fans in the stands. “We were buzzing,” recalls defender Alison Newton. “The only downside was that they put us in the Newcastle end to watch the match and we were in our kit. We didn’t half get some stick.”

Remarkably, it was not MULFC’s Wembley debut – that came against Oldham in 1994 in yet another exhibition match before their respective men’s FA Cup semi-final.