JAN LYONS

Continuing our exhibition highlighting some of the women who played football in Trafford, today’s focus is on a Manchester Corinthians player Jan Lyons.

Janice Lyons played for the Manchester Corinthians and Manchester Nomads between 1968 and 1973, before joining Italian side Juventus.

Following the Aberfan disaster in 1966 in which 116 children and 28 adults were killed a charity match was set up at Jan’s school between the boys and the girls. Jan was by far the best player, outshining all others to win the ‘man of the match’ award.

Her parents saw a piece in a newspaper advertising trials for the Manchester Corinthians and Jan relished the opportunity. She was offered the chance to join the club in February 1968.

Jan participated in all the Corinthians prominent games of the period, including the annual Stretford Pageant, which was perceived as a prominent exhibition of the sport.

In 1970 Jan was a member of the Corinthians team which defeated Italian team Juventus in the final of the Reims tournament in France. This ultimately led to her joining Juventus in 1973. When she resigned from her work at a local bank, her manager was amazed that she was leaving a banking career to play football.

Some suggested to Jan that if she played in Italy opportunities to play for England would end but, with typical determination, Jan believed that playing in Italy, where there was a strong league structure in place, was a great opportunity.

She played in Italy for two seasons where the league system was considerably more developed than England’s at the time. The experience of playing football and of living in Italy has helped to shape the rest of her life.

You can watch a brief interview, captured as part of our project, with Jan here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHkt5rGOJ5E

We are keen to hear about those who have contributed to this rich history of women’s football in the area. If you are from Trafford or played for a team based in our borough then please get in touch.

Your memories will help to develop our archive and ensure future generations are aware of the experiences of women footballers.

In addition, we are keen to locate objects, match programmes and memorabilia associated with women’s football, so if you have an item that you feel may help please get in touch.

If you would like to help Trafford Council to tell this story, please contact Trafford Local Studies on 0161 912 3013 or contact Gary James, Trafford EUROs Engagement Officer at gary.james@talktalk.net

This project is part of a National Lottery heritage programme which seeks to bring this history into the light through a number of physical and virtual exhibitions, and to create a documentary record of the game at this moment, through oral history interviews with local players and fans and a contemporary collecting programme.