Musings in times of Football mania

 My balcony gives a bird’s eye view of the playing area in the apartment complex. On a lazy evening as I stood there with a hot cup of tea watching the kids, my eyes hooked at a small girl, of may be 7 years, who was trying to grab the football from the small Messies there. She was quick and could easily dribble past them, manoeuvring it to the goal post. The upset boys immediately made her the goal keeper and nailed her to the post. You could sense her disappointment as the ball seldom reached her, and whenever it did, she displayed a good defense. For sure she may not have a full grasp of inequality in our society, but she already recognized that playing with boys is hard and they treat you as an invisible entity if you challenge their pride in the game!! I hope this makes her more resilient in the years to come.

When my boy was back home boasting about his brace and bicycle shots, I asked him about it and saw that it made him a bit uncomfortable and gave me a cold shoulder. He tried to escape my shrewd gaze, saying she is small and likes to play with smaller kids and hence left the game in between.

But the incident left me with deep and disturbing thoughts. Why are our girls not seen in the common sports space? By ignoring and excluding young girls based solely on gender, they get the message that they don’t belong in areas predominantly occupied by boys and men. The sad thing is that those areas extend far beyond athletic fields. Recently we celebrated Women in Engineering Day and it was shocking to see that most of the lucrative positions in the organization are more often occupied by men.

I think that the school teachers and parents can bring about a lot of change in the attitude of small children. I see that even in co-ed schools, the children are made to sit separately based on gender, even their games in the physical training period are different. This defeats the very purpose of choosing such a school by parents like me.

Why don’t we let the girls gain their self confidence that they can be more athletic and the boys to become more gender sensitive and inclusive at that tender age when their thoughts and actions can be easily moulded.

When a trainer/ coach/ teacher/ parent tells their kids whether or not girls should play with boys, they’re not just telling a young girl what and who she can and can’t play; they are also letting her know who and what they believe she can and can’t become.

Let her get the assurance that an accidental combination of chromosomes has not left her hapless and encourage her to overcome the hurdles to chase her dreams.
For that we need to find a way to break the persisting stereotypes. It’s high time to get girls on an even playing field. Because a sport isn’t about a gender, it’s about the love of the game itself. But nothing will change unless we get the ball rolling at least now.

Why don’t we have a ‘’Bend it like a girl’’ in our lexis? I have to admit with shame that I had to Google to tag a celebrated woman football player instead of using ‘girl’!!