They were the original Lionesses and pioneers of the women's beautiful game.

In 1949 they defied a ban by the Football Association to begin playing matches in Didsbury but the Manchester Corinthians' success took them all over the world drawing crowds of to 50,000 people.

But the FA decided in 1921 the game was 'quite unsuitable for women' and they were banned from playing on all association pitches until 1971.

The FA has never said sorry. Today we launch a new campaign to change that. We are asking our loyal readers to support us in calling for the FA to make a public apology. The Manchester Evening News is also calling for the creation of a new Corinthians 'charter' for equal access to FA-funded football pitches for women.

The scale of injustice has been brought to light in a grounding new documentary film, 'The Corinthians: We Were the Champions', which is being screened at HOME in Manchester on dates in April.

The campaign is backed by the team's 10 surviving players; Myra Lypnyckyj, Anne Grimes, Marlene Cooke, Pauline Hulme, Freda Ashton, Monica Curran, Jean Wilson, Margaret Whitworth, Margaret Shepherd and Jan Lyons.

And the mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, who called the Corinthians 'the football Suffragettes' and said he would be writing to the FA, calling for an apology for the Corinthians and all women's teams affected by the FA ban.

Mr Burnham told the Manchester Evening News: "For too long, the incredible history-makers who made up the Manchester Corinthians have been airbrushed out of the official history of the English women's game. That's why I am grateful to the Manchester Evening News for launching this campaign and setting the record straight.

"The Football Association's praise for the successes of the Lionesses would be more honest if it acknowledged that the Corinthians did more to lay the foundations for it than almost anyone else by challenging and helping end the FA's ban on the women's game. As the brilliant new film reveals, the Corinthians faced appalling discrimination from leading figures in the game. Yet they had the strength and resilience to overcome it and blaze a trail for the millions of girls who have since followed in their footsteps.

"For that, they fully deserve the title 'football's Suffragettes'. Our city-region honours them and, on their behalf, we will fight for the apology from the FA that we believe they deserve. More than that, the Corinthians deserve recognition from the English game and what better way of doing that than the FA getting behind the bid for the new Old Trafford to host the FIFA Women's World Cup Final in 2035."

A huge FA strategy to drive up female participation saw the association announce in 2024 that the number of women and girls playing football had increased by 56 per cent. The FA said up to 77 per cent of all schools were offering equal access to the game, with crowds surging at professional women's games. The association's latest strategy - called 'Reaching Higher' and running to 2028 - coincides with record growth across the sport and has a number of key targets to boost success and drive take-up.

But we believe much more can be done to level up the playing field to that enjoyed by men - and argue that an apology is long overdue.