Given recent events related to soccer, it’s hard to think of the “beautiful game” as a bastion of progressive politics and representation until you remember that it was the case earlier this year.
As a queer person with lots of triggering memories of physical education lessons, I usually try to avoid soccer. In fact, I’d even say it’s the epitome of everything I wanted to exclude from my adult life: aggression, male competition, and group activities.
But then I found out that women’s soccer exists.
,
It was quite a revelation how the English women’s team won the European championship.
Since I had (shamefully) never watched women’s soccer before, it seemed as though the atmosphere couldn’t be more different. The players showed a certain amount of open-hearted camaraderie, and the fans appeared in such a good mood that it was hard to imagine the racist abuses or outbreaks of violence in men’s soccer, each of which pretends to be unique.
But the best thing for me was that the Lioness team, which managed to triumph where their male colleagues lost earlier this year, is also full of queer players. Rachel Daly, Lauren Hemp and Jill Scott are consistently queer women who are accepted by fans and their teammates, a stark contrast to male soccer players who are forced to stay in the closet for fear of fan and industry reaction.
As I watched the women’s teams celebrate after beating Germany in the final, I saw all the rainbow insignia — something I didn’t think a soccer game would ever work out.
After a summer and a World Cup full of controversy over wristbands, human rights, and freedom of speech, it’s heartwarming to remember that you can have soccer and equality at the same time.
Given recent events related to soccer, it’s hard to think of the “beautiful game” as a bastion of progressive politics and representation until you remember that it was the case earlier this year.
As a queer person with lots of triggering memories of physical education lessons, I usually try to avoid soccer. In fact, I’d even say it’s the epitome of everything I wanted to exclude from my adult life: aggression, male competition, and group activities.
But then I found out that women’s soccer exists.
,
It was quite a revelation how the English women’s team won the European championship.
Since I had (shamefully) never watched women’s soccer before, it seemed as though the atmosphere couldn’t be more different. The players showed a certain amount of open-hearted camaraderie, and the fans appeared in such a good mood that it was hard to imagine the racist abuses or outbreaks of violence in men’s soccer, each of which pretends to be unique.
But the best thing for me was that the Lioness team, which managed to triumph where their male colleagues lost earlier this year, is also full of queer players. Rachel Daly, Lauren Hemp and Jill Scott are consistently queer women who are accepted by fans and their teammates, a stark contrast to male soccer players who are forced to stay in the closet for fear of fan and industry reaction.
As I watched the women’s teams celebrate after beating Germany in the final, I saw all the rainbow insignia — something I didn’t think a soccer game would ever work out.
After a summer and a World Cup full of controversy over wristbands, human rights, and freedom of speech, it’s heartwarming to remember that you can have soccer and equality at the same time.