Examination of Witnesses (Questions 20-21)
MS SUE
LOPEZ MBE, MS
WENDY OWEN,
MS HELEN
DONOHOE, MS
EMMA WAKE,
MS PAULA
COCOZZA
27 JUNE 2006
Q20 Mr Hall: Is that a barrier? Is
that an artificial ceiling on the game that stops girls developing?
Ms Owen: Yes, I think it is. I
do not actually see why you need to have that rule in place, because
it would sort itself out. The managers would not pick players
who were not able to play, whether it is male or female; the managers
would not pick them; parents would not let their children be involved
in a team or in an environment where they felt they were at risk;
and the girls or boys themselves would not want to play in a team
where they felt they were unable to hold their own. I think it
is artificial. Also girls develop sooner than boys and are a lot
stronger. Sue and I have both coached out in the States, and when
you go to soccer camps out in the States it is mixed football.
Often what they do is for the older girls they have them at camp
with the slightly younger boys. They will have 14, 15 or 16 year
old girls at camp at the same time as maybe 13 or 14 year old
boys; and they match up in terms of strength, size and capability.
They do not seem to have any problem and it is absolutely fine.
I have worked at various mixed soccer camps over in the States
and it is not an issue. When we started playing in the 1960s there
was not any organised girls' football and we played with the boys.
I had exactly the same frustration as some of the young girls
who have contacted me recently. In 1969 I was playing with my
brothers and all the local boys recreationally and they all formed
a team called "The Avenue", which was the avenue where
we lived. I had been playing with them for years and was one of
the best players out on the green and then The Avenue team was
formed and entered into the Slough Boys' League and I was suddenly
relegated to the sidelines. What that does to your self-concept
as a young girl—I am getting upset about it now. Now we
are 40 years on and we have got young girls contacting me saying,
"I've read about your experiences in the 1960s, can you help
us because we're going through the same thing now in 2006?"
It gives them the message, "You're not good enough. You're
discarded. You're not able to play with the boys". Often
they are the better players and they are better than the rest
of the boys and suddenly they are told, "Sorry, it's too
dangerous for you now to play with the boys".
Ms Lopez: It is even worse if
you then go and play for a girls' team you are much better than
them and you are not being developed.
Ms Owen: Suddenly you go from
playing at a really good standard and then you go along (which
happened to me) and my Dad put a girls' team together to shut
me up because I kept saying, "Why can't I play for The Avenue
team", which was a team he ran, so he set up a youth club
team, a girls' team, just to accommodate me; but I could get the
ball at the defending end, run the whole length of the pitch,
dribbling through all the girls and score at the other end.
Q21 Mr Hall: I bet you were popular!
Ms Owen: So that was not developing
me. 40 years on we have got young girls who are saying the same
thing which is crazy.
Chairman: This is an issue we shall return
in a subsequent session. Can I thank you very much indeed. We
must move on because time is pressing. Thank you very much for
your evidence.
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