The International Ladies Football Association was founded on 28 August 1957
in Nürnberg by representatives from Austria, England, the Netherlands
and West Germany, and had its official seat in Luxembourg.
West Germany was represented by the D.D.F.B. (Deutscher Damen-Fußball-Bund),
founded by Willi Ruppert, who had been expelled, on 17 August, eleven days
before the foundation of the I.L.F.A. (!), from the W.D.F.V.
(Westdeutscher Damen-Fußball-Verband), of which he was the
acting president. The W.D.F.V. had earlier been responsible for a match
on 23 September 1956 against the
Netherlands (in Essen, won 2-1 by the hosts) and for several more in 1957:
on 27 and 28 July against "England" (the first in Bochum, drawn 2-2, and the
second in Stuttgart, drawn 1-1), and
on 21 September 1957 against the
Netherlands (in Doetinchem, won 4-3 by the hosts).
The Netherlands may have been represented by the N.D.V.B. (Nederlandse
Dames Voetbalbond), founded in 1955.
The mother of Herbido player Ria v.d. Breul apparently was vice president of
the I.L.F.A.; also her husband, Herbido trainer Piet v.d. Breul, seems to
have been involved.
However, it is curious that nothing on the team selection or other preparations
was reported in the contemporary Dutch press (which only printed the results on
the Monday after the tournament), which otherwise covered the various friendly
matches and trips abroad of the leading Dutch clubs in some detail – in
particular for champions Herbido from Utrecht, who played at least nine
matches against various West German representations between April and
September 1957, and Agido from Den Haag, who met selections from both
West Germany and Austria (thrashed 11-0 on 20 July in Zwolle) on at least
five occasions during that period. According to
Damenfußball in der Verbotszeit,
"Holland" lost 0-2 to "Deutschland" in a "Länderspiel" in
October 1957 in the Mommsenstadion in Berlin; that match also failed to make
the Dutch press and it also is not clear whether the W.D.F.V. or the D.D.F.B.
was involved on the German side.
It also is not clear who represented Austria or England (German Manchester City
goalkeeper Bert Trautmann was in some way involved) in the I.L.F.A. as neither
country appears to have had a women's football association at the time. The
English side playing at the tournament was Manchester Corinthian LFC.
Shortly after the tournament, the West German police issued arrest warrants for the president of the German organisation (Willi Ruppert, see above) and the secretary general of the I.L.F.A. (a lawyer called Gert Bernats) for fraud, as they had accumulated debts to hotels and other creditors of about six thousand German marks.
NB: matches played at the Post-Stadion (a venue at the 1936 Olympics).
Participants (4)
Austria [presumably a Vienna XI; there was no federation at the time]
England [represented by Manchester Corinthian Ladies FC]
Netherlands [N.D.V.B. (?)]
West Germany [D.D.F.B.]
NB: reportedly Luxembourg were invited as well, but withdrew; however, that report may
be due to a confusion given that the I.L.F.A. had its legal seat in Luxembourg.
Semi-finals [att: 4,000]
2-11-57 England 2-1 Netherlands [half-time: 1-0]
2-11-57 West Germany w/o Austria [Austria arrived late due to fog at Vienna airport]
NB: instead of the second semi-final, West Germany and England played a friendly
over 2x15 minutes, won 3-1 by the visitors.
Third Place Match [att: 3,000]
3-11-57 Netherlands 8-1 Austria [half-time: 3-0]
Final [att: 3,000]
3-11-57 West Germany 0-4 England
[Babs Large (3), Mary Bee]
["England" (team manager: Percy Ashley; players in alphabetical order):
Doris Ashley (inside right, captain), Veronica Bailey (right half),
Anne Barnes, Dot Barnet, Mary Bee (inside left), Maureen Charlton,
Josie Hankinson, Bunt Hilton, Babs Large (outside right),
Myra Lypnyckyj, Sheila Smith]
NB: composition of the other teams not known, but "Der Tagesspiegel" of 2 November 1957
mentioned the oldest and youngest players of three of the participants (cited from
Damenfußball in der Verbotszeit):
England: youngest Busty (sic) Hilton 14 years, oldest Doris Ashley 33 years;
Netherlands: youngest Van de Breul (Utrecht) 14 years, oldest Been (Cilly Boon?) 33 years;
W. Germany: youngest Doris Tlauke (Oberhausen) 14 years, oldest Waltraud Wittke 25 years.
Reportedly four Dutch players impressed the English management to such an extent that
they were invited to join a tour of the Manchester Corinthians to Portugal and Madeira
in April 1958, presumably due to their performance in Berlin; two, Ria v.d. Breul and
Betty Tombrink, accepted and went to Portugal. Whether it was because of this, or
because of their participation at the I.L.F.A. tournament in Berlin, that both players
were expelled by their club (Herbido in Utrecht) at the end of 1957 or the beginning
of 1958, together with their trainer, Ria's father Piet, is not clear.
Sources included: Austria Soccer, Bolztribüne, Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung, Gary James' Football Archive, Manchester City, various contemporary Dutch newspapers (available through Delpher)
Prepared and maintained by Karel Stokkermans for the Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation
Author: Karel Stokkermans
Last updated: 12 Aug 2025
(C) Copyright Karel Stokkermans and RSSSF 2025
You are free to copy this document in whole or part provided that proper
acknowledgement is given to the author. All rights reserved.