1 comments

TheKnittaJune 10, 2024

God, this broke my heart. There’s so much joy and freedom in playing football - or any sport - even as a kid growing up in the U.K, I felt that. What these girls did was absolutely amazing. So incredibly brave. And fuck every man who ever stood in their way. Pathetic pigs.

I know people say football is ‘just a game’, but it really is much more than that. It has its bad side, of course - there can be an aggressive tribalism that, while exhilarating, can tip into outright violence a little too easy. When you play, that feeling, when you hit the ball just right, or control it just perfectly, or you get past someone who was hard to beat, it’s just such a viscerally exhilarating thing. Likewise when you watch your team’s players do the same thing, because you identify with them so much, you will on every pass, every kick, and when the team scores it’s the most amazing feeling of joy (it’s also why VAR should be kicked out of the game - we have referees and lines(wo)men!).

I’m going to buy this book because this whole thing is just amazing to me. Her bravery in the face of so much absolutely terrifying oppression. She could easily have been killed, simply for playing football. What a heroine!