I hope the author of this piece didn’t make too much of a mess. Typical onanism from the New Statesman.
It is a cultural shift…but. The real issue is participation overall and teenage physical activity. Jumpers for goalposts ridiculously anachronistic?
Fair point but ‘kicking a ball around’; lots of impromptu uncoached footie and weekend amateur football is dying off. I believe a few thousand weekend amateur football clubs have shut down and more have closed teams.
As for summer sports in the UK- state schools do vanishingly little. The exam system casts neurotic gloom over the summer term. State school cricket or athletics is ludicrously poor. Why ‘participation’ style fitness type days instead? You really wouldn’t ever want to try and run a sports day with any throws or hurdles races in the UK. Kids can’t do this stuff- you need help and coaching.
Sporty families will keep setting up things for their sporty kids- local gymnastics set up near us-almost entirely female- is hugely successful but..outside town and with fees so you can guess the demographic. Public schools will do a fair amount of decent level sport.
As a result of this, media will put a reporter in front of a girls’ team practice looking keen. Good for them, but put it in perspective.
The female league seems to be like a Brexit dad / left wing football on the outlook. Those who don’t typically enjoy football but like the female one because it’s less ‘mean’ or the crowd is better. Almost feels contrarian in nature.
Admittedly I’m not a particular football fan but have caught a few matches while at work. They are good to watch, and they do feel less ‘toxic’ in the sense there isn’t lots of dirty play. But that may only increase as it gets more popular.
Fed up with men’s international football. Too much cheating and posing. Women’s international football is a better watch by far.
4 comments
I hope the author of this piece didn’t make too much of a mess. Typical onanism from the New Statesman.
It is a cultural shift…but. The real issue is participation overall and teenage physical activity. Jumpers for goalposts ridiculously anachronistic?
Fair point but ‘kicking a ball around’; lots of impromptu uncoached footie and weekend amateur football is dying off. I believe a few thousand weekend amateur football clubs have shut down and more have closed teams.
As for summer sports in the UK- state schools do vanishingly little. The exam system casts neurotic gloom over the summer term. State school cricket or athletics is ludicrously poor. Why ‘participation’ style fitness type days instead? You really wouldn’t ever want to try and run a sports day with any throws or hurdles races in the UK. Kids can’t do this stuff- you need help and coaching.
Sporty families will keep setting up things for their sporty kids- local gymnastics set up near us-almost entirely female- is hugely successful but..outside town and with fees so you can guess the demographic. Public schools will do a fair amount of decent level sport.
As a result of this, media will put a reporter in front of a girls’ team practice looking keen. Good for them, but put it in perspective.
The female league seems to be like a Brexit dad / left wing football on the outlook. Those who don’t typically enjoy football but like the female one because it’s less ‘mean’ or the crowd is better. Almost feels contrarian in nature.
Admittedly I’m not a particular football fan but have caught a few matches while at work. They are good to watch, and they do feel less ‘toxic’ in the sense there isn’t lots of dirty play. But that may only increase as it gets more popular.
Fed up with men’s international football. Too much cheating and posing. Women’s international football is a better watch by far.
Comments are closed.