Those ladies again.....

...I promised you some little bits and pieces about those girlies who kick footballs around, often better than the men. It does go back to 1895, so it's not exactly a modern thing!
Some of it is amusing, particularly in the beginning, of the men's attitude towards this sport.   Femininity had to be respected, the different anatomical points were prescribed by the men as "zones to be protected", rather in the same manner as in football or soccer or cricket, men wear so called "boxes" to protect essential areas, so the men prescribed "protective bras" for the ladies......rather like this one, but the things at the beginning were somewhat uncomfortable, always falling out and didn't really protect anything at all. It was considered to even oblige the ladies to wear helmets, but the idea was given up.... It was kept for that other really feminine sport........BOXING!
At the beginning, the ladies were only allowed to play two half-times each of 30 minutes, instead of the normal 45 minutes each, and - of course no extra time was allowable!
Many "influential" male organisers didn't even want to allow the ladies to play football/soccer - AT ALL.
A few times Ladies Clubs were officially dissolved, never to be seen again, but slowly things got organised and women even started showing up in the official "FIFA" organisation, and frankly, I believe they would do a much better job than a certain Mr Blatter, currently at the head. Here is one of his quotes on the subject:
"In 2004 FIFA President Sepp Blatter suggested that women should "wear tighter shorts and low cut shirts... to create a more female aesthetic" and attract more male fans. It was reported that this incurred criticism from female footballers and some newspapers"


Thanks - Sepp baby.....!


Here is a link with a little bit of the history...and a lot of highly amusing photos and comments...... http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/Fwomen.htm
...and another which deals strictly with the real history:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women's_association_football
Of course, as more and more people of both (or nowadays better to say ALL) sexes started interesting themselve in the affair, more and more money started to come in.
In 1974 for example, paying spectators at the final of the World Cup (unofficial at the time) were around 54,000 - and that's a lot of money!
On the television, spectators/viewers of the same match were....
5 and a half MILLION! Now that was opportunity and money for publicity places....!
The last World Cup for Women attracted over 120 million viewers world wide over the whole competition....and that was that....!
Nowadays, particularly in Germany where it is being played right now, it is a serious rival to the men's game from a National Festivity period, and the events arranged around it are very varied.
You see.....the Girlies always win .....in the end, but one thing they can't change, the fact that they are different to the guys.......and often that's cheatin', and all the other things they get up to just to take our minds off the game........Just not playin' the game.......and here's the proof....


"It was believed that many men watched women's football because of the desire to 
see their legs uncovered legs. Here are a couple of women being arrested in 
1907 for indecent exposure - baring their legs in a swimsuit."
**************
Anyhow - I'm off to watch the next games, just a passing interest..that's all..!