The beautiful game
Can you help? We want to identify the players in these recently digitised studio portraits of women's football teams from the 1970s, a pivotal time in the history of the game in Aotearoa New Zealand.
Crown Studios Limited
The Alexander Turnbull Library is home to a large collection of photographs created by Crown Studios Limited, a photographic studio that operated in Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington for much of the twentieth century. While you might not know the studio by name, sports fans will likely be familiar with their work as Crown Studios was responsible for creating the official studio portraits of the All Blacks for almost 50 years.
For those with an interest in sporting history, the collection also holds some lesser well-known gems, including some photographs of women’s football teams from the 1970s.
Back row: Margaret Thomson, W Smith, H Street, E de Bruin. Middle row: L Bakker, M Donoghue, S Kiernan, S Bakker. Front row: R Hogan (Coach), M Ridout, P Mein (Captain), C de Bruin (Vice-captain), C Hogan, N Signal (Coach). Seatoun Ladies 4th Division Soccer Team, 1976. Crown Studios Ltd: Negatives and prints. Ref: 1/2-202541-F. Alexander Turnbull Library.
Women’s football in the 1970s
The 1970s were an important decade for women’s football in Aotearoa New Zealand. Building on the achievements of the previous decades, women’s football associations were established in various centres from 1971 and the first annual national soccer tournament for female players was held in Ōtautahi Christchurch in June 1976.
In 1975, both the Island Bay Women’s Association Football Club Team and the first Seatoun Ladies Soccer Team had their portraits taken by Crown Studios. The following year, the Island Bay team and the third and fourth-division teams from Seatoun sat for their team portraits.
Sue Stephenson, Island Bay Women's A.F.C. Team. Crown Studios Ltd: Negatives and prints. Ref: 1/2-201905-F. Alexander Turnbull Library.
Thanks to the work of our Imaging Services team, we have recently digitised a number of these colour negatives, which are held in the collections. The vibrant and vivid colours of these film negatives can now be viewed online.
By digitising and putting the team photos online, we hope to gather more details about the women in these pictures and highlight how they played a crucial role in advancing and shaping women's football during this important period.
Help us tell their stories
Sadly, these women's stories did not accompany the images. If you have any information about these teams or the individual players, we would love to hear from you. Just send us a message via the Ask a librarian service on the website or comment on this blog.
Do you recognise any of these unidentified soccer players from the Seatoun teams?
If you have information you'd like to share about the Seatoun teams or players, feel free to get in touch.
Seatoun Ladies Soccer Team, 1975
Seatoun Ladies Soccer Team, 1975. Crown Studios Ltd: Negatives and prints. Ref: 1/2-201822-F. Alexander Turnbull Library.
Seatoun Ladies 3rd Division Soccer Team, 1976
Seatoun Ladies 3rd Division Soccer Team, 1976. Crown Studios Ltd: Negatives and prints. Ref: 1/2-202548-F. Alexander Turnbull Library.
Do you recognise any of these unidentified soccer players from the Island Bay teams?
Get in touch if you have information you'd like to share about the Island Bay teams or individual players. We’d love to hear more.
Island Bay Women's A.F.C. Team, 1975
Island Bay Women's A.F.C. Team, 1975. Crown Studios Ltd: Negatives and prints. Ref: 1/2-201907-F. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand.
Island Bay Women's Soccer Team, 1976
Island Bay Women's Soccer Team, 1976. Crown Studios Ltd: Negatives and prints. Ref: 1/2-202456-F. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand.
Other collections related to sports and athletics
If you’re interested in embarking on a research journey into the history of sport or recreation but don’t know where to start, be sure to check out our sport and recreation research guide.