A generation of women and girls
Oh so Keir Starmer isn’t terminally confused about what women are? Whaddyaknow.
In case like me you haven’t been following – Carrie Dunn at the Guardian reports:
Sarina Wiegman’s team have done just what Gareth Southgate’s men did last summer – they’ve captured the imagination of the entire country with their determination, happiness and outrageous skill. Not only that, they went one better – although they went to extra time, Chloe Kelly scored to make England the champions of Europe.
This has been the most-watched Women’s Euros in history. It broke the previous record for Women’s Euros in-person attendance way back in the group stages, when a cumulative total of 248,075 fans had already been through the turnstiles after just a few games. To top it off, the 87,192 fans at Wembley on Sunday meant that England v Germany had the highest attendance of any European Championship final – men’s or women’s.
That’s interesting.
Although there is clearly brilliant talent already in the game – Williamson’s and Wiegman’s Lionesses are proof of that – this tournament must be the starting point of even greater progress. There has already been plenty of discussion about the need to draw from a more diverse talent pool, with question-marks around whether the setup over the past decade has marginalised some groups who haven’t been able to access the limited training facilities for reasons of time, travel or money. The FA has announced the launch of 60 emerging talent centres across England, which should go some way to addressing that.
It’s so pleasant to see them just letting women get on with it.
It was on the only screen in the restaurant where I had lunch. There is an audience for women’s sport if the networks will broadcast.
Cool!
I believe a protest has been lodged due to the lack of trans players on the winning team.
/snark
maybe something in you dies when you dye your hair . . .
or the brit footballers are a bit more attentive . . . remember this?
https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2022/06/19/megan-rapinoe-trans-rights-time/
What sport?
All those column inches, and the article doesn’t say … What sport are we talking about?
maddog, it’s in the headline. Football. Although if the references to the FA and UEFA and such things didn’t help you work that out, you may know it as soccer (I speak as someone who can’t imagine anything more tedious than watching some people chase a ball around a big field, but I live in the UK and I can therefore recognise any number of of football-related names, clubs, and acronyms)
This is true, in much the same way that there’s an audience for movies starring superpowered heroines despite Hollywood’s common knowledge that such things don’t sell. It does depend on the sport, just as films’ success depends on, ya know, the actual films.
I don’t think Keir Starmer has ever been even a bit confused about what women are. The reason he always looks so rattled when he’s asked the question is that he knows he has to choose between antagonising a very loud angry faction in the party and making himself look like a lying fool.
Lots of people don’t really believe in genderism but will nod along for career and social reasons and make statements that are either deliberately vague (“everyone should feel free to be themselves”) or unobjectionable (“it is unacceptable to bully people at work”) and it works fine until someone nails them with a direct question and demands a direct answer.
Oh I know. But of course I think he should choose women.
Well I did watch the game, though I’m not a sports fan, and really enjoyed it. The lionesses are really likable, buoyant young women, and aren’t such prima donnas as the blokes. They use their amazingly fit bodies as instruments and they don’t care how they look. Also their self-possessed, calm manager is totally cool – you want her to be running the country. She’s Dutch and people have been pointing out how the English have done well when ruled by the Dutch (i.e. William III). Also the whole family atmosphere of the game was great. Mums and Dads with their little girls and no violence outside.
Ophelia: yes, but it’s like pandering to religious sensibilities. Trying to please the shoutiest people in the room. (When of course they’re the ones it’s impossible to satisfy.)
I watched the entire tournament and enjoyed it all. I love most sport anyway.
One thing that has disappointed me is the trend towards cheating in the women’s game. It has been noted many times that, unlike the men, the women do not fall over and roll around as if they have been shot, in an attempt to get the opposition booked or gain a free kick. Judging by this tournament, however, this trend seems to be reversing, presumably as the women’s game becomes more “professional” and player’s livelihoods rely on good results.
Something that was also very stark was just how blonde the final was. I think that there were just one or two brunettes in the England side and just one black player in the German side. There were comments from some of the pundits that more needs to be done about diversity in the game and, unfortunately, one of them did mention “trans” players along with black, ethnic etc. It seems to me that people are automatically throwing the word trans in, without thinking, purely because it is the latest buzzword and they want to be nice.
@Colin Daniels – I did notice the many blondes, though I imagine some aren’t natural.
As you say, a surprising absence of black players – there are loads in the men’s teams.
I should think that where “looking like a lying fool” is one of the consequences, almost any other consequence would be preferable. Character, once lost, isn’t easy to regain (if ever).