Feminism and football.

[solidgoldbrass]

I don't like football, it bores me (as does all sport. I don't give a fuck about tennis or the Olympics, either). I am, however, aware that the England Women's football team has a rather better track record in international competitions than the England Men's team, so I get a bit fed up of being told that the reason I am very bored by football matches is because I don't have a penis.
The majority of my male friends have little interest in football (whoever's playing it) and a couple of my female friends are very enthusiastic and passionate longterm fans of men's football.
So what does everyone else think?

I would imagine a feminist take on football would be different than a feminist take on professional football.

I'm a huge fan but there are a lot of aspects I'm not happy with -- the celebration of a game that's really massively corrupt, the drinking and fighting culture in some places, the fact that so many players have been caught out with prostitutes or their teammates' wives. It's just so sordid sometimes.

I also prefer rugby in that sense

I prefer to watch womens football, they appear to put more thought into it.

Ah, so that's why during the England/Netherlands game neither side were able to move the ball quickly, no one-touch football whatsoever. They were thinking about it...

I loathed PE at school. Those stupid arsing little knickers they made you wear. Ooh, and a little netball skirt if you had your period. Might as well have stuck a neon side to your face 'PERIOD! THIS GIRL HAS HER PERIOD!'. Bastards. The boys could wear shorts OR jogging bottoms.

Another great advantage of swimming - everybody has to wear the same amount of lycra! No sexy cutaways, nothing more revealing than is absolutely necessary. Mind you, no place to hide either .

I enjoy being active. I can walk for hours with the dog, love wandering through the woods etc, can spend the whole day gardening and tending to the chickens. But competitive sport leaves me cold. I don't know if I've been turned off it, or would never have enjoyed it. I am also horrendously clumsy, and most of my school humiliations occured in PE.

Meanwhile in Australia, we have recently had to put up with this shite, and worse still, people defending this shite, - and apparently we are getting our very own teams.

Can't wait.... not.

melindatankardreist.com/2012/06/a-sad-day-for-all-women-in-sport-deborah-malcolm-reports-on-weekends-lingerie-football-league-game/

WTF WTF WTF WTF WTF WTF WTF

I gather you read some of the comments bejeezus? I think you summed up my initial reaction well. Now I am just shaking my head.

Oh, but, s'ok, we don't need feminism in the West any more do we? ;-/

I havent read the comments-i will do...

i feel a bit sick and now,

Sky show Superleague netball every week. They cover the entire season, and they have female hosts and pundits in the commentary. It is very well done, as with most Sky sports coverage. They also had extensive coverage of the women's hockey internationals in London in the last few weeks. It isn't as pervasive as coverage of men's football and rugby, but it's a start.

Many of the elite male footballers in the Euro 2012 tournament are wearing pink football boots.

I am waiting to see how many boys ask their parents for a pair of pink football boots for their birthday or Christmas present.

The colour is 'mango' apprently and I have good word that those football boots are quite popular at the moment.

Is it the F50's? All the 11 year old football mad kids round my way are on about them just now.

I'm sure there are statistics to back me up, but my computer is at 2% charge and I can't find the cable so I'm afraid you will have to look for them yourselves, but it has certainly been my experience that the vast majority of girls who do any sport on a regular basis at the age of 8 will have given it uo by the time they turn 14. With boys it is maybe 50% so it can't be said that it is just because of getting older and discovering the opposite sex and drinking or anything like that. It is my belief that it is mainly due to the overwhelming impression we get from the media and society that to be sporty makes you different and unfeminine.

I used to play American football. I wasn't especially good but I enjoyed it. There were several girls playing junior, flag football who were far better than me. They were so good, they played for Britain. Then they hit 15 (the age players progress from junior to youth in the UK) and they either transferred off their 'mixed' (mainly male) teams to a women's one and sunk into obscurity or quit altogether. When I turned 15 the president of my club asked me if I wanted to play youth kitted football, because it was then against the rules for girls to play. Quite a few members of the league wanted to change that but couldn't until they had a girl of an eligible age to challenge the ruling by saying they wanted to play. They had been waiting 4 years for someone to stand up and say "yeah, I want to play proper football".

I played one season, then discovered drinking on a Saturday which was way more fun than getting up at 6am on a Sunday to run laps and get hit by someknethe size of a fridge, but that one season is quite possibly the most important thing I ever did, simply because it helped open the door of choice to girls who followed.

It makes me sad that girls are still dropping out of sport because it isn't feminine, or they are lead to believe they have the 'wrong' body type to be seen in a swimming costume, or some sports are 'for boys'.

I don't think that sexism and racism and hooliganism has anything to do with the sport of football. Infact I think that the sport has been tarnished by some of the people within it (and those that support it).

Most football fans are decent family people, as are most footballers. But they make a less interesting story so the ones the media focus on are the bad eggs. I also think there's alot of inverted snobbery around supporting football. Yes there are a few glamour girls who marry footballers and do little else but there are also lots of WAGS who are decent, intelligent women who work and are excellent mothers. Again - who wants to know about them?

There are huge benefits to be had from playing competitive sport and it should be encouraged for boys and girls!

I have often wondered why sport is one of the few things that is gender divided, ie you literally have different genders in different leauges/ events etc - with the possible exception of mixed doubles in tennis. In this day and age of mixed-sex schools and social clubs and places of worship etc etc, why can't we have mixed-sex sport? At the end of the day, playing sport is usually a social thing for most people - you wouldn't go to an all-male amateur dramatics group or an all-female bridge club, would you? You'd expect to socialise with both sexes. So why can't we have men and women playing on the same football team? I know there's the physical strength issue but as long as you made sure each team was evenly balanced, surely that would work out? I think some sports would postively lend theselves to this concept. Think of cricket, all that standing around the boundaries and breaking for tea etc - it doesn't seem all that strenuous and would be a perfect social occasion. I think it would make sport much more interesting to play and to watch.

The other difference between rugby and football for kids, is the price; just got a letter home about football tuition at £30 for 6 sessions, whereas the annual subs we pay at the RFC is £10. Elluva difference!