This post about Minnie was a one-off stand alone, that I’ve been researching, on and off, for some time.
The forthcoming posts will be about the life of JS. The first post was about the family background and his first few years. The next will cover playing for Whitburn and Sunderland and take us up to WW1.
@JamesSeed Hi, This sentence "June saw Minnie turning out 'Walker Naval Yard', and in her next few regional matches, include three for 'North of England' she was listed as Minnie Seed (Armstrong's Naval Yard) or (Naval Yard)." needs a bit of correction I think, i.e. 'for' after 'turning out' and 'including' instead of 'include'.
@JamesSeed Hi, This sentence "June saw Minnie turning out 'Walker Naval Yard', and in her next few regional matches, include three for 'North of England' she was listed as Minnie Seed (Armstrong's Naval Yard) or (Naval Yard)." needs a bit of correction I think, i.e. 'for' after 'turning out' and 'including' instead of 'include'.
One hundred years ago today Minnie Seed played for an ‘English Girls’ side against Ireland at Windsor Park, Belfast.
This fact came as a complete surprise to me (credit due to Alex Jackson of the National Football Museum for unearthing the info) as her previous match known to me took place almost two years previously.
It took place less than three weeks before Jimmy Seed won the FA Cup with Spurs, and less than six weeks before his England debut.
It’s also of interest, to me at least, because an Irish newspaper described Minnie as the fastest woman in English football and ‘a dandy player’, in their match preview.
To top it all off I today found a newspaper preview of the 1919 Munionettes Cup Final where Minnie was described as ‘a tricky left winger’. I always knew she played in the forward line, but to learn that she was a speedy, tricksy winger makes her much easier to picture in the mind’s eye. It also might account for why she wasn’t a prolific scorer like Bella Reay, who may well in fact have been the beneficiary of Minnie’s rampant wing play!
Thanks for posting all that Jimmy. Your namesake was one of my “legends from the ‘50s” so I’m more than interested to read all about his sister. I must have missed reading about Minnie first time round so I’m up to date now. Great stuff. I googled her too so that took up even more of the morning!
Thanks for posting all that Jimmy. Your namesake was one of my “legends from the ‘50s” so I’m more than interested to read all about his sister. I must have missed reading about Minnie first time round so I’m up to date now. Great stuff. I googled her too so that took up even more of the morning!
Glad you enjoyed reading it.
Someone once told me ‘no-one’s interested in managers’, so I’m more than aware that it’s all a bit niche.
Btw, if you found out anything about Minnie that isn’t in the blog I’d certainly like to hear about it!
A great read JS. Enjoyed reading the history of Women's football in the early days and the stars at the time including your relative, Minnie.
Thanks. Lily Parr, Bella Reay, Mary Lyons. They were all legends. Minnie was a rung down from them, but definitely had some success on the football field. I’d love to have been able to ask JS about her, but as I said in the blog, I had no idea she was a footballer until four or five years ago.
Alex Jackson of the Nat Football Museum has explained why there might be a gap in the known Minnie matches list. From May 1919 to 28/3/1921 the list is empty, but Alex tells me that fewer newspapers from that period have been digitised, as the emphasis has been on digitising wartime papers.
Excellent, thank for posting @rananegra !! Some nice footage there, and a decent tune!
In case you haven’t seen it, here’s the latest on the Minnie Seed story.
‘the inside right is the fastest lady footballer in England. She is a real dandy player, and is a sister of Seed, who plays for the FA Cup finalists, Tottenham Hotspur.’
I recently discovered a newspaper article which mentioned that Minnie was a great support to Jimmy when he’d been ‘let go’ by Sunderland after his gassings in WW1. She insisted that he didn’t give up his dreams of being a footballer. I’ll have to incorporate that into the blog asap.
I am reading 'Women's Football The Secret History' by Tim Tate a very interesting read for anyone interested in the history of Women's football and the scandalous abrupt halt brought to a thriving game around 1921/22.
In this book there is a quote from Peter William (manager of Tottenham Hotspur in the 1920s and mentor, arguably to Jimmy Seed as he was, I believe, firstly the man that resurrected Jimmy's playing career by taking him on at Mid Rhonda after Sunderland decided Jimmy was no longer good enough following his being gassed in World War 1and secondly the man that signed Jimmy for Tottenham Hotspur).
According to the Hull Daily Mail Peter William said in support of the FA crushing Women's football. - I have seen one or two women's matches, and these have left me convinced that the game can only have injurious results on the women.'
@JamesSeed this might explain why Jimmy Seed did not express his views regarding Women's football in public which you allude to in your blog if they clashed with Peter William's publicly expressed opinions.
My brain might be playing tricks on me Len, but from memory wasn’t it Peter McWilliam? Also I don’t think he took Jimmy on for Mid Rhondda, that was Hayden Price. It’s definitely possible that JS didn’t want to express his views at that time for the reason you suggest, but he doesn’t seem to have mentioned Minnie’s footballing adventures even in the 50’s when his autobiography came out, or later.
I wish I’d known about Minnie when my parents were still alive, because maybe they knew more. JS was a man of his time, and my hunch is that he held quite old fashioned views about women and their place in the world, although I could easily be wrong.
My brain might be playing tricks on me Len, but from memory wasn’t it Peter McWilliam? Also I don’t think he took Jimmy on for Mid Rhondda, that was Hayden Price. It’s definitely possible that JS didn’t want to express his views at that time for the reason you suggest, but he doesn’t seem to have mentioned Minnie’s footballing adventures even in the 50’s when his autobiography came out, or later.
I wish I’d known about Minnie when my parents were still alive, because maybe they knew more. JS was a man of his time, and my hunch is that he held quite old fashioned views about women and their place in the world, although I could easily be wrong.
I thought the same to be honest but the book says Peter William (poor proof reading perhaps) so that is what I quoted.
My brain might be playing tricks on me Len, but from memory wasn’t it Peter McWilliam? Also I don’t think he took Jimmy on for Mid Rhondda, that was Hayden Price. It’s definitely possible that JS didn’t want to express his views at that time for the reason you suggest, but he doesn’t seem to have mentioned Minnie’s footballing adventures even in the 50’s when his autobiography came out, or later.
I wish I’d known about Minnie when my parents were still alive, because maybe they knew more. JS was a man of his time, and my hunch is that he held quite old fashioned views about women and their place in the world, although I could easily be wrong.
I thought the same to be honest but the book says Peter William (poor proof reading perhaps) so that is what I quoted.
I think I have that book, will have to check. I’ve got four or five about women’s football, and they’re all good reads. Interestingly, they all come up with slightly different reasons for why women’s football was banned in ‘21.
Comments
Delighted to see the progress you have made.
The first post was about the family background and his first few years. The next will cover playing for Whitburn and Sunderland and take us up to WW1.
Hi,
This sentence
"June saw Minnie turning out 'Walker Naval Yard', and in her next few regional matches, include three for 'North of England' she was listed as Minnie Seed (Armstrong's Naval Yard) or (Naval Yard)."
needs a bit of correction I think, i.e. 'for' after 'turning out' and 'including' instead of 'include'.
Great article, by the way. A very enjoyable read.
https://jamesseed.blogspot.com/
To read a little more:
https://jamesseed.blogspot.com/2020/12/the-mystery-of-minnie-seed.html?m=1
To be honest, I’ve over confidently posted the article without properly proofreading it, so apologies for any typos etc.
Up the Addicks!
Up the Seeds!
From May 1919 to 28/3/1921 the list is empty, but Alex tells me that fewer newspapers from that period have been digitised, as the emphasis has been on digitising wartime papers.
I recently discovered a newspaper article which mentioned that Minnie was a great support to Jimmy when he’d been ‘let go’ by Sunderland after his gassings in WW1. She insisted that he didn’t give up his dreams of being a footballer. I’ll have to incorporate that into the blog asap.
In this book there is a quote from Peter William (manager of Tottenham Hotspur in the 1920s and mentor, arguably to Jimmy Seed as he was, I believe, firstly the man that resurrected Jimmy's playing career by taking him on at Mid Rhonda after Sunderland decided Jimmy was no longer good enough following his being gassed in World War 1and secondly the man that signed Jimmy for Tottenham Hotspur).
According to the Hull Daily Mail Peter William said in support of the FA crushing Women's football. - I have seen one or two women's matches, and these have left me convinced that the game can only have injurious results on the women.'
@JamesSeed this might explain why Jimmy Seed did not express his views regarding Women's football in public which you allude to in your blog if they clashed with Peter William's publicly expressed opinions.
Also I don’t think he took Jimmy on for Mid Rhondda, that was Hayden Price.
It’s definitely possible that JS didn’t want to express his views at that time for the reason you suggest, but he doesn’t seem to have mentioned Minnie’s footballing adventures even in the 50’s when his autobiography came out, or later.
JS was a man of his time, and my hunch is that he held quite old fashioned views about women and their place in the world, although I could easily be wrong.