Friday article #1 | "We need change to be led by lions of both genders, not the donkeys of one"

Opinion: Dr Becky Parry reflects on football, feminism and the real lionesses

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We need change to be led by lions of both genders, not the donkeys of one

Words: Dr Becky Parry

The Dick, Kerr ladies discuss tactics

I loved every minute of the Euros 2022. It was great to go to Bramall Lane and Rotherham’s New York Stadium to see stadiums packed with fans of women’s football, and to know that even when sitting in the same stands, fans from different nations would not kick off. And it was truly magnificent to finally hear the media and FA acknowledge that their ban of women’s football systematically denied girls and women in the UK the right to play their national sport.

Many women who have battled to keep grassroots football going for girls must be working hard not to roll their eyes just now. As more and more people jump on the very bandwagon that these, the grassroots Lionesses, have created, it must take immense patience to smile and nod and not bellow, ‘I told you so, you…(what Jill Scott said*)’. When you have held an opinion that others have mocked and belittled and that opinion suddenly becomes mainstream, the temptation to be smug must be strong.

*

ugh @838_carlisle

But smug does not build on success and turn a moment of euphoria into a long-term commitment to women’s football. So instead, we see them doing the media interviews, smiling and staking their claims for the game. I admire this hugely. I would happily (verbally) bite the head off the dipsticks who mansplain that the women’s game is like school-boy football, that no-one will watch it and no-one cares. It’s like saying a two-year-old child is immature.

nazir afzal @nazirafzal

Here’s @AlexScott reminding us all that 4 yrs ago when women’s football needed larger stadia, many clubs said NO They know who they are!!

Of course, women can’t yet play at the level of men. They have been prevented from playing, and the development of their game has been impacted. Anyone who has actually been watching women’s football for the past twenty years will know just how rapidly they are catching up on technique and tactics. Watching the poise and prowess of Bronze, the confidence and joy of Toone and Russo and the quietly-brilliant Keira Walsh whose passing was, well, unsurpassed, has been a joy.

But I don’t want women to learn how to play the men’s game. I would like to see them forging their own styles of play, in the sure and certain belief that however they do play, they are at least as interesting to watch and talk about as men.

But what do I really know about football anyway? It’s a frequently asked question for every woman who knows a bit about football. I may not know transfer fees and the dates and times of winning goals, and which young player is touted as the next big thing. I choose not to put that stuff in my brain. I choose to know about Lily Parr; Dick, Kerr Ladies and gates of 50,000 for women’s cup finals; the FA ban; grassroots coaches like Val Hoyle and the clubs who said ‘yes, we’ll have a women’s team, and they will play in our stadium’ (my second proudest moment as a Blade).

Alex Greenwood @AlexGreenwood

Bramall Lane it was a Pleasure 🤝🏼🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🎩 #5

Yes, I am a Blade and a mother of Blades, and I even met my husband through a shared interest in United (drunkenly singing ‘Ooh Ah Bob Booker’ on a staircase at a party). I can even be seen fleetingly at an away match in Portsmouth in the documentary that followed Dave Bassett’s team to promotion. None of this stops my sons from cringing when I make a comment about a referee’s decision or an offside. Nor did it stop me from shouting ridiculous touchline encouragement at my sons’ junior football matches (‘keep breathing’ being a personal favourite). As a woman determined to avoid the worst aspects of junior football, I was frequently made to feel like an awkward outsider (and that is definitely putting it politely).

For so many years after the FA ban, just being a footballer or football coach in the UK has put women outside the mainstream and politicised them. Now that the mainstream is catching up, it will be important that our Lionesses, from top players to junior league coaches, learn from the men’s game as it was “Before the Oligarchs. Before sports washing. Before the oil money. Before Sky Sports”.

We badly need the beautiful game, which was once played in leagues to raise money for the poor, to be redefined. We need this because this moment is bigger than football, bigger even than feminism. It is important because it shows that change, even in the face of determined doubters, is possible and much-needed in these times of growing inequity and precarity. And we need change to be led by lions of both genders, not the donkeys of one.

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