Film, Women in Sport, Writing

Histories of Women’s Football in Britain and Ireland

Margot McCuaig

This beautiful book, edited by Fiona Skillen, Helena Byrne and Gary James, was published by Peter Lang and launched at the Irish Embassy in London this month (September 2025). I’m thrilled to have written a chapter in the collection, writing about documentary films I have made with my company purpleTV, which feature women in football.


Women’s stories are incredibly important, particularly in an environment where they have been silenced, misremembered or not deemed important enough to be remembered in the first place. Ensuring women’s voices are front and centre, and accessible to audiences on screen, and to readers in books, is a step towards creating an equal space for women and girls. If we all take similar steps we will continue to move in the right direction.

The book is available to purchase here.

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Published by Margot McCuaig

I’m a novelist and award-winning documentary filmmaker. My debut novel, 'The Birds That Never Flew', was shortlisted for the Dundee International Book Prize and longlisted for the Polari First Book Prize. 'Almost Then', my second novel, was published by Linen Press in April 2021. I write, produce and direct documentary films and won Royal Television Society Scotland awards in 2015 with 'Jock Stein' and for 'Jim Baxter' in 2016. 'Jimmy Johnstone' was nominated for a bronze Torc for Excellence in 2017. My feature length documentary film 'Tommy Burns won a Royal Television Society award in 2019 and 'The Women Who Built Glasgow City' won the same award in 2021. I made two children who are now making children too. That's the biggest achievement of all. I live in Glasgow, Scotland and Rathlin Island, Ireland. If you want to get in touch you can email me: margot@purpletv.tv. If you'd like me to attend a literature event then please have a look at my Scottish Book Trust profile.