Girls and Football - The ABUAD Edition

I was on the field the other day because my college members had been set to play football - both the male and female teams. I was quite curious as to how the female team would play and where they would play for that matter as well - seeing as my school only had one "official" football field. I later found out that same day - when i had gone to the field - that the girls were going to play on an improvisation of a field drawn on the grass, with paintwork. I had to say I was somewhat dissatisfied and disappointed with the effort,  but what could I do? I had come to watch the game and watch the game I would.

The match started off soon after, and for many people in my college, ended almost immediately soon after. The opposing team scored two goals within the first five minutes of the game. Now - I'm not at all an ardent watcher of  soccer/football (whichever you prefer to call it) but i know that when you're watching a football match you normally shout and scream - either to support your team or make fun of the other. My college was almost quite literally speechless. No football fanny soul would call that silence anything but unnerving.

See more pictures after the cut...

However my college remained undeterred and have shouts of moral support to the female players on our team. In most movies that moral support thing always causes the game to change and the underdog team suddenly becomes amazing. I don't really know....maybe we did not shout the right way - but it seemed that we used our energy for blowing wind to cool the players heated backs. At least then it would be that there was something we did. Now I would like to make one point very clear. I believe our players did extraordinarily well according to their efforts and skill levels . The majority consensus excuse in form of snide commenting was that the other team had men, & not girls playing on their team. I won't elaborate on that, but if you're an ABUAD student I'm sure you'd understand. Of course the other team did not actually use any males but rather, it was on reference to the way the members the other team played. They had played with a level of skill, ferocity and determination that one would normally ascribe to males only. Therein lies, of course, the bias they were all hiding.

The female football team had undergone little training,  were ill prepared and in the opinion of the majority - did not take the game seriously. The bystanders all said the same thing, although in different ways, "They're playing like girls". In short, that small single statement could summarize the entire bias against females in football. That they cannot play well just because they are female. In truth,  I saw bias in the entire event. Not just from us bystanders but from  the organizers as well.

• The field they played on was smaller.
• The team comprised of 5 players unlike how the male team had 11.
• The training done for the female team was nowhere as serious as that done for the males.
• The perception of both the players and bystanders was lackadaisical with a few extremes on either side,  and riddled largely with excuses.

The only thing I can really say that's good is that at least the sports directors and some organizers of the team in our college were very passionate about it. It seems that their passion this time however had not been enough. I however remain extremely proud of the effort put in by our girls team, they tried their very best, and we love them all for it. Regardless of these, the fact remains that the bias against the females in sports should largely be addressed. It's a popular saying - "It's a man's world". However if you look all around you, it seems that from the gender ratio all around us that it might not be the case at all.

"♬WHO RUN THE WORLD...?♬  __________" (Please ignore this if you don't know who Beyonce is though :| )

As usual - feel free to drop your comments in the comment section below, or if you're feeling creative; toss, roll or slam dunk them ;)

Thanks for coming here :)
Love, stars and Jam