From 1960s football rebel to PhD graduate: Monica Curran’s story comes to BBC Four
By: Communications
A UEA graduate with an inspiring women’s football legacy features in a new BBC documentary about the Manchester Corinthians, who defied the ban on women’s football.
Monica Curran, who is originally from Oldham but now lives in Norwich, completed her PhD in Health Sciences at the University of East Anglia (UEA) last July at the age of 79, after leaving school at 15 with no qualifications.
This academic success follows an inspiring personal journey that includes being a female footballer in the 1960s (at a time when it was banned) and winning a World Veterans Road Running team title.
Long before the growth of the modern women’s game, Monica was playing football for the trailblazing Manchester Corinthians Ladies FC team - one of the most successful women’s teams the UK has ever had.
Formed in 1949, The Corinthians toured internationally, defying a 50-year English Football Association (FA) ban on women’s football to play in front of tens of thousands of supporters worldwide – all to play the game they loved.
Monica now appears in the new documentary film The Corinthians: We Were The Champions, which premieres on BBC Four on Tuesday 19 May, following sold-out screenings and growing national attention.
The documentary – from previously BAFTA-winning director Helen Tither and produced by Films not Words – is told exclusively by 10 surviving players, including Monica, revealing the rebellious story entirely in the words of the women who kept the game alive.
Monica said: “What a privilege to get to tell our story after so many years, and for Helen Tither and her team to put it together in such a sensitive and joyful way.
“We realise now how groundbreaking it was to play back then as a group of girls. We didn't know at the time – we just wanted to play the game of football because we enjoyed it so much!”
This release follows the Corinthian team’s recent Special Achievement Award at the National Women’s Football Awards in London on Sunday 10 May, which saw Monica speak about their challenging football origins in Oldham and Manchester, and how girls and women need not be shut out of enjoyable sports that others take for granted.
Image: Monica Curran (third from left) with two of her former Manchester Corinthians Ladies FC members and former footballer Jamie Carragher; a 2026 special tribute programme about the team
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