I started playing football aged six, under the bright lights of Barnsley FC, at summer football camp. A ball to the face and a bloody nose on the first day meant I got a special prize AND a certificate. I was hooked.
I played consistently throughout my childhood for a team in Sheffield that my dad coached. I was very much aware it was unusual for girls to play football because of comments at school, but finding something you’re good at when you are that age and sharing it with kindred spirits is powerful. Also, the timely release of Bend it Like Beckham cemented in my mind that a professional career (and a friendship with All Saints’ Shaznay Lewis) was firmly within reach.
However, like a lot of women I know who used to play, I gave it up during secondary school when testosterone turned up in mixed-gender PE and studying (partying) got in the way.
After moving to London in my 20s, I had itchy feet to play again and a friend had started a casual team in Camden. As a group of beginners we found it almost impossible to find any suitable leagues in north London. Those we did find tended to consist of us being humiliated by 16-year-olds every Tuesday. A low point was having circles run around me by a teenager with a ball at her feet and a cigarette in her hand.
The game-changer was the Super 5 League in Homerton run by Shazza Malji. Every Wednesday we join some 50 other women, most with similar stories about being put off playing in the past but picking up their boots again recently. The camaraderie and empowerment are palpable. The league has been picking up traction with sponsors and we were recently asked to play in the first women’s tournament at Stamford Bridge.
It is no coincidence that our local league is going from strength to strength when the women’s game on a national level is picking up attention. It is striking watching women play on TV after seeing so many men’s games. There seems to be a lack of confidence from pundits when talking about women’s style of play. I’ve noticed commentators almost ignoring the match in front of them in favour of proudly reeling off a list of facts about the ground and the kit that feels like it’s been Googled before the game. It’s true that pundits must feel scrutiny when commenting on a women’s match but this can only get better with practice.
The lack of research surrounding the women’s game is a glaring problem, highlighted by the story about England and Arsenal midfielder Jordan Nobbs, who was ruled out of this summer’s World Cup after a knee injury. Nobbs believes her period was a factor in it, and has called for more research into links between the menstrual cycle and injury. Even as a lifelong female footballer, this connection had never occurred to me.
The men’s and women’s games should be treated with the same respect but nuances recognised. It often feels as if we’ve been wearing our brothers’ ill-fitting metaphorical hand-me-downs — literally in some cases: finding a kit that caters for hips is a task in itself, which is why it’s great to hear about the redesigning of the Lionesses’ kit to take account of women’s bodies. Change is coming, and it feels great to no longer be the only girl at summer football camp.
