The Manchester Corinthians
Fog Lane Park was home to the pioneering Manchester Corinthians Ladies Football Club. The Corinthians conquered the world during the 50-year period when the Football Association (FA) had women banned from playing on pitches of FA-affiliated clubs.
Scroll down to read more about the history and legacy of this incredible football team.
1949 - Beginnings
In 1949 Percy Ashley, a football scout for Bolton Wanderers, founded the Manchester Corinthians so that his daughter Doris could play football. At that time the FA had banned women from playing football on FA-affiliated grounds.
1949 - Beginnings
As Percy and Doris lived on Fog Lane, the Corinthians played in Fog Lane Park. The park pitches were very muddy and there was no running water in the changing rooms. Some Corinthian players can recall having to wash in the duck ponds in the park, and sometimes even having to break the ice on the ponds first.
1957 - European Championships in Germany
The Corinthians found great success competing against other women's teams across the country, and in 1957 were asked to represent England in an unofficial women's European championship. They won, beating Germany 4-0 in the final in Berlin. Bert Trautmann, who was the Manchester City goalkeeper at that time, joined them on the tour as an interpreter. Winning that competition encouraged the club to make further trips abroad.
The photo shows the trophies that the Corinthians had won by the end of 1960.
1957 - The founding of the Nomads
To find a team of similar standard to play against, Percy Ashley created another Fog Lane Park team, the Nomads, formed in 1957. They would play against each other regularly, raising money for charity.
1960 - South American Tour - World Champions
In 1960 the Corinthians went on a six week tour of South America. The tour was extended to three months, with Corinthians taking part in and winning the first Torneo Internacional De Futbol Femenino – the women’s world cup! Corinthians played to crowds of 50,000-60,000, which included the President of Venezuela.
“What a great experience for us all! The stadiums… the reception from the crowd… it was all incredible but we all just took it in our stride. It’s only afterwards that you look back and realise how significant it all was.”
– Margaret Whitworth (14yrs old at the time of the tour)
1970 - Reims Tournament
In 1970 the Corinthians were invited to France to compete in an international tournament against top Italian club Juventus, Czechoslovakian champions Slavia Kaplice, and hosts Stade de Reims. Corinthians beat Juventus 1-0 in the final.
For Jan Lyons the post-final activities included her first taste of champagne: “I thought it was a type of lemonade. I kept drinking and drinking but the next day my head was sore! Photos were taken of us at the airport but we did feel bad. Some wore dark glasses to hide the effects.”
Memories of the mud in Fog Lane Park
“I always ended up covered in mud when we played at Fog Lane Park. The girls used to bring a bucket of water from Percy's house for us all to wash in, but as I was the youngest I was last in the pecking order, so the water was filthy by the time the bucket was open to me. Might as well have cleaned my boots in it! Sometimes I used to wash my legs in the pond instead.”
- Jan Lyons
Founding of the Women’s FA and the Corinthians legacy
In 1969 the Women’s Football Association was formed. Corinthians and Nomads were 2 of the 44 founding clubs. Within 2 years the FA ban on women’s football was lifted.
Manchester Corinthians continued to play after the ban was lifted, with some of the players joining Manchester City's women's team when it was formed in 1988. The great success and popularity of women's football today is built on the pioneering spirit and perseverance of teams such as the Corinthians and the Nomads.
Celebrating the Corinthians
In 2023 the Friends of Fog Lane Park, along with local football historian Dr. Gary James and local councillors, sought to create a permanent commemoration and celebration of the achievements of the Manchester Corinthians. This culminated in October 2023 with the unveiling of a blue plaque on the park café, by the Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham, during a day of celebrations. The celebrations were attended by many former Corinthians players (including some from the original 1949 team who were now over 90 years old). The celebrations were also covered by several local and national TV news programmes and radio stations.
The commemorative plaque on the side of the park café, which was unveiled in October 2023 and celebrates the achievements of the Manchester Corinthians.
The Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, at the unveiling of the commemorative plaque in October 2023.
Celebrating the Corinthians
As part of the 2023 celebrations two murals were commissioned to be painted on one of the buildings in the park. One of the murals depicts a Corinthians match, the other mural depicts Corinthians players washing in the park ponds after playing on the muddy pitches of Fog Lane Park.
The Friends of Fog Lane Park also produced and installed an information lectern in front of the main Corinthians mural. The lectern explains the origin, history and successes of the Corinthians.
The main Corinthians mural on the side of old changing rooms near the children’s playground and Parkville Road entrance.
The second Corinthians mural, depicting players washing in the park ponds.
The information lectern in front of the main Corinthians mural explaining the history and successes of the Manchester Corinthians Ladies Football Club.
Friends of Fog Lane Park volunteers preparing the walls for the painting of the Corinthians murals.
An ongoing story…..
Many of the former Corinthians players are still alive and their amazing story continues to be uncovered and documented. A lot of this work has been driven by Dr. Gary James, who in 2025 published an authorised history of the Manchester Corinthians.
Because of this work in publicising the history of the Manchester Corinthians, more and more people are now getting to hear and learn about the Corinthians story, so much so that their story has also been made into a film!
Former Corinthians players, Jan Lyons (left), Margaret Shepherd (centre), Margaret Whitworth (right) in Fog Lane Park in May 2022, recounting and recording their memories of playing ahead of the 2023 celebrations.
The authorised history of the Manchester Corinthians published in 2025 by Dr. Gary James.
Learn more about the Corinthians
We have only been able to give a short history of the Corinthians here. Since the work of the Friends of Fog Lane Park and Dr. Gary James in publicising the Corinthians’ story, there have many more articles and websites published about the Corinthians, so finding out more about the Manchester Corinthians is as simple as doing a Google search. However, we’ve provided a few links below to what we think are useful or interesting articles and sites documenting the Corinthians’ story.
Dr. Gary James’ football archive is probably the most comprehensive archive of articles about the Corinthians. You can find the archive here. Corinthians specific articles can be found here.
Since the Corinthians ultimately became the forerunner to Manchester City’s women’s football team, it is unsurprising that Manchester City have material celebrating the Corinthians. You find some of the articles here, here and here.
This video clip from the BBC Archive shows film of the Corinthians playing in Fog Lane Park in 1965.
Professor Jean Williams has also done significant research on the Corinthians’ story, including academic papers and book chapters. Prof. Williams’ website page on the Corinthians can be found here.
Manchester Corinthians LFC has its own Wikipedia page here.
Finally, we can’t finish without mentioning the short blogpost on the Corinthians by Friends of Fog Lane Park volunteer David Hoyle. The blogpost can be found here.