Boys being pushed into girls’ football league

LenaLamont · Today 13:24

This is a boy problem, not a girl problem. If boys' football isn't inclusive enough of non-competitive players for 5-a-side teams or 1st, 2nd and 3rd string teams, that needs addressing. GIrls' football is for girls, not male sporting failures.

Amen.

Meanwhile, women are told that men in their sport should encourage them to train harder.
Why doesn't this boy just work harder on his skills to level up.

The FA have taken the cheapest and laziest possible approach to including girls. They’re trying to argue that opening U16 boys’ teams to girls is equality, when actually it means only the most exceptional and confident girls will get a start. Really supporting the women’s game means creating a girls’ U16 infrastructure so that girls of medium abilities can thrive as well as a few outliers.

Meanwhile grassroots teams have identified this absurdity and have created a girls’ infrastructure to meet the need. And now this has been brought to the FA’s attention, they want to close it down rather than accept that they are wrong. Sport should be single sex from U12 so that all girls have the opportunity to play safely and fairly.

the boy's parents asked the West Riding Girls League if their son could join due to him not wanting to play with other boys, and also BECAUSE OF HIS ABILITY LEVEL.

Alleluia! This is the first time I’ve heard someone telling the truth of why they want to play against women/girls. And I do hope this proves to be an own goal.

This is a boy problem, not a girl problem.

If boys' football isn't inclusive enough of non-competitive players for 5-a-side teams or 1st, 2nd and 3rd string teams, that needs addressing. GIrls' football is for girls, not male sporting failures.

The FA says that teams must be single sex by 18, as I read it, not that aren't allowed to be single sex if they want to earlier. So mixed sex is OK under FA rules but not compulsory if a club chooses otherwise.

And then there's the potential future problem of voyeurism......

My 13 year old nephew (who is already a good 7 inches taller than me) could run rings round me on a pitch, and I played women's football for 30 years.

I was obsessed with football as a child. Never got good enough to play with what local girls' provision there was, although I played after school with girls who were training with the local club's ladies' team.

Clearly I missed a trick. I should have demanded a place on a team for younger kids, or maybe I could have insisted on joining a team set up for children with physical disabilities. That's apparently what you're supposed to do, is it?

Instead I accepted that my skill was never going to match my passion, and switched sports, to something I could be good at. He should do the same.

Honestly the entitlement of parents with their little darlings who’ve never heard the word no.
Rather than accept their son isn’t very good they want to ruin the enjoyment of 1000’s of girls. Its just typical of the ‘me me me’ attitude we’re seeing in society.

My DS is grown now but as a little one playing football the entitlement and attitudes of parents was shocking. Boys of 3/4/5 with parents yelling at them like they were watching a premier league match rather than young kids. And I’ve seen punch ups on the touch line between parents/managers/referees at primary school age matches.

Knowing how harsh teenagers can be... but won't he get mocked mercilessly for aying with the girls by ther boys? Not right obviously.

Also he/his parents have insulted every girl in that league by saying they aren't as good. And they think h will be welcomed?

Cher beat me to it!

Ethan Nwaneri made his Premier League debut for Arsenal at 15 years old.

Thanks, Cher's - he looks a likely candidate.

Ethan Nwaneri – 15 years, 181 days old?

HagoftheNorth · Today 11:35

Sinner do you mean a boy playing in the women’s premier league? If so, can you reference please? Or have I misunderstood…

No, sorry, I obviously phrased that poorly, they play in the men's Premier League. I'm not sure if the 15 year old is now a bit older, I just remember a commentator recently saying that he'd had his first PL start aged 15. Blowed if I can remember his name.

I agree.... reading between the lines....and I may be wrong, but....the boy doesn't want to play with other boys, because isn't good enough to play with other boys, so wants to ride roughshod over all the girls instead.

There is a mixed league but they only want him to play with the girls.

entitled children grow up to entitled adults ... nice !

He should not be allowed. However, it is becoming very clear to me there is a huge gap in capacity for all to engage in sports as we age.

Ideally there would be a non competitive 5 aside option. His parents should in my opinion be looking for that as a reasonable option. Given the obesity crisis surely funding should be allocated.

His parents could encourage him to do something for which he has a talent.

I mean, is football the ONLY thing boys can do? How very gender stereotypical and limiting.

You've misunderstood. She's pointing out that the U16 rule is ridiculous because 15 year olds are old enough to play professionally.

As far as I can see, the FA's official position is that all under-16 competitions are mixed.
My brother played football as a kid and I'm sure that the female players were siphoned off to seperate teams at a much younger age than that (10ish?)

Has the rule changed or was it never a national rule?

It’s very verruca salt isn’t it?

Quite,if he's shit at football maybe he could try something a little less physically demanding.

The FA is not fit for purpose for women's football. They're already destroying the women's game by encouraging males with a female gender identity to play against adult women. We'd be better off with a separate governing body.

It is difficult for boys who haven't been born into football interested families, most often with siblings and parents who play. Even by five, I could see a major difference in the boys' football skills in the playground with the boys who'd been kicking a ball about with dad since they could toddle, and running around with siblings playing. The ones who started only when they started school were not very good at it, and so weren't wanted by the boys who were, and it caused a lot of issue with friendships because the football playing boys wanted to play every break time - hours of practice daily - and the boys not part of that gang were left outside. Even the coaching classes were mostly aimed at the boys who were building already established skills, so the boys new to it quickly felt no good and dropped out.

But this would suggest a need for a different kind of club and coaching, aimed at those boys who haven't had that start but have the interest, for boys with access barriers, for boys that need something less intimidating than a full on game with boys going for it at full speed and strength. What you'd call it, I don't know. But this need for boys should not be solved by mugging the girls for what they've got.

Absolutely. The history if the FA and the current males shoujd be allowed in all female spaces without question bollocks.

It was the FA who banned women playing football all those years ago (when there were some fantastic female players and teams) - hence we got the only male football teams / leagues situation. It’s disgusting actually. The fact they’re are panicking now because female football has taken off (again) is staggering in its misogyny.

https://www.dickkerrladies.com/the-fa-ban

Yep the FA banned women playing competitive football in 1921. So fcking predictable.

Patriarchy then. Patriarchy now.

If this boy had no options I'd be more sympathetic but not only are there plenty of boys teams but there are mixed teams too!
It's not the kids fault, I 100% blame the parents for pushing this.

thats the crux of this specific issue isn’t it?

there are options. Plenty of them in fact.

a) join another team (there’s plenty about)
b) arrange a regular social football game by hiring a weekly pitch at your local goals centre or similar
c) sign up as volunteer coaches and create your own league team
d) join a mixed sex team
e) play for a school football team
f) get involved in wildcats tournaments

the fact that they’ve discounted all of these and want to remove a place from a girl smacks of entitlement.

our girls team is capped at 13 players because the coaches say any more and it means a lack of fair game time for everyone. So if a boy decided they wanted to play for our team because they couldn’t get into the boys, that means a place for a girl is unavailable despite HUNDREDS of local boys teams in the same age bracket.

we have 6 teams in our girls league because there simply aren’t the girls teams available due to a lack of volunteers/coaches. The boys have 10+ so there are hundreds of options.

the real issue seems to be with their current coaches who are competitive and want to win.