THE inaugural Lily Parr Girls' Football Festival will take place at Ruskin Sprts Village today as prt of the national School Games programme.

In 2002, St Helens' Lily Parr, from Pocket Nook, became the first women to be named in the FA’s inaugural Hall of Fame.

St Helens Council Sports Development team, in conjunction with the Liverpool County FA, have organised the event.

Today is the anniversary of her birth, Thursday, April 26, and the event forms part of the celebrations of Girls' Football Week.

In the 1920s, she was the star player in the Dick Kerr’s Ladies’ football team after leaving the town for the first time to play for the side.

Lily, born in 1905, was known for her cannonball shot described as “like a Division One Back”.

By 14 she proved a standout footballer at St Helens Ladies and performances caught the eye of Albert Frankland, manager of the Dick Kerr’s team, who had a vision of an England ladies’ team.

While there, she scored 43 goals in her first season and toured France.

However, her career spanned a backdrop of opposition to ladies’ football, with the FA Council declaring the game “quite unsuitable for women”.

Lily, whose feats have been championed by the Star over the years, died in 1973 of breast cancer and she is buried in St Helens Cemetery.

Girls' Football Week [Monday 23 April - Sunday 29 April] is a national campaign to get as many girls as possible playing football.

A St Helens Council spokesperson said: "It is fantastic that the Sports Development team is hosting this event to recognise the vital role that Lily Parr played in the development of the women’s game, both during and after the First World War.

The uptake from schools has already been fantastic with over 20 schools already registered to take part."