On Being A Liverpool Supporter, And Supporting Women’s Football
Most weekends I don’t have time to watch all the football I desire, but this weekend, I can at least watch the women play with my daughter.
My daughter turned 4 at the start of the year, and like any precocious 4 year old, she’s pretty good at making objective observations about the world, and questioning the status quo. We should all be so lucky to view the world through such clear lenses, with curiosity as our main driving force.
We listen to a lot of records together, and she loves looking at the album art, and asking me about the artists in the photos. “Who is that?” John, Paul, George, and Ringo. Last weekend she asked two follow up questions, the first being: “Why aren’t there any girls?”
Of course I had no answer. Sorry love, the Fab Four are just John, Paul, George, and Ringo. Then again, most artists in my record collection are men. That is at least partially on me.
She thought a bit more about things, putting the pieces together in her mind, and her follow up question once again wrong footed me, “Hmm...why are all the Liverpool players are also men?”
Oh shit. She’s discovered the patriarchy.
This one was completely on me. Of course there is a woman’s team. But I typically only watch them during international breaks.
This isn’t from a complete lack of desire, but largely due to prioritization and lack of time. In an ideal world, there’s a lot more football I’d love to watch, including the women. I’d hate watch both Manchesters. I’d watch the yutes. I’d watch any relegation scrap. But as a parent of two young kiddos, I get my 2 hours or so per weekend of often highly interrupted football. No more.
So, I watch the Liverpool men play, because they were my first love, the team that got me really into club football. It’s not a conscious decision against women’s football, far from it. But a lot of our habits, and therefore how patriarchal (and other embedded power structures), are not conscious choices, but a perpetuation of what has always been.
However, we know that “this is how it has always been” is never a valid excuse.
And this weekend, I really have no excuse. I promised my daughter that we’d put on our Liverpool shirts tomorrow and watch the women in the Merseyside Derby.
It is the least I can do. And in the meantime, I can reflect on how I can better support the women’s team more, to set a better example for my daughter, and show her that things don’t have to be male dominated, just because of the past.
Source: liverpooloffside.sbnation.com
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