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The Beautiful Womens Game

Crispin Thomas

Wednesday, May 10th, 2006

1 Leave a comment on verse 1 0 the most beautiful thing
about the Beautiful Game
is that you don’t have to be beautiful to play it
ok we are all beautiful – I know
but in this looks-obsessed world of ours
anyone can play

2 Leave a comment on verse 2 0 hard then when looking for perfect matches
to join and watch live or in papers
or club programmes or websites
they will often declare – confusingly
England v France..Arsenal v Leeds…Charlton v Chelsea
without clarifcation of the gender kind
is it men? is it women ? it’s just not always clear
or am i missing the deliberate equality point here?

3 Leave a comment on verse 3 0 could it be the media
hating to appear sexist
and cautious to not offend
often neglect to mention the word women
in football
still

4 Leave a comment on verse 4 0 likewise should they underline
on posters – in lipstick for impact maybe
that yes – hello
the Beautiful Game now really embraces women (careful)

5 Leave a comment on verse 5 0 they could call it THE BEAUTIFUL WOMENS GAME
and include the provisor
“You don’t have to be beautiful …
to play the Beautiful Womens’ Game”
adding politely
‘those currently not gracing cat-walks or Heat magazine
may still apply’
they could and might do all these things
God forbid

6 Leave a comment on verse 6 0 men men men concepts concepts concepts
a few weeks back I watched the Womens’ FA Cup Final.
Arsenal-Leeds did you see it?
minus Abide With Me I might add (too macho maybe?)
but for me the quality commitment and control were stunning
and I’m talking football here
Women’s football has taken off
14000 cheering fans at Millwall
5 goals fireworks and that trophy –
later I found myself asking out loud
do most men still think it’s a joke
are we stuck in the Lily Parr days of 1917
when munition factory girls played their drawn-on-nylons off
to raise funds during the war
attracting and raising thousands ?
until we in our Victorian wisdom
banned it til the seventies
“too dangerous for their feminine anatomies”
you can guess the rest

7 Leave a comment on verse 7 0 most men I guess play games in their lives
often with women
but most men who play the Beautiful Game
aren’t that beautiful either
it makes a man wonder
if Seph Blatter
seriously thinks
that women should wear tighter shorts
to make it appeal more –
then how about the men too?
unless that is
our handsome and burly hunks
are only eye candy for the men ?
…explore

© CT06

Notes

Women’s football-wise, I feel ..and some already disageee..that internationally they are catching up.Nationally Arsenal and Charlton still dominate. Interesting to see Chelsea just finding their feet in the top flight. Am I alone though in thinking most men still perceive Women’s football as ‘not serious, ‘ or will we need to embark on anti-sexism workshops in addition to anti-racism ones soon? We watched in horror the other night that brave programme from Iraq
anyone catch it. School girls risking life and death to take part in their beloved sports with death threats from extremists to their family for attending running tracks . How sad is that? Can’t wait for a Women’s World Cup..and Brazil etc. Samba heaven.!

Source: https://footballpoets.org/poems/the-beautiful-womens-game/