The England Manager Phil Neville Has Said He Will "Fight" To Get The "Best" For His Players.
In light of Neville's recent comments, I was reminded of FIFPro's Global Employment Report: Working Conditions in Professional Women's Football published last year. On page 10 of the report there is a section titled The Development of the Women's Game: A Story of Marginalisation, Resilience and Passion. This section alone highlights Neville's gripes about the unequal standards applied to the women's national team compared to the men's.
It states:
Women may have played the beautiful game for as long as it has existed. From early incarnations of football during China’s Han Dynasty to the British Ladies' Football Club founded in 1894.
But football has been deeply rooted in our societies predominantly and historically as a male-defined space. A long history of gendered power imbalances in the game across geographies has meant that access to opportunities and resources for women in football from the global to local has been hampered and inhibited. It has meant that there have been long periods when the football establishment disapproved of the women's game and women participating in the sport regularly confronted forms of exclusion, discrimination and injustice. It is critical to glance back at the evolution of the women’s game over the last century in order to understand how barriers of the past are reflected and persist in the current state of women’s professional football today. It is also critical to acknowledge how football today owes much to the women who kept the spirit of the game alive during those days when society looked down on their activities and to the female players who continue to persevere in the face of ongoing obstacles to the professionalisation of their sport.
A GLANCE BACK…
Women were banned from playing football in several countries during the twentieth century including Germany, Brazil, England and the Netherlands. In practical terms, these bans often prevented clubs from either founding women’s sections or opening their grounds up to women’s teams. Where there were no official bans, many unofficial barriers attached to cultural norms stood in the way of women’s involvement in the game in many other countries. Stereotypes spread about women’s football, and these still harm the development of the women’s game today. By the late 1960s, after almost half a century of bans, many national associations began lifting their restrictions on women’s football. The first unofficial Women’s World Cup was held in Italy in 1970: also known as Martini Rosso Cup, it was organised by the Federation of Independent European Female Football (FIEFF) and gathered seven countries. An estimated 50,000 spectators watched Denmark beat Italy in the final. Mexico hosted the second Women’s World Championships the next year, again won by Denmark. It was followed by four Mundialito invitational tournaments in the 1980s in Italy. It took until 1984 for the first official European Championship to be held, which was won by Sweden. Soon, FIFA itself became involved, organising the Women’s Invitation Tournament in China in 1988. The inaugural FIFA World Cup took place in 1991, in China, and was won by the USA. The 1999 World Cup final was watched by 90,185 people at the Rose Bowl in Los Angeles, a record crowd for a women’s sporting event to this day. The 1999 tournament also launched female players as global stars, like Mia Hamm. Women’s football was accepted as a discipline at the 1996 Olympic Games (the men’s game was already an Olympic sport in 1900), and the 2012 Olympic Final at Wembley Stadium was seen by a crowd of 83,000. However, the legacy of exclusion has meant that women have struggled for opportunities and remuneration in the sport. It has also made gender equality in professional football a distant reality. Women’s football enjoys far less television and media coverage than men's, and as a result, much less sponsorship and other commercial revenue––at the same time one could say, women’s football receives far less sponsorship, and as a result, much less media coverage and commercial revenue. This paradigm highlights the fact that all football stakeholders are implicated in this vicious cycle that has held women’s football back––and thus all stakeholders must take responsibility for turning this around.
Any professional national sports team should be made as comfortable as possible when travelling abroad to an international tournament. England's men enjoy the comforts of first class when they fly so, why did the women make a nine-hour trans-Atlantic flight in economy? From the outside, this looks like clear and undeniable gender discrimination - sexism. Travel and accommodation standards should be as equal as possible for both genders dependant on specific needs of individuals. There is no excuse for that not being the case. As highlighted in just this section of the FIFPro report, The FA is guilty of discrimination towards the women's game. The final sentence says it plainly - "This paradigm highlights the fact that all football stakeholders are implicated in this vicious cycle that has held women's football back - and thus all stakeholders must take responsibility for turning this around"
Perhaps Phil Neville's appointment was a stroke of genius by Baroness Sue Campbell as he, as an outsider to the women's game, would see how much our female stars are treated differently to the male footballers baring in mind he was one not too long ago. Seeing the benefits and luxuries he was afforded ten years ago as a player and, seeing what the women get for their hard work and dedication now is easier for him to notice than someone who has spent most of their career in the women's game. Phil is doing what I tried to do a few years ago. I wrote to my local professional men's club, Middlesbrough FC - the team I support - asking if I could join the team, even if just the reserves/under 21s, and train with them as one of the players and experience life as a professional footballer from pre-season up until Christmas and, spend the remainder of the season training with Middlesbrough Ladies. I received no reply. Middlesbrough Women are now an independent women's club no longer affiliated with Middlesbrough FC. Since I was never a good player, I wanted to experience, first hand, the conditions available to professional footballers in the men's and see how that differed in the women's game. Phil Neville's experience of professional football at the highest level means he is able to see these differences as differences and, he now has a very important role in addressing these issues if he is strong enough. If Neville has half the strength and fight of Hope Powell, and the inclination, he can dramatically improve the standards afforded to our female stars who fully deserve equality within the sport.
I admit, I was one of the many people questioning Neville's appointment as England manager given his lack of managerial experience and knowledge of the women's game but, he has made some good noises in his short time in the job and players and staff are smiling and seeming positive. People are warming to Phil - including myself - and the team's performance at the #SheBelieves Cup was also positive and reassuring. Phil said he had only one training session with the squad on arrival in the US before the first game against France, and he was missing key players. With, what can only be described as poor preparation, and the absence of captain Steph Houghton in defence, vice-captain Jordan Nobbs, creative forward Karen Carney, and the retirement of experienced defender Casey Stoney, Neville's first games as manager were made that bit more difficult against the best nations in the world. Anita Asante's injury in the first half against France was just another blow to make things more difficult. As a result, our defence looking shaky, lacking the organisation and stability we recognise from the experienced skipper Houghton. Millie Bright is a top quality defender but, she is still young and has much to learn. Abby McManus impressed but, again, she is a young player and inexperienced at international level. Lucy Bronze expressed her difficulty captaining the squad since she no longer plays alongside any of the other England team, it made it harder for than if she was still at Manchester City.
The FIFPro report highlights huge inequality to the detriment of the women's game and, Phil Neville is finding this out for himself. The issue about the flight to the US sounds small but, it's just another way that shows how the men receive better treatment than the women for doing the same thing - in the women's game, more successfully. The FA has a duty to level the playing field as much as they are physically able to do. This means in terms of prize money for competitions, coaching facilities and standards, travel and accommodation for national squads, sponsorships, and promotional and commercial activities. Only when The FA gets to grips with what the word Equality actually means, will they be able to deliver it.
2017 FIFPro Global Employment Report: Working Conditions in Professional Women's Football FIFPro.org/WorkingConditionsinProfesionalWomen'sFootball
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In light of Neville's recent comments, I was reminded of FIFPro's Global Employment Report: Working Conditions in Professional Women's Football published last year. On page 10 of the report there is a section titled The Development of the Women's Game: A Story of Marginalisation, Resilience and Passion. This section alone highlights Neville's gripes about the unequal standards applied to the women's national team compared to the men's.
It states:
Women may have played the beautiful game for as long as it has existed. From early incarnations of football during China’s Han Dynasty to the British Ladies' Football Club founded in 1894.
But football has been deeply rooted in our societies predominantly and historically as a male-defined space. A long history of gendered power imbalances in the game across geographies has meant that access to opportunities and resources for women in football from the global to local has been hampered and inhibited. It has meant that there have been long periods when the football establishment disapproved of the women's game and women participating in the sport regularly confronted forms of exclusion, discrimination and injustice. It is critical to glance back at the evolution of the women’s game over the last century in order to understand how barriers of the past are reflected and persist in the current state of women’s professional football today. It is also critical to acknowledge how football today owes much to the women who kept the spirit of the game alive during those days when society looked down on their activities and to the female players who continue to persevere in the face of ongoing obstacles to the professionalisation of their sport.
A GLANCE BACK…
Women were banned from playing football in several countries during the twentieth century including Germany, Brazil, England and the Netherlands. In practical terms, these bans often prevented clubs from either founding women’s sections or opening their grounds up to women’s teams. Where there were no official bans, many unofficial barriers attached to cultural norms stood in the way of women’s involvement in the game in many other countries. Stereotypes spread about women’s football, and these still harm the development of the women’s game today. By the late 1960s, after almost half a century of bans, many national associations began lifting their restrictions on women’s football. The first unofficial Women’s World Cup was held in Italy in 1970: also known as Martini Rosso Cup, it was organised by the Federation of Independent European Female Football (FIEFF) and gathered seven countries. An estimated 50,000 spectators watched Denmark beat Italy in the final. Mexico hosted the second Women’s World Championships the next year, again won by Denmark. It was followed by four Mundialito invitational tournaments in the 1980s in Italy. It took until 1984 for the first official European Championship to be held, which was won by Sweden. Soon, FIFA itself became involved, organising the Women’s Invitation Tournament in China in 1988. The inaugural FIFA World Cup took place in 1991, in China, and was won by the USA. The 1999 World Cup final was watched by 90,185 people at the Rose Bowl in Los Angeles, a record crowd for a women’s sporting event to this day. The 1999 tournament also launched female players as global stars, like Mia Hamm. Women’s football was accepted as a discipline at the 1996 Olympic Games (the men’s game was already an Olympic sport in 1900), and the 2012 Olympic Final at Wembley Stadium was seen by a crowd of 83,000. However, the legacy of exclusion has meant that women have struggled for opportunities and remuneration in the sport. It has also made gender equality in professional football a distant reality. Women’s football enjoys far less television and media coverage than men's, and as a result, much less sponsorship and other commercial revenue––at the same time one could say, women’s football receives far less sponsorship, and as a result, much less media coverage and commercial revenue. This paradigm highlights the fact that all football stakeholders are implicated in this vicious cycle that has held women’s football back––and thus all stakeholders must take responsibility for turning this around.
Any professional national sports team should be made as comfortable as possible when travelling abroad to an international tournament. England's men enjoy the comforts of first class when they fly so, why did the women make a nine-hour trans-Atlantic flight in economy? From the outside, this looks like clear and undeniable gender discrimination - sexism. Travel and accommodation standards should be as equal as possible for both genders dependant on specific needs of individuals. There is no excuse for that not being the case. As highlighted in just this section of the FIFPro report, The FA is guilty of discrimination towards the women's game. The final sentence says it plainly - "This paradigm highlights the fact that all football stakeholders are implicated in this vicious cycle that has held women's football back - and thus all stakeholders must take responsibility for turning this around"Perhaps Phil Neville's appointment was a stroke of genius by Baroness Sue Campbell as he, as an outsider to the women's game, would see how much our female stars are treated differently to the male footballers baring in mind he was one not too long ago. Seeing the benefits and luxuries he was afforded ten years ago as a player and, seeing what the women get for their hard work and dedication now is easier for him to notice than someone who has spent most of their career in the women's game. Phil is doing what I tried to do a few years ago. I wrote to my local professional men's club, Middlesbrough FC - the team I support - asking if I could join the team, even if just the reserves/under 21s, and train with them as one of the players and experience life as a professional footballer from pre-season up until Christmas and, spend the remainder of the season training with Middlesbrough Ladies. I received no reply. Middlesbrough Women are now an independent women's club no longer affiliated with Middlesbrough FC. Since I was never a good player, I wanted to experience, first hand, the conditions available to professional footballers in the men's and see how that differed in the women's game. Phil Neville's experience of professional football at the highest level means he is able to see these differences as differences and, he now has a very important role in addressing these issues if he is strong enough. If Neville has half the strength and fight of Hope Powell, and the inclination, he can dramatically improve the standards afforded to our female stars who fully deserve equality within the sport.
I admit, I was one of the many people questioning Neville's appointment as England manager given his lack of managerial experience and knowledge of the women's game but, he has made some good noises in his short time in the job and players and staff are smiling and seeming positive. People are warming to Phil - including myself - and the team's performance at the #SheBelieves Cup was also positive and reassuring. Phil said he had only one training session with the squad on arrival in the US before the first game against France, and he was missing key players. With, what can only be described as poor preparation, and the absence of captain Steph Houghton in defence, vice-captain Jordan Nobbs, creative forward Karen Carney, and the retirement of experienced defender Casey Stoney, Neville's first games as manager were made that bit more difficult against the best nations in the world. Anita Asante's injury in the first half against France was just another blow to make things more difficult. As a result, our defence looking shaky, lacking the organisation and stability we recognise from the experienced skipper Houghton. Millie Bright is a top quality defender but, she is still young and has much to learn. Abby McManus impressed but, again, she is a young player and inexperienced at international level. Lucy Bronze expressed her difficulty captaining the squad since she no longer plays alongside any of the other England team, it made it harder for than if she was still at Manchester City.
The FIFPro report highlights huge inequality to the detriment of the women's game and, Phil Neville is finding this out for himself. The issue about the flight to the US sounds small but, it's just another way that shows how the men receive better treatment than the women for doing the same thing - in the women's game, more successfully. The FA has a duty to level the playing field as much as they are physically able to do. This means in terms of prize money for competitions, coaching facilities and standards, travel and accommodation for national squads, sponsorships, and promotional and commercial activities. Only when The FA gets to grips with what the word Equality actually means, will they be able to deliver it.
2017 FIFPro Global Employment Report: Working Conditions in Professional Women's Football FIFPro.org/WorkingConditionsinProfesionalWomen'sFootball
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