If ever there was a better example of how little females sports matter

[deadpan]

Well done to the girls for writing the letter that lead to a proper sized trophy.
I doubt the situation would have changed were it not for the boys and girls being awarded their trophies - unusually - on the same night. This change in practice made the bigwigs embarrassed 🤔 hhmm I wonder why they hadn't noticed the difference before. Not giving a s..t or closing their eyes perhaps.

Maybe I should have put this in the Feminism chat, but I thought it illuminates really well how unimportant girls in sport is to the powers that be. And therefore why they don't think it matters if a few boys are allowed to take part too.

Girls football team win tiny plastic cup as boys take home full-size trophy - BBC News https://share.google/no8BUZDKAr27c9XE4

Why do link images appear and then seem to disappear when you post.

For comparison

I saw this. The girls were an afterthought, someone thought "oh just give them that little plastic one, they'll be fine".

This should not have happened but it's wonderful that they complained. Like it took the EPSSA president to see all the trophies together to realise it was unfair?

The photos of the girls, especially that one with the BIG trophy, honestly made me tearful. Brilliant girls ❤

Well done to those girls, still at Primary School, for standing up for themselves. Every adult involved in that ceremony should be ashamed.

I'm so glad you posted it here, deadpan, it's a wonderful story of young girls knowing what's right and fair, and what isn't, and acting on it. Well done them!
It cheered up a miserable morning, thank you

I hope all the boys know the girls got a proper trophy eventually. Girls know their sport matters as well.. unfortunately its the boys who think that the girls sport doesn't matter.

I disagree. It's unfair to generalise about boys that way.

Unfortunately it's the adults who think that the girls' sport doesn't matter.

In fact, I'm not convinced they thought it didn't matter, but rather that they just didn't think.

It would be interesting to know how long they've had the respective trophies and who bought them.

The article says: "French, the EPSSA president, said the girls' tournament had been running since 1997"
so maybe they bought them back then, when girls' football had less status? Nobody really thought about the difference.
Obviously I'm not saying it's right, but it could be a reason.
That doesn't explain why they didn't make them equal in the meantime, especially in recent years now women's football has gained so much in popularity.
It was only seeing the trophies side by side that made the adults realise.
These girls are fabulous!

Well done, those girls!

And it's nice to see a straightforward 'Yes, we got it wrong and we've changed it.' response. Yes, they should have thought earlier but at least they've not tried to justify anything or fob the girls off with a non-apology 'sorry if you feel ...'.

I am guessing the tournament has been running since 1997 but has become more popular recently. There is a football pitch near us that always used to have boys' teams playing on the weekends, now there are girls games too. I have also seen mixed games down there when kids are just playing for fun. Really nice to see, spaces like that used to be for lads only.

I saw this and was proud of the girls for speaking up - good for them! Shame on the organisers who hadn't clocked the appalling inequality.

Yes, you are right about that. It's refreshing. No half baked excuses, just a genuine apology and the situation rectified quickly.

Yes, it's not really complex or difficult is it?

Apology, rectification - job done. NHS take note...

I'd say the fact that the girls' tournament has been running for nearly 30 years makes it worse. If it had only been established recently then you could at least plausibly argue that those involved were more focused on getting the tournament up and running, and that the trophy had just been lower down on the list of priorities.

I’m a regular reader of The Times and nowhere is more apparent than in that esteemed newspaper about how little female sports matter. On most days, with around 7-8 pages of sport, there are barely a few column inches of coverage of women’s sport. It annoys me every single day.

It’s endemic throughout society

I think the papers, especially the broadsheets, are still under the impression that only blokes are interested in sport, and only want to hear about men's sport.

They don't seemed to have noticed that women's sport is growing fast, and that a lot of women follow women's sport and so do a lot of men. If a man is a genuine sports fan that he won't care if it's a men's team or a women's team so long as it's a good game.

Afraid your thread has been moved to the naughty step @deadpan but at least it means I saw it so well done those girls.

Spot on. However the Telegraph has not only has a Women's Sport section for many years but their Chief Sports journalist - Oliver Brown - is a great advocate for women's sport, not just writing brilliant articles but publicly taking on the IOC in the last Olympics for their failure to protect women's spoirt.

This if course means that Telegraph readers are well educated about the issue.