England's former women's captain doubts full equality will come to football in her lifetime

"We used to get one man and his dog turning up, but I was blown away to be playing for my country," says Carol Thomas of her first time playing for England in a win against France.

Spectator numbers increased only slowly from that match in November 1974. Gradually the attitudes of those watching began to change. "Men would call out stuff from the sidelines – 'Shouldn’t you be in the kitchen?' But those same men kept coming back to watch the football because it was good. We won them over."

Working as a clerk at Northern Dairies, Thomas was lucky to be given paid leave when she played for England. Many others had to use holiday or unpaid leave, or miss the games entirely. "Our kit was second hand from the under-18s boys," she recalls.

With just six caps, Thomas was stunned to be made England captain at the age of 20. "I was so proud to tell my fiancé Alan and my parents. Alan was involved in local football and would do extra training with me after work. When we got married in 1979, we skipped a honeymoon so I could play in a tournament in Italy."

She led England to their first matches outside Europe, at the global invitational 1981 Mundialito in Japan, although the players had to pay for their own flights. In 1984 she captained the side to their first European Championship final, and a year later she received her 50th cap from England football legend Sir Tom Finney.

"Shaking his hand was amazing," says Thomas. "Such a nice man, and he respected our game."

But not everybody did. "In 1993 when the FA took over women’s football [from the Women’s FA], they acted like there had never been an England women’s team before then, as if there were no previous pioneers. After all our struggles, the women of our era felt left out in the dark.

"It took the Lionesses winning the Euros [in 2022] to change that. Even so, I’m not sure full equality will come in my lifetime. It can’t until the crowds for men’s and women’s football are the same size."

Younger players, she says, "have no idea what we went through. We're proud to have done it. I respect the Lionesses' skills but I wouldn’t change the era I played in. We were the stepping stone for where they are today."

The latest issue of Radio Times is out now – subscribe here.

Check out more of our Sport coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.