Kicking off #WomensHistoryMonth with a notable figure from #womenssoccerhistory: Carmen Pomies. Not only was Carmen the first international player, having played for both France’s Femina Sport FC and as a visiting team member of the legendary #dickkerrsladies in 1920, she excelled at tennis water polo, basketball, javelin, the 100 meters, ski jumping and — believe it or not — mountain biking.
On top of all that, she also fought Nazis as part of the French Resistance during WWII.
Describing how she and former teammates would sneak onto tennis courts and athletic clubs to play soccer after the women’s game was banned by the government, Pomies said, ‘They would have thrown us in jail if they’d caught us.’ The consequences would have been far worse if they’d know that she was helping Allied officers escape occupied France as part of her job working for the German High Command.
Pomies survived the war and eventually moved to the U.S., living to age 82.