Three girls from the Woodside team participating in the ESFA football tournament

I’ve been thinking about yesterday’s tournament and how great it was to see the girls’ games being taken as seriously as the boys’ games being played alongside them.  There was no difference in the coaching and tactics being shouted by the managers from the touchlines, no difference in the level of passion from the parents or the organizers. No difference, even, in the anger and frustration displayed by a couple of the coaches during tense moments. One guy threw his hat down on the ground in disgust when his team conceded a free-kick.  Girls weren’t being patronised yesterday. They were equals.

It might seem like a silly thing to write about in 2010. You might be thinking ’so what?’  After all, women have been playing football since the late 1890s. My fictional team’s name, the Parrs, is named after Lily Parr, who played tremendous, top-flight football from from the 1920 - 1950s and is in the FA’s Football Hall of Fame.

However, when I’m going round schools talking about my books and girls playing football, there’s still a feeling that I’m breaking new ground here. That I’m having to convince people that girls’ football is not some sort of novelty act. When I ask kids who the England manager is, it’s Fabio Capello’s name that is given. People look at me blankly if I say Hope Powell. ‘You know, Hope Powell, the England Women’s manager who coached the England team to the final of Euro 2009?’

Girls who play football are seen as different from other girls, too. ‘She’s always been a bit of a tomboy,’ a mum might call her football- playing daughter.  A tomboy. What does that mean?  I really dislike that term and all its implications.

Girls should to be able to play football and cricket and rugby without being called anything with boy in the title.  It’s inaccurate for a start. Girls who play traditional boys’ sports can still be ‘girlie’ (another term I dislike). The three footballers in the picture above still take care of their hair and like boy bands JLS just like every other 9 and 10 and 11 year old. Actually, there are a lot of boys who take care of their hair and like JLS out there, too. And they’re still boys.

girls enjoying a well earned breather between matches

Fridays will never be the same…

As if the Burnley area hadn’t had enough excitement for one day, not only did Reads United perform at Padiham in the morning but they were somehow also able to summon up enough energy to perform again at the smart Burnley Campus in the afternoon. How do they do it? People were heard to gasp.

Once more, hundreds of children were entertained and informed by the dynamic duo. Once more, a girl won the penalty shoot-out trophy. Was this sheer coincidence? Was this because I was the goalie? I think not. It is simply down to my inspirational anecdote about Lily Parr breaking the American goalie’s arm when he goaded her by saying women couldn’t shoot.

Hello to all the kids and staff from Heasandford Primary, Holly Grove and Barden Primary.