We are incredibly proud to announce a major new heritage project through the Glasgow City Foundation.
'’Well-behaved women seldom make history’’ and now the women behind Scotland’s most successful football club will be the ones recounting their incredible history thanks to support from The National Lottery Heritage Fund.
Through the last 28 years Glasgow City Football Club have notched up a record-breaking 16 Scottish Women’s Premier League titles, won multiple Scottish and SWPL Cups and played at the highest level in Europe.
More than that they have been proud and passionate leaders for women’s football and supported thousands of women and girls to take to the pitch with confidence, breaking down barriers every step of the way.
The Glasgow City Foundation, part of Glasgow City Football Club, a women-led and women-founded independent football club, has secured The National Lottery Heritage Fund’s support to reach their next big goal; to preserve women's football stories because it is undeniable that women are underrepresented in history.
Glasgow City's Head of Commercial Stef McLoughlin, who secured the funding, had the following to say on this exciting new project. “Women have spent generations building things that have too often been under-documented, under-archived and undervalued, and sport is no different. This funding allows us to celebrate and preserve the extraordinary story of Laura Montgomery and Carol Anne Stewart, and make sure what they built at Glasgow City is seen, remembered and valued for generations to come.”
''Watching Women Win'' will document the story of the women who built Glasgow City into Scotland's most successful club. Ensuring it is their voices telling their story.
A new book will underpin the project. Through the words of co-founders Laura Montgomery and Carol Anne Stewart it will recount the club’s remarkable rise. Their story will be supported by a wide-ranging cast of voices from the people who shaped both the club and the wider landscape for women in sport in Scotland.
The story is one of determination and of what happens when women challenge the status quo and build something for themselves in a world that wasn't designed for them.
Award winning Scottish film maker and writer Margot McCuaig has been commissioned to write the book and is excited about the opportunity to continue her work amplifying the club's story following the success of her 2020 BBC Alba documentary The Women Who Built Glasgow City.
“As a long-time admirer of Cas and Laura, I am honoured to have been commissioned to write this book. Their story transcends football. They are trailblazers who have helped transform Scottish society, and this book gives me the space to explore their journey extensively: the discrimination they faced, the empowerment at the heart of a women-founded, women-led club, and the feminism that has shaped Glasgow City from its foundation.”
The project will also see the club launch a brand-new digital archive bringing together 28 years of an incredible history in a single location, accessible to all, providing the platform that women's football storytelling deserves. The club are also, today, making a public call to those who feel they can contribute to our archive through artefacts and story, helping us to build a vibrant and detailed oral history of the club.
Thanks to the National Lottery the Heritage Fund a UK-wide book tour will also take the Glasgow City story on the road. Ensuring this important piece of women's history reaches new audiences and travels far beyond where it began.
ABOUT THE NATIONAL LOTTERY HERITAGE FUND
The National Lottery Heritage Fund is the largest funder for the UK’s heritage. Using money raised by National Lottery players they support projects that connect people and communities to heritage. Their vision is for heritage to be valued, cared for and sustained for everyone, now and in the future. From historic buildings, their industrial legacy and the natural environment, to collections, traditions, stories and more. Heritage can be anything from the past that people value and want to pass on to future generations. We believe in the power of heritage to ignite the imagination, offer joy and inspiration, and to build pride in place and connection to the past.