Womens football In England - Essay Example

? Women’s football In England Women’s Football in England A brief analysis of the History of Women’s Football in England Since its inception, women’s football has been constantly wrought with a lot of uncertainty and unstableness. There has been the common misconception among most people that football as a sport should essentially be synonymous with masculinity. This misconceived myth is found to be fairly perpetuated in various football related matters such as club ownership, the coaching personnel involved, the players as well as in several ancillary industries such as the sporting press (Williams, 2003). Women’s football in England cannot be regarded as being a new sport. Historical evidence has shown that there was a representative football match back in 1895 between two women’s football teams drawn from the North and South of London (Hong and Mangan, 2012). During this match, the women that had been drawn from the North of London managed to win the game with a score margin of 7-1 (Grainey, 2012). From the very advent of the sport, women had constantly come under very close scrutiny as a result of the uniform that they were essentially to wear when playing the game. Most of the original orthodox jerseys that these women were essentially made of basic attire and usually comprised of loose blouses and knickers. Although this initial game was relatively highly attended, most of the media was quick to denounce it claiming that the quality of football that was being played by women was definitely poor (Williams, 2003). Criticism for this game was also seen to be expressed by the British Medical Journal which claimed that they could not in any way the needless exposure to violence that the organs of these women players were exposed to during the game although common experience had keenly taught these women to protect these organs (Reilly, Cabri and Araujo, 2005). The number of spectators attending these women’s football games was seen to gradually decrease over time and the press was seen to take great pleasure in proclaiming that the novelty of women playing football had gradually worn off. During the WWI era, as more men were drafted into fighting for the war, women were seen to enter the workforce in large numbers and these women factory workers formed various football teams based on the factories where they worked. This new trend was seen to be actively encouraged by the political establishment who saw it as an avenue that would show that the entire country was essentially functioning normally despite the war (Magee et al, 2007). The various matches played by these factory organized women’s football teams were usually for charities designed to aid in the raising of funds for helping the injured soldiers. The most successful of these factory based teams was the Dick Kerr factory team (Dunmore, 2011). This team won most of its matches and its manager organized for them to play a match against the French National team (Murray, 1998). The Ban on Women Football Due to the support that the Dick Kerr Ladies football team offered the mine workers by playing games to raise money for the striking mine workers after the events of Black Friday where the miners refused to accept the proposed 50% pay cut that was being imposed on them by the mine-owners (Williams, 2007). The government saw this as essentially being a political act, and started a propaganda campaign designed to end women’s football in the country. In December 1921, the Football Association released a press statement in which it denounced women’s football claiming that there had been a wide array of various complaints brought before it ranging from the use of the funds that were usually raised by the games to the conditions under which some of the games had been played (Brackenridge et al, 2005). To further cripple the women’s sport, the FA also prevented all their linesmen as well as referees from officiating in any of these women matches, they also prevented clubs associated with the Football Association from allowing these women matches from being played on their grounds (Kuhn, 2011). This move caused the women to start their own English Ladies Football Association (ELFA). The ban on women’s football was eventually lifted in 1971 but women football in England has never fully recovered since then (Kassouf, 2012). Women Football in the National Educational Curriculum Women Sports in the Primary Schools and Secondary Schools Level and the Role of the Football Association at These Levels In a report presented to the House of Commons with regard to Women Football in England, Girls can be able to play football just as well as the boys. Providing opportunities to the girls to play football at a relatively early age is seen to be key in helping the girls develop. Although some of the schools in England do not actively promote girls soccer, some of England’s primary schools have been seen to be actively promoting the development of girls football an often tend to act as local hubs. It has commonly been observed that the promotion of girls’ soccer is often dependent on whether there happens to be a teacher within the school who is interested in the development of the game (The culture, media and sports committee, 2006). The report suggested that the prevalent disinterest in some school by the teachers as pertaining to the development of girls soccer can be attributed to the general problems ailing PE in primary schools. The key problem ailing PE is that it is no longer a compulsory requirement in the country’s primary schools teachers training program. This causes the teachers to feel rather ill-equipped to provide PE classes for students and this problem tends to extend to the girls football at the primary school level. In a bid to try and improve the ailing PE program in the country, the government launched a new PE and Sports Strategy for Young People (PESSYP) in January 2008 (Bloyce and Smith, 2009). With the aid of this strategy, the FA Women’s committee deems this to be an expression of the Government’s commitment to try and improve the general quality of PE classes and the various sporting activities that happen to be undertaken by the young people in England who happen to be aged between the ages of about 5 years through to 19 years of age (The Football Association, 2008). Women’s Football at the College and University Levels in England The FA has played a critical role in the overall development of not only the British College Sports Football but also the British University College sports strategies 2008-12. The FA has been active in the provision of funding that helps in providing a football development officer stationed at each of these organizations. The officer is tasked with the objective of driving the overall development of football with particular focus on women’s football. The FA hopes to try and actively work with these organizations so as to be able to conduct sufficient research on the drop-out rates and hence be able to find possible ways that will help in the encouraging the continual retention of players and especially those who happen to be aged around 14-19 years (The Football Association, 2008). Link Between School and After School Sports In a bid to support this government strategy, the FA will play a critical role in offering adequate support for the actual delivery of this strategy. According to the FA, an estimated over 5,000 girls will be helped to participate in the Club Links Programme, this will help in the creation and sustaining of over 100 new teams each years in various small-sided and youth football. In addition to this, another key benefit will be the contribution of an estimated over 4,000 new girl players who will help sustain the existing 300 Mini-Soccer teams. This will be seen to be largely in line with the Independent Schools FA’s as well as with the English Schools FA objectives that aim to try and increase the overall number of girls’ teams that happen to be actively playing in both the national and local competitions through the development of various country competition plans (The Football Association, 2008). The FA and the Centres of Excellence Programme For those girls who happen to be talented in football, the FA has been able to license several Centre’s of Excellence that run in parallel to those that have already been established for boys. These centres are able to provide the girls with very good quality weekly coaching in addition to providing a fixture program for all girls aged between the ages of 8 through to 18 years. The funding for this program is found to be done entirely through the FA, that has largely been able to provide an estimated over ?1 million each year to fund the program all over the country. These centres of excellence have variously been described as being rather fantastic although the number of girls involved in the program happens to be relatively small. These centres have been proven to provide the much needed opportunity for the girls to develop themselves to the highest possible level via the use of the educational and technical programme provided at the centres (The culture, media and sports committee, 2006). However, there have been some concerns raised as pertaining to relatively severely limited amount of resources that are made available for the girls, this is as compared to the large amounts of funding that is made available to the centres for boys. Government support in the form of funding for this program has also been found to be largely wanting as according to the FA, under the country’s Youth Development Programme Sport England Initiative, the boys have been adequately provided funding to the tune of about ?2.5 million annually while the various girls’ Centres of Excellence have never chanced to be provided with any form of external funding. However, Sports England is currently in the process of withdrawing the massive support it has been offering for the boy’s Centres of Excellence after having already prolonged the funding programme well beyond the expected funding terms. However, the programme will still continue. This cessation of the funding that was being provided to the program can be perceived as being highly regrettable although the policies implemented by the Sports England policy that saw it providing much needed support to the various Centres of Excellence designed for boys while at the same time overlooking to provide funding to the girls programme can be viewed as being inequitable (The culture, media and sports committee, 2006). In the report, the commission presenting the report pointed out that it was very concerned about this disparity in funding the different programmes for boys and the girls especially in light of the disparity having existed for a time period of about eight years. It is critical that all sports funding bodies in the country ensure that they provide equitable access for both genders to any available funding streams (Hargreaves, 1997). The Status and place of Women’s football within the Local Community Programs It is estimated that about 75% of all the football pitches in England are owned by the various local authorities in the country. However, not all of these pitches are of the same high quality standard as those that are owned by clubs and it is not uncommon to hear of women’s teams experiencing difficulties in finding a suitable pitch to play or train on that is of a good standard or hasn’t already been booked by the men’s teams. Local authorities are required by the country’s Equality Act of 2006 to ensure that they promote equal opportunities to both women and men. In an assessment that had been funded by the Football Federation, in 2003, it was found that an estimated 94% of the changing rooms in the football pitches did not happen to have any facilities for women and girls. The FA estimated that about ?2 billion would essentially be required so as to bring the currently available facilities to an acceptable standard (The culture, media and sports committee, 2006). Conclusion Although women football in England had initially taken off to a relatively very good start back in the 1800s through to the 1900s, various challenges such as the ban established by the FA limiting women football as well as the media and government campaign served to cripple its progress. However, the sport is now set to slowly grow again especially in light of the massive support being offered to it by both the FA and the government. Various programs such as the (PESSYP), and the establishment of girls Centres of Excellence, have largely served to help promote its growth in the country. The implementation of these programs has poised women’s football in a unique position that will help it secures a place that will see it being widely regarded as the largest female sport in England. 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