When it comes to deriding women’s football, there is an oft-trotted out example to scoff and dismiss the game, a casual sacking off of its standard and reminder of its place.
The illustration of its standard is relayed in the story of an academy under-15s team – FC Dallas – beating the US women’s national team in 2017, at a time when the US were two-times FIFA Women’s World Cup champions.
It is a story held up as ‘proof’ of the deficiencies within the women’s game, scorning at where it is.
The issue with this example, of course, is that it simply showcases the physiological differences between women and men, the differentials in oxygen capacity, muscle capacity, strength, power, height, speed.
For those who need to hear it, it is like comparing apples and oranges.
This week as the sense of relief could be heard coming all the way from Glasgow and London as the SFA and the FA, on the back of the Supreme Court ruling, revealed legislation banning transgender women competing in women’s football, the external view of the majority would be that it is one of unambiguity given the basics outlined above.
There had been a long period of obfuscation over the issues of trans players within the women’s game with a nervousness around whether such a call would stand up to legal scrutiny. Last week’s Supreme Court ruling removes any ambiguity on that part.
But while this week’s news has been regarded as a move in the right direction, it is not a call that has been met with universal approval within the game.
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It is understood that there are senior players within the Scottish set up who feel that the decision is not in keeping within the spirt of the women’s game, with so much of its identity based around inclusion and solidarity.
Football, of course, was a closed shop to women until the ban forbidding them to play was lifted in 1974. The cultural echo of that cold shoulder has resonated throughout the game, even now decades after it was lifted; it took until 1998 for the SFA to assume direct responsibility for women’s football.
This, then, is a demographic who have had to fight for their place in the sport, to fight for everything that goes with it but the biggest fight they have had is for respect. They have had to do it the hard, slow way, fighting against a current of dismissal and a casual resistance.
For some, the trans ban supports that. The argument is that it protects women’s sport, its integrity and the space for women themselves to compete and challenge on a level playing field.
But for others, who have come into the sport after being the sole girl on a boys team, or who have grown up on the outside of populist circle of fitting societal norms there is an empathy with those who are overlooked.
For them, football offered community, a sense of belonging, a camaraderie and a family.
There is an unease among some of these players that they have now denied that to others.
This week at a showcase dinner in London, Chelsea defender Anita Asante dedicated her Game Changer gong at the Women’s Football Awards to the trans community.
It is also certainly to escape a feeling that there has been a disingenuous nature to some of the discourse around the argument and the narrative. There are many - Donald Trump and his ilk being the obvious example – for whom any consideration of women, their rights and their autonomy is nowhere near the forefront of consciousness when it comes to this discussion.
The wider conversation on this topic became polemic with a bilious, loaded nature to discussion, wading into bullying territory at times.
The Supreme Court ruling in many ways gets the SFA off the hook when it comes to defining legislation but it is unlikely to entirely negate the bigger conversations around this topic.
AND ANOTHER THING
There is a case to be made for Erin Cuthbert being the best midfielder in the WSL this season.
The Scotland internationalist was part of the celebrations this week as Chelsea claimed a sixth successive title. Still just 26 – it does feel like she has been around the game for so long – Cuthbert is coming into the prime years of her football career.
That can only be a benefit to Scotland and their international rebuild that is about to kick-off as they seek to be a team who can qualify for major tournaments.
But as Cuthbert enjoys her profile as one of the stars of one of the biggest leagues in Scottish football, it is worth offering a thought for those who made such a journey possible.
The SFA this week launched a ‘Trailblazers’ initiative to identify women who represented Scotland at any point between 1972 and 1997 but who do not receive a cap.
That the SFA are now committed to ensuring that these players are giving their place among the history of the women’s game is to be applauded as they look to retrospectively give a respect that was conspicuous by its absence for so long.
AND FINALLY
Fiona McIntyre was a worthy winner this week of the ‘Unsung Hero’ award at the prestigious Women’s Football ceremony in London.
The Managing Director of the SWPL has been an exceptional ambassador for the growth of the women’s game in Scotland and works her socks off to keep the trajectory of its journey on an upward curve.
Her effort deserves to be seen and acknowledged.
