Chocolate & Football; It's A Girl's World Now

Everyone knows a way to a girl’s heart is chocolate, that’s why it’s a most preferred Valentine’s gift. It’s also how a lot of people see girls. Sweet, beautiful and feminine, but things change. Men cook, women work...

Gone are the days of getting our claws out and sharpened when we decide that we don’t like the girl in a green shirt. It’s now time to bring on the boots and the shorts. It’s time for a battle on the field. No more hair pulling and name calling now is about brutal pushes and tackles... it’s not about getting the girl, it’s about getting that goal.

Earlier women weren’t allowed to get involved in sports, especially Muslims but those were the days women weren’t allowed out at all, the United Arab Emirates now has a football team for local girls. It’s a different era,  a case of ‘Men are from Mars, but Women are taking over’

A girl playing football is seen as a sort of rebel, someone who will stand out, they will play football not for the money but for the passion. She in truth, will fight for the ball, not be afraid to push, to shove, but she won’t dive...or cry because she doesn’t want people to say ‘This is why girl’s don’t play football’. She is strong and independent and is a force to reckon with on a football pitch.

Some people find this hard to digest, like one German coach who says "Women are graceful creatures. I like to watch lady gymnasts. But when girls gallop around football pitches like cart-horses, that are going too far!”

Well I could say the same thing about a certain fairy boy, running around a field on his toes and crying every time he’s pushed. It’s going too far, isn’t it? When men cry, whine and act feminine, it’s okay.

How is it, that men can gallop and it’s acceptable, men can take up ballet and that’s acceptable and men can stay at home – look up stay at home dad- and take care of the kids, and that is acceptable, yet women cannot run around kicking a ball? This world may have been sexist once but things are different now, yet once in a while ‘Girls don’t play football’ will still slip into a conversation.

Girl’s know a lot about the sport too, we accept arguments for what they are and do not call war on each other, screaming insults and racist comments. Writing on sports websites like B/R brings into question women’s knowledge on sports, but as you can tell by the many female writers, that some of us actually do know our football *shocker*.

Nowadays, try saying ‘Girls can’t...’ and you’ll be stopped right there. Is there something girls can’t do? This doesn’t just go for football, but almost every sport and almost every country.

Recently, women’s football has been introduced in Bengal, India. For a country where girls aren’t even allowed to touch football’s and are forced to get married at  very young ages, this shows signs of progress. At schools, girls are encouraged to take part and have shown a lot of potential, even boys taunts and a slight edge of gender racism doesn’t deter them anymore.

India has a national women’s team and some of you really need to see these girls play, sexist comments like ‘Get your kit off’, will be lost amidst the brilliant tackles, goals and saves.

They say men are physically stronger, built bigger and more fit for football. I bet I could find you many girls who fall down less easier than Ronaldo and who are built bigger than Messi. Women are also psychologically stronger than men, and be able to deal with pressure better.

Sometimes , I wonder if it’s the fear of losing to ‘a bunch of girls’ that brings on so many sexist comments and insults. If that’s the case, then please continue, because we girls love seeing people act envious of us. Women have already dominated in tennis, why not football?

One more ‘A woman’s job is to cook and take care of the kids’ from someone, and I’ll make sure their stadium for the rest of their lives is a hospital, that’s the kind of attitude we girls have.

Women are not chocolate; we don’t melt in the heat and break easily.  We can take on a men’s team, we do get messy and we like to fight dirty. Just because you’ve seen a few girls cry about broken nails and bad hair days doesn’t mean everyone is like that. It’s time to get used to seeing girls do keep ups and headers, who knows, maybe one day we’ll be saying ‘A Mans stadium is his kitchen’...