Sidonie Verschueren: star athlete of her time, now faded from memory

In the 1920s, a young Antwerp athlete’s strong performances caught people’s attention. Sprinting, hurdling, high jump, shot put, football … Sidonie Verschueren had a winning streak in all these disciplines. That is until she vanished seemingly without a trace at the beginning of the 1930s.

Barely having turned 19 years old, she already earned several accolades as a world-class athlete. This playful virile-looking sports phenomenon went on to win no less than 14 athletic titles in a space of hardly ten years, including for the Beerschot Athletic Club and subsequently for the Antwerpsche Sportgilde. Newspaper reports from that period state that she raced toward her goal like a battering ram and did not exactly adhere to the unwritten laws of elegance. Just as befits – by Sidonie’s own account – a tomboy. But not to worry, when all is said and done, what matters most is the results and her achievements were exceptionally impressive.

Sidonie Verschueren’s unstoppable competitive spirit could not be detained by athletics alone. She would add football, a sport considered unbecoming for women and therefore strictly forbidden for them, to her quiver when in 1925 the Ghent Fémina Club, the first Flemish women’s football team was founded. Sidonie started there as a forward, a position that fit her like a glove. Her younger sister Germaine also joined the team.

Although women’s football was banned during the Belgian interbellum period, it remained extremely popular. The female athletes would not be deterred by the Football Association, that was hostile to them and raised apparent concerns around their fertility. They were banned from the stadiums where the men’s clubs played and were therefore deprived from revenue. They also experienced more difficulties in developing their talents than their male colleagues. But they did not waver. For instance, they launched their own competitions and even formed a national female team. Sidonie Verschueren was proclaimed by her fellow players and in newspaper articles to be the best football player of her generation.

So how can it be explained that Sidonie Verschueren virtually disappeared quietly into the annals of history, after having hung up her football boots and other sports gear permanently around 1932? Even the date of her death remains unknown ... Could you please enlighten us? Because the FOB editors would love to get some more insight into what happened.

STAM Stadsmuseum Gent (Youtube screenshot)