 Gore in 2015 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Sylvia Margaret Gore[1] | ||
| Date of birth | (1944-11-25)25 November 1944 | ||
| Place of birth | Prescot, England | ||
| Date of death | 9 September 2016(2016-09-09) (aged 71) | ||
| Position | Midfielder | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| Manchester Corinthians | |||
| 1967–? | Fodens | ||
| International career | |||
| 1972–? | England | 5 | (2) |
| Managerial career | |||
| 1982–1989 | Wales | ||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Sylvia Margaret GoreMBE (25 November 1944 – 9 September 2016) was an Englishfootball player and coach.[2] She scored theEngland women's national football team's first goal in its firstofficial match, a 3–2 win overScotland inGreenock in 1972, and was involved in women's football for 60 years.[3][4]
Gore was born inPrescot,Lancashire, and raised in the north-west of England.[5] She attended Our Ladies' Junior School and St Edmund Arrowsmith Secondary School.[6]
Gore's father and uncle both played football forPrescot Cables and encouraged her to take up the game. The headteacher of her school vetoed any participation in the school team but she joinedManchester Corinthians in her early teens.[7][6] With Corinthians, Gore played in charity matches all over the world at a time whenthe Football Association (FA) had banned female players from its pitches. She said:
It was incredible playing in those great stadiums. In one of them, in South America, 80,000 people watched us play. Although we were getting good crowds in England, it was so nice to play on proper football pitches, rather than on the rugby and recreation pitches we had at home.[8]
In 1972, Gore paid around £2,000 to progress through a series of trials for the first England team. She was accepted onto the team and made history by scoring the team's first goal in its first match on 18 November 1972.[9][10]
Gore was in theFodens team, originally a works team from theEdwin Foden, Sons & Co. lorry manufacturing plant inSandbach, which defeated Southampton in the1974 final of theWomen's FA Cup. Gore recalled:
It was the first time Southampton had ever lost in a cup game in the three seasons the national cup had been in existence. We were determined to beat them. We weren't frightened of them — even though they had six international players on their side, compared to our four. It was close though, but I think we deserved our 2–1 win.[11]
Gore was known as theDenis Law of women's football and once netted 134 goals in a season.[5] After Gore stopped playing at the age of 35, she managed theWales women's national football team from 1982 to 1989.[5][12] She also worked as a football development officer forKnowsley council.[13]
She was allotted 8 when the FA announced their legacy numbers scheme to honour the 50th anniversary of England’s inaugural international.[14][15]
A new sports pavilion named after her on the King George V playing fields (Browns Field) in Knowsley was opened in 2025. She had played football here as a child. The pavilion will be managed by Berkley FC, a grassroots football club.[16]
Gore was a member of the FA women's committee for 20 years, and in 1999 she won a special achievement award at the inauguralFA Women's Football Awards.[17] In 2014, she became the first female director at theLiverpool County Football Association.[9][18] In the2000 New Year Honours, Gore was appointed aMember of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for services to girls' and women's football.[5][19] She was inducted into theNational Football Museum Hall of Fame in 2014.[5] In March 2016, Gore became an ambassador for the clubManchester City Women.[13]
Gore died of cancer on 9 September 2016, aged 71.[5]
