THE bubble of positivity currently surrounding Scottish women’s football is in large part due to players and a manager whose work ethic, style of play and modest, down-to-earth manner have captured our imaginations. The rest of the credit must go to the army of mostly unpaid coaches and volunteers at grassroots level who are working with the next generation of Kim Littles, Erin Cuthberts and Lee Alexanders.
It was intensely frustrating therefore, that a weekend visit to watch my daughter’s team at the Cruyff Tournament at Hamilton’s New Douglas Park made us feel like second-class citizens. Coaches, parents and players were ushered away from the main stand to a small fenced-in five-a-side pitch, while the boys’ tournament was held on the actual club pitch. This was certainly nothing to do with age or seniority – the girls were clearly older – so it can only be put down to one thing, their gender.
Even more frustrating when you consider that at Hamilton, as in many parts of the country, girls’ football is thriving. They have a good set-up and their team on Saturday had some excellent footballers who were uncompromising in their tackling, with some challenges which would have left their male counterparts rolling around the turf, pleading with the ref.
All the more pity therefore, that the girls were relegated to what my fellow parents described as "the wee cage" while the boy’s teams had the freedom of New Douglas Park. The organisers in charge of the girls’ section made a request to move to one of the four marked-out main pitches which was met with a flat refusal from those in charge. The upshot was one team departing, rightly refusing to play second fiddle, leaving the remaining teams to try to make the most of it.
This malaise affects the women’s game in other ways as well. It can be very challenging to find the fixtures and results in our top women’s league. More highlights and articles are creeping in, with BBC Alba especially strong promoters. However, want to know that IFK Mariehamn defeated VPS Vaasa one-nil in the Finnish Veikkausliiga? The BBC website will tell you. Want to see the Scottish Women’s Premier League fixtures, results or table on the same website? Nae chance.
In the Scottish press you will be able to find the fixtures, scores and league tables in the sixth, seventh and eighth tier of the men’s game, attended by one man and his dog, but good luck trying to find out how Glasgow City have fared against Hibernian (the two top women’s teams in the country).
Much progress has been made in the last few years to give the Scottish women’s game the profile it deserves, thanks largely their own efforts and success, yet we can't get complacent and think that equity is just around the corner. It is time for those in charge, our clubs and some of our own national press to catch up.
Paul Rodger, Dunblane.
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