One such study found that women who participate in sports such as football demonstrated higher self esteem in addition to enhanced self perception and self worth. This in turn led to improved sense of accomplishment and self empowerment.

-Steve

-Steve

This has been a very interesting discussion which I have to say I personally have found really challenging. People often tell me that I’m more like a man than a woman, in character, which maybe “helps” in this scenario. I have been especially thinking about Jennifer’s question above: why is it so hard to accept that gender is the issue? I haven’t really got any answers for that other than a wholly unsatisfactory visceral reaction of my own which I can only imagine rings even more true for people who are actually male. I have been brooding on this all week now! Perhaps I shall try to write a follow-up post.

The fact that I write for a soccer blog is not something I discuss when I’m out and about. I’m married. I’m a mom. I’m an American. People just don’t get it. Only a tiny portion of the people who know me know what I do, and even fewer know the name of the site.

A somewhat related story: A few weeks back I was in Heathrow with my husband, sitting in a little pub-type-place to kill a couple of hours. Portsmouth was playing West Brom on the TV, so we moved our seats to sit where I could see. A forty-something guy sits down at the table behind us to have a pint. He and my husband start chatting. He goes off on how Americans don’t know football. My husband asks him who’s playing. He says, “Oh, it’s Portsmouth and…” He hesitates.

“West Brom,” I say, quietly.

“What?”

“West Brom. It’s the FA Cup semis.”

“Oh, no, I don’t think… I believe it’s just…” He loooks at the field, where the words “FA Cup” are everywhere. “Well, perhaps you’re right.” Grudgingly.

My husband starts to say, “Yes, she writes for a soccer site,” but I cut him off. There is no point to bringing this up. I have already violated some sort of unspoken rule, and continuing the conversation won’t accomplish anything. I’m not upset by this. It’s just the way things are. The two of them continue chatting, the game ends, the man leaves.

When I go to games, I drag along family members as shields, because women alone at sporting events are…odd. Nobody understands that we can just…love the game.

And so I think we miss out on a lot of the social aspect of the game that guys experience. And not necessarily by choice.

Looks like I’ll have to change my social group! My wife is definitely not a football fan, but we do have some interesting conversations about the wider issues surrounding the game, such as its history and culture. She even came with me to watch the Barcelona derby a couple of years ago. Perhaps some men have made the mistake of centering their football conversations solely around what happens on the pitch.

I strongly agree with Sam’s comments about the football culture in the UK (and Ireland). The majority of fans in this part of the world are passionate about their teams, but generally have little appetite for discussing the game in its wider context. For example, one friend of mine can recite all the latest team news and developments at Man Utd, but as soon as I bring up a relevent point from the club’s history, then his eyes glaze over and the conversation soon reverts back to the latest injury scares.

If you mention to folks that your hobby is football history, and that one day you’d like to make a living from it, then after a few minutes chat, that avenue of conversation often peters out. I have noticed a gradual change, but only very slowly.

The television broadcasters must share some of the blame for reinforcing the stereotypical view that females don’t get football in its own right. Why else, for example, did viewers have to put up with David Ginola’s punditry during the 1998 WC in France? The ‘female factor’ of course! Women would never dream of watching the WC solely for footballing reasons would they?

You can info about here.

http://www.footballshirtculture.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1296&Itemid=145

The reality is, like jazz, he would probably would have dismissed the whole enterprise as kitsch.