‘Respect women like you respect men, and things will fall into place’
KRISTINE LILLY, Two-time FIFA World Cup winner
MUMBAI: American football legend Kristine Lilly has seen the game evolve in her country at every step. In her 23-year international career, she made 354 appearances—a record by any player—and has five FIFA Women’s World Cup medals and three Olympic medals. But perhaps the most important was the 1999 World Cup, when she stood on the podium wearing a gold medal before her home fans. It inspired a new generation of players, leading to USA’s back-to-back titles in 2015 and 2019.
Lilly is optimistic that something similar can kickstart in India, which will host the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup next year. In the city to launch the event’s emblem, the 48-year-old spoke about developing women’s football in India and being vocal about gender equality in sport.
Excerpts:
What’s the key to help women’s football grow in India?
I think it all comes down to support and respect. If you respect the women like you respect the men, you’re investing in it and getting the support from corporates, things will fall into place. Then it’s important to get the people coming to watch the game. Plus, there’s also the culture side of it—whether the girls should be playing a sport. The mindset of the people that think otherwise needs to change.
With the U-17 Women’s World Cup in the country next year, do you feel it is the best way to attract girls to the sport?
Definitely. Having the U-17 World Cup is going to change the landscape of women’s football in the country, and that’s because young girls are going to see it. People read about it and see it on TV, but now it’s happening right in the backyard. To see it up close and getting a chance to watch the Indian women play, girls can go, ‘Wow, I want to do that too’. And that’s what will connect young girls to the sport.
And once that happens, how can India build on that?
Then you’ve just got to keep it rolling. It shouldn’t be just, ‘Okay, the World Cup happened and we’re done’. It should be about how can we help grow what we already have. I know there’s a women’s league in India (Indian Women’s League), so the focus should be on how we can continue to support that, give girls opportunities, and offer more football to the young kids to get them interested. You have got to look closely at what the World Cup does and take the excitement forward from that.
The women’s team is improving and gaining in popularity, but is not close to the men’s team in terms of attracting eyeballs...
They need to be respected. Once that happens, people will care about it and invest in it, and in turn the players will too. It’s about giving your national players the opportunity to train and not worry about working or anything else. They need some avenue where they can just focus on their football. It’s important to also get good coaches, play games in India where people can come and watch them play, and make travel as much as they can to play some better teams to make them more competitive. It’s also about providing equal opportunities to both the teams. Any game that happens in India—men or women—put it on TV. Maybe don’t give the best timings to the girls but whatever it is, just put it on TV and see what happens. And that’s where the U-17 World Cup is going to help so much because it’s going to spread around India.
You have been pretty vocal about equality in sport. Is that an issue that is close to your heart?
Yes, and back in the US, it’s changing quite a bit. But it’s still about the little things— yeah, you have a national team that’s pretty good, but when we practice, do we get the same facilities; or when we travel, do we get the same hotels and flights as the men? That’s the respect I’m talking about. And that’s what needs to happen to the girls and women playing on the field.
How big a role model are the likes of Megan Rapinoe and Alex Morgan, who are fighting for that respect and equality back home, after the team’s World Cup triumph this year?
You know, we just had Halloween, and I saw pictures of young kids being Alex Morgan or Megan Rapinoe. That shows that they’re able to reach the heart of the young girls. So there has been a massive impact of the current USA team on the younger generation.