Men's & Women's Sports - They Are Different. Take 2.
Slight deviation from motorhome travels and maybe a mention for mental health, and can we talk sports again? Because I am confused, and I would like to know why we can’t differentiate between men's and women’s football or any sport, so let me start by drawing your attention to the article on the BBC website. Because in my little world West Ham has not signed Riesen – West Ham Women (or Ladies) have signed Riesen.
Obviously the ladies' team, but why not just say it?
Courtesy of the BBC Sports website
Do we need to hand out another historical apology and apologise to all ladies because men started playing football first? No, we don't, because that’s just how things were back in the day, and so really, West Ham are the men’s team because they were playing before the ladies.
It’s nobody’s fault; it's just history, like the apology that everyone seems to expect these days. If women could throw themselves under horses to gain equality (bless her,) why couldn’t they start their own football teams back in the day? For those of you that don’t know, Emily Davison was fatally injured after stepping in front of the king's horse during the Epsom Derby in 1913. Her death was a landmark event and became a milestone in the struggle for women's suffrage.
But by this time men had started playing football; West Ham themselves were formed in 1895, so they go back a bit.
But according to the story, we have two West Ham Uniteds, because I can’t see Riesen ever playing for the men’s team, and that has nothing to do with her skill, I promise you!
Can someone please, please tell me what is wrong with people saying (on TV or radio or in life) or writing, ‘West Ham United Ladies Football Team?’ Because as mentioned I would not care one jot if, to differentiate, we had to say ‘West Ham United Men’s Team.’
It’s as if we are scared; it's sexist; it’s undermining (someone); it's non-PC; or it’s something 'ist,' but for me, and I know many agree, it’s absolute twaddle. Men and women are different, I know, as I am old enough to know the difference, and I also know that men are better at some sports than women; it’s another fact of life, but note the word ‘some.’
There is a simple way to prove it, of course: have men v. women games in football, rugby, cricket, and many others, and the men WILL WIN, and that is a simple fact of life, and one people need to live with.
And before we all get angry, remember I used the word 'some;' there will be sports whereby the ladies are better than their male counterparts, and that is a simple fact of life, and one people need to live with.
But that doesn’t mean we have to call the ladies' and the men’s teams the same name, because that is what we are doing with this announcement by the BBC. My initial reaction was, who is Riesen? And one of the reasons I have never heard the name is because it is ladies' football.
I don’t know all the men playing European football either; in fact, I hardly know any, but my interest is mainly with men’s sports, just through personal choice, so surely when I read an article on one of my favourite sports, I should immediately be able to tell the difference between the men’s team and the women’s team, and I shouldn’t need to read on or look at photos to confirm which is which.
Look at this a different way: we have ladies' and men’s toilets; we have ladies' and men’s shops, fashions, and even perfumes and so much more, so why can’t we have ladies' and men’s football teams by name? Why is it that big corporations like the BBC and so many more are scared to differentiate between the two? When we watch TV sports channels, it is often the same as can be read on my first post at:
https://www.63from63.com/sport/mens-amp-womens-sports-they-are-different
And I’m afraid it is infuriating. I see at the men’s World Cup we have female officials, and that is fine by me; it’s about doing a good job, not what gender you want to be known as. I see we need to have female commentators and co-commentators and pundits; fine, even if I don’t really agree with it, but as it is football, it’s men’s football, so do we need to call her the ‘linesperson’ because we are scared to identify her sex?
It has all gone too far, and it is too woke for my liking. At the end of the day there are men and women in this world and we play men's and women’s sports, and as of yet in most sports the two sexes do not play against each other, so stop pussy-footing about calling both male and female teams West Ham (or any other team.) It is West Ham Ladies and West Ham Men, and if the male version has to be known as the latter, that is fine by me and fine by many men I know; we don’t care, so who is it that does?
But to finish, is anyone else fed up with VAR? And here is another question. The other night when Belgium played Iran, I was watching the game from across a bar some 10m away. When Iran unexpectedly scored, the TV channel showed an immediate replay, and straight away I said the goal was offside.
So, who are the VAR professionals that then take another minute or two to finalise their decision when I could have phoned the referee and told him to disallow the goal ten seconds after it was scored?
I am no expert, obviously, or I would be in the USA helping out and getting paid thousands of pounds to do so. But why can I see it is offside in a small bar in Eguisheim, France, many thousands of miles away from the USA, with one TV 10m away across a busy bar, and the experts can’t see it so quickly with all their communication and technology for another 60/90 seconds? Furthermore, where was the linesman - sorry, linesperson? They may as well be made redundant!
And finally, with football and the hydration breaks, they are often needed even in the UK. I must admit we never had them, and we did okay, but today's society and all that. But did I really see them having a hydration break during the first half of the France v. Iraq game, and then did I really see the pouring rain some ten minutes later? So is it about time UEFA just admitted they are having an advertising break and stopped trying to pull the wool over our eyes by calling it what it’s not?
I know they didn’t have one in the second half, as that would have been a little silly, even for UEFA
Thanks for reading
DJ
