The Amazing Trailblazer Elsie Cook

For this week’s Women’s Football Focus Series, we will highlight the amazing trailblazer Elsie Cook. She became the first secretary of the Scottish Women’s Football Association in 1972.

Cook first played football as a centre-half in 1961 at age 14 when she played in a charity match for Ethiopia. She played alongside her mother, aunties, and other young women from the area. Cook’s mother, Betty, was an important figure in women’s football, and in 1961, she founded the football team ‘Stewarton Thistle.’ She recalls that the town provost asked her mother, a women’s netball coach if she would set up a women’s team to play football against the East Kilbride team, Holyrood Bumblebees, for a charity match for the famine in Ethiopia. This is a photograph, which features Betty Cook in the centre holding a netball.

Come see this photograph when you visit our museum. The Scottish Football Association 1921 ban prevented the game from being played on any Ayrshire senior or junior grounds, so it was played at a local park. Stewarton Thistle won 7-1 largely due to Susan Ferries from Kilmarnock, who scored all the goals. Ferries became a huge inspiration to Cook, and she recalls that after playing with Ferries, she was determined to show that women were not too weak to play football and could play football very well.

After this game, Cook put flyers around the town to recruit more players for Stewarton Thistle. The team managed to recruit some talented players. They didn’t have any funding, so they had to borrow boots and kits and use rolled-up newspapers as shin pads. Cook coached the team to the first Women’s Football Association Cup Final on the 5th of December 1971 at Crystal Palace Sports Ground. Unfortunately, Stewarton were beaten 4-1 by Southampton’s Women’s F.C.

Cook was the first secretary of the Scottish Women’s Football Association and organised the 1972 Women’s Scotland v. England game, the first official international women’s match in Great Britain. This game took place on the 18th of November at Ravenscraig Stadium, Greenock. This is a Daily Record Poster for “The First Ever Ladies International, Scotland v. England.” 

You can see this poster and learn more about amazing trailblazers like Cook when you visit ‘The History Makers’ Exhibition at the Museum. In 2022, the Ravenscraig Scotland team led by Cook were an award finalist in the Tru Wealth Pioneer Category, celebrating women who fought for equality in sports.

Cook recalls that in 1974, her commitment to women’s football began to cause problems at home, and she told her husband she would resign. But when she got to Edinburgh to hand in her resignation, she ended up getting appointed the Scotland Manager. This is an award that Elsie was given as ‘The Pioneers, Scotland Women’s National Team Manager.’

You can see this award when you visit our current exhibition. Cook said she had to prove that women could play football. Throughout her career, she had to deal with several obstacles: sexism, verbal abuse and lack of resources and finances. Cook recalls that no one thought women should be playing football, and they fought hard to be given the same respect and opportunities as men. She was a huge advocate for women’s football and was instrumental in helping the Scottish FA lift their ban on women playing football. Cook established youth programmes for under 9 to 16-year-olds, which she ran until 1993.

Cook says one of her favourite memories was meeting one of her heroes, Pelé, at Troon. In 1966, the Brazilian team arrived at the Marine Hotel, Troon, to play a friendly ahead of the World Cup in England. Cook and her friend Pat raced to the hotel in Troon to get a chance to meet the team. She said the team came out, including her heroes Garrincha, Gerson, and Jairzinho. Cook started crying, and Pelé hugged and kissed her on the cheek and asked if she was okay. He invited Cook and her friend to go to the game with them, and they went to Hampden Park in the team’s backup bus to watch Scotland v. Brazil. This is a ticket from this game.

After the game, they were waving off the team, and Pelé asked them if they were going to Liverpool. Cook says they knew they had to go, so she went to England with her friend, Sue, and cousin Jimmy. When they arrived at the hotel, Pelé spotted them and said these are my friends from Scotland and took them into the hotel to introduce them to all the players.

A day after the 1974 SFA ban on women’s football was lifted, Cook received a call from Jock Stein, who asked if the women’s team would provide pre-match entertainment for the Celtic v Olympiakos European Cup tie at Celtic Park.

In 2023, Kilmarnock Women’s Football Club players Laura McLaughlin and Kirsty Munro joined their manager, Jim Chapman, to celebrate Cook’s outstanding contribution to women’s football at a Council Meeting. She was presented with flowers and an Edinburgh Crystal Bowl. Elsie Cook is a trailblazer and pioneer in women’s football, and we are honoured that the Museum has objects donated and loaned from Cook.

By Robyn McCready.