Unfortunately
I can't start a discussion with you about the history of women's soccer
without relating it to men's soccer. When thinking about soccer, our
first thought rushes towards, let's face it, men's soccer.
Women's soccer, although having a huge popularity in the last decades
of the 20th century and today, was always shadowed by the men's soccer,
but the ladies are determined to change this and come to equal
standards with the boys.
The way things are moving currently, it's not impossible that this will
someday happen as it's already close to happening in other sports such
as handball, volleyball and tennis.
You simply cannot call yourself a real
soccer enthusiast if you don't own this series of DVDs.
The History of Soccer – The Beautiful Game has over 14 hours of
impressive footage, legendary interviews and a complete collection of
all goals from World Cup finals. Read
my
review…
But before going into details on what's currently happening in women's
soccer and what's going to happen in the near future, let's take a look
inside the history of women's soccer and find out where and when it was
born as well as meeting some of the legendary ladies.
The first written document related to the history of soccer can be
found in a 300 BC Chinese war manual, used by men to familiarize
themselves with their ancient version of the sport, which included
kicking a ball (made out of pig bladders or stuffed leather) through a
hole in a cloth tied up between two poles.
Although there's no proof that
women played this sport as well, there
is a clear reference to this that is often used as the start-point of
the history of women's soccer.
The reference is depicted in a Han Dynasty fresco believed to be
created around 200 CE, which clearly shows two female figures playing
with what is believed to be a leather ball.
Reports of women playing soccer during the Middle Ages are not as
common as those referring to men; however there are a few famous
examples in the history of women's soccer: French women of the 12th
century are believed to having played kicking games relating to soccer
side by side with their husbands and Scottish women even had an annual
competition going around in Mid-Lothian, Scotland.
One
of the biggest problems in the history
of women's soccer was that the sport was often violent,
especially when played without a clear set of rules. Even today, with
all the rulings and fair-play agreements going around, soccer is still
not a sport for the weak.
This often made it difficult for women to play, as men would "protect"
them by not allowing them to get involved.
It changed in 1863, when the English Football Association standardized a
set of rules
that prohibited violence on the pitch, making it easier for women to
get into soccer.
With the dust settling after
the Football Association's decision,
women's soccer became more and more popular and at some point, it was
closing in to reaching the same level as men's soccer in England.
One women's soccer match drew a crowd of 53,000, which sparked the hurt
egos of the men-driven Football Association, banning women's soccer
from their pitches (and since most of the pitches in England were under
the FA's watch at that time, this basically meant Hasta la vista to
women's soccer).
Shortly after, the Scottish Football Association did the same. It was
only in 1971 that the ban was lifted and women could play on the same
pitches as men.
Today, most women's soccer teams tend to professionalize and the
development is compared to what happened in late 19th century with
English men soccer teams.
Many rushed to state that women's soccer is 1 century behind men's
soccer; however the recently organized women's soccer World Cups showed
a lot of skilled players and drew important crowds.
Here are a couple of legendary soccer players that sparked up the
entire women's world cup history:
Birgit Prinz – elected FIFA Women's
World Player of the Year in 2003, 2004 and 2005, Birgit Prinz is what
you would call a walking legend. Playing as center forward in the
German National team and for 1. FFC
Frankfurt, she is regarded as one of the most important women in
all-times soccer.
Birgit Prinz even received an offer from Luciano Gaucci, the president
of AC Perugia to sign for her squad and to become the first woman
playing in a professional men's league (and not any league, but Serie
A!) however she declined the offer.
Mia Hamm – Being one of the most
productive strikers in the history of the American women's soccer team,
Mia Hamm became a spokesperson and representative for women's sports
all over the World.
Having 2 FIFA World Player of the Year awards under her belt (in 2001
and 2002) Mia Hamm has retired and became a successful writer, with a
major title called "Go For the Goal: A Champion's Guide to Winning in
Soccer and Life".
An interesting fact about Mia Hamm is that her name is already engraved
in bold in the history of women's soccer as the
player to have scored the most international goals during her career.
Marta Vieira da Silva – as you know
Football is a religion in Brazil and women there are quite religious it
seems. Marta Vieira de Silva took up the beautiful sport at an early
age and was quickly spotted as a great talent.
She currently plays for Umea IK in Sweden and has several achievements
with both the club and the National Brazilian Women's team. Being only
21 and already having so many achievements, Marta is
regarded as a potential page-turner in the history of women's soccer.
Shannon Boxx – Although not having
such a flashy career as some of her colleagues from the American
National Team, Shannon Boxx was well respected for her commandership on
the pitch and for her ability to be decisive at exactly the needed
moment (a Zinedine Zidane of women’s soccer if you will).
Although playing defensive midfielder, Shannon Boxx managed to score in
many games and led her team to a rampaging 2004 Olympics campaign, in
which she won the gold medal. She went down in the history of women's
soccer as the first player ever to score in all first 3 international
games.
One
of the biggest problems in the 