The English Ladies' Football Association (ELFA) was formed in 1921 and active until 1922. It was arguably a direct response to the Football Association (FA)’s ban on women's football teams. The first meeting of the ELFA was held several weeks after the ban and Leonard Bridgett, the manager and coach of Stoke Ladies, was its first president. Bridgett helped to organise the first and only English Ladies Football Association Challenge Cup competition in the spring of 1922. 24 teams entered the competition and the winners were Stoke Ladies, who beat Doncaster and Bentley Ladies 3–1 on 24 June 1922. The ELFA folded in over a year, and women continued to play in local parks and even dog-tracks, with no money or infrastructural support from the Football Association, no resources, coaches or pitches. These restrictions stayed in place for fifty years and was only lifted in 1971. History Women's football had already been established before World War I but it had not been well received until the Football League suspended all of its matches after the 1914–15 season. As a generation of young men signed up to serve their country, the women took on traditional male roles, which had been previously considered unsuitable for women and their physical frame. The most familiar image was the munitions factory girl, who enjoys kickabouts during their breaks. As the war progressed, women's football transformed into a more formalised sport with many women's teams emerging from munitions factories. At the time, it was organised for fund-raising for war charities. At first, people flock to see the so-called munitionettes take on teams of injured soldiers and women from other factories. Eventually, they started to enjoy the matches for the skill and ability of the women players. In August 1917, the Munitionettes' Cup was established, with the first winners being Blyth Spartans. However, when the war was over, the factories started closing and women who had been liberated during wartime was forced to return to their "right and proper place" in society. No longer seen as being moral and appropriate, football was now considered to be unladylike and dangerous for women's health by so-called medical experts and physicians. On 5 December 1921, the FA cited strong opinions about football's unsuitability for females. They even requested the clubs belonging to the Association to refuse the use of their grounds for woman's matches. In response, on 10 December 1921,