ST HELENS' famous female footballer Lily Parr was featured in a Channel 4 documentary about the women's game last night.

When Football Banned Women, hosted by Clare Blading was shown on Tuesday night, depicting the time the ladies' game was outlawed by the FA in 1921.

The documentary was aired ahead of the Women's European Championships.

The show told how the women's games drew crowds of 60,000 and halped raise money for post-WWI charities.

However, despite the popularity opposition arose and the FA moved to ban the game from grounds and the golden era of women's football was shortlived.  

The documentary focused on a munitions factory in Preston, whose female workers made up the Dick Kerr's Ladies' football team.

The documentary featured St Helens players Lily Parr and Alice Woods.

Lily was the team's star player, who left the town for the first time to play for the side. 

The Star reported in 2015, on research undertaken by head of the St Helens library service Sue Williamson on Lily's story.

Lily, born in 1905, became one of the early stars of women's football who had a cannonball shot described as “like a Division One Back”.

By 14 Lily, from Pocket Nook, had shown herself to be a standout footballer at St Helens Ladies and her performances caught the eye of Albert Frankland, manager of the Dick Kerr's team, who had a vision of an England ladies football team.

While there, she scored 43 goals in her first season and also went on to tour in France.

However, her career was played amidst the backdrop of opposition to women's football, with the FA Council declaring "the game of football is quite unsuitable for women” and women’s football banned from all FA grounds in 1921.

However, Lily and the Dick Kerr team didn't give in and Frankland took his team on tour to North America.

In Canada they found the association had boycotted them but the USA welcomed them, despite the surprise of learning their opponents would be men.

Of the nine matches they played, they won three, drew three and lost three.

Lily died in 1973 of breast Cancer and buried in St Helens Cemetery.

In 2002 she became the first woman to be named in the FA Football Museum's inaugural Hall of Fame.

When Football Banned Women is available on the Channel 4 website.