IT WAS while watching Roar Women play Canberra a few weeks ago that I overheard a group of female spectators commenting on both the attractiveness of the forest-green Canberra United uniform and the players’ toned, athletic bodies.
And I couldn’t help but chuckle when one ribbed the others with: ‘Are you here to watch the football, the fashion, or the chicks?’
Clearly it’s something that the promoters themselves considered when they devised the W-League advertising campaign. The ‘Football with Style’ ad, which features glamorous yet uber-athletic players with styled hair and muscular thighs, may reek of Westfield advertising (check it out at www.w-league.com.au where it’s the current homepage image), but it also achieves a delicate balance between ‘hot chick’ and ‘serious footballer’.
And let’s face it: knowing that they had to overcome the pervasive attitude that feminine girls don’t play football, the W-League probably needed such an ad. In fact, that ad is such a departure from the ‘poofters, wogs, and sheilas’ perception of football in the not-so-distant past that one friend actually asked me if there was a Pussycat Dolls team playing in the W-League.
The W-League players are skilful, no doubt about it. And for me, it’s all about the football. But good, bad, or otherwise, the novelty of girls playing football goes hand in hand with an interest in their appearance. In addition to Can they play? I’m asked: Are they hot? Do they wear tight shirts and short shorts?
I invariably answer yes, yes, and sort of.
I think that most people are there, first and foremost, to watch the football, but that admiring the uniforms and the chicks is a bonus. And, as long as it doesn’t diminish their professionalism, I can’t see too much wrong with it.
Unfortunately the flip side to glamming up women’s football is that the players are then measured up against some fairly skewed ideals. A few people have commented to me on the size of some of the girls playing — that is, that they’re a little on the large side.
And I honestly haven’t known how to respond.
It disturbs me (although doesn’t entirely surprise me) that size is higher up the list of things deemed worthy of comment than skill. Given that this is a fledgling league where many of the girls aren’t being paid and are juggling jobs daily rather than balls at full-time training, I would expect that not all of them would be fighting fit.
I also know that were I writing about men’s sport, the conversations would be very different. When you’re talking about men, it’s not Fashions on the Field — it’s football.
Sure, certain male players have copped flak for their weight over time — think Ronaldo and the donut-scoffing jibes during the 2006 World Cup and the pie-eating jeers Charlie Miller is currently copping — but it’s more often tied to their widening-girth-related lack of form.
And, in the case of someone such as cricket-and-text-message legend Warnie who has encountered his fair share of ‘How come you’re so fat?’ sledges, he at least has it’s-funny-because-it-might-just-be-true ‘Cos every time I f%&k your wife she gives me a biscuit’ type retorts to rely on.
But surely if the W-League women are playing skilful, entertaining football their appearance shouldn’t matter?
In playing Central Coast Mariners, Roar Women went from being 1-0 up in the first half to 5-0 up by full time by stringing together cohesive, sustained attacks on goal. The long-range, pinpoint-accurate fourth and fifth goals they scored were absolutely stellar and prompted one guy near me to nearly choke on his wedges as he sharply inhaled in awe.
At the same time, I spotted a chick applauding in the crowd wearing a fitted shirt that read: Bikinis Not Bombs and I realised that hot chicks, fashion, football, and a sense of humour can coexist. Indeed, the promise of hot chicks playing football is what will get people in, but skilled chicks playing entertaining, high-calibre football is what will keep them: football with style and substance.
When she’s not watching and writing about the W-League, Fiona Crawford is watching and writing about the A-League on her website.
