WOMEN WITH BALLS
It’s time for men to sit on the sidelines while the ladies take the trophy…
This weekend, a group of women will get together and do something that will have a depressingly high number of men rolling their eyes. Especially blokes of a certain age.
Nope, not the usual shopping/nagging thing, surrounding every clichéd sexist joke ever. It’s worse than that, because it involves an area very precious to fellas… balls. Footballs to be precise.
After a sizzling summer of astonishing skill, this Sunday sees the final of the Euro 2022 at London’s Wembley Stadium.
And no, I’m not qualifying it by saying the Women’s Euro 2022 – because we don’t refer to the male version as the Men’s Euro, do we?
The game is now incredibly popular in the UK among women and girls, with many youngsters no doubt hugely inspired by seeing so many amazing and dedicated athletes playing over the past month.
The England side have been far better than their male counterparts, with less histrionics, cheating and referee baiting. Instead they’ve focused on playing the game. Which makes it more skilful and less brutal.
To so many male supporters of the men’s game, though, watching women take on ‘their’ sport is at best to be patronised, at worst to be outright laughed at.
They’ll snigger at a skilful pass that, let’s face it, would have earned praise had the player not possessed a pair of boobs and a bouncy blonde ponytail.
The 2022 UEFA European Women’s Football Championship has been screened on mainstream telly, live from grounds around the country. If it had been captain Harry Kane or Marcus Rashford taking up hours of BBC prime time, blokes would have been glued to the sofa, pint in hand, shushing you and the kids.
When it’s women in the same kit, kicking the same ball, at the same venue, however, they don’t even give it a chance.
Although, there’s nothing quite as hilarious as a beer-bellied, middle-aged bloke who gets out of puff walking to the fridge for another beer, sneering at a young, athletic female footballer at the
‘MANY YOUNGSTERS ARE HUGELY INSPIRED’
peak of her career, running the length of a pitch to bang a goal in.
Of course, if you look at the crowd this weekend there will be plenty of blokes there, but most supporters are young and female. Which is great, but it would be better if both sexes were taking it as seriously.
It’s also interesting to note what makes the news surrounding women’s football. When the men are playing international tournaments, entire front pages are given to their performances – both on and off the pitch.
The women? Well we’ve had stories about whether the white shorts of the England strip should be changed to navy… because women have periods. And a huge row over whether male commentators were ‘tokenism’.
Even when England thrashed Norway 8-0 with Arsenal’s Beth Mead scoring a stunning hat-trick, the newspapers were reporting on a row between Lord Alan Sugar and commentator Ian Wright on the number of men involved in the women’s game.
Yep, men talking about men, while the women did an amazing thing and were relegated to the sports pages.
It will probably take generations for football to be just that… football. No matter which sex is taking to the pitch.
But well done to all the women who made Euro 2022 a lesson in how to play the beautiful game with fairness and very few hissy fits.
Let the boys have their cheating, overpaid prima donnas.
Women do know the difference between a left back and a slingback! So stand by lads, because we’re coming for the one thing you value so much.
Your tackle.