NOT so long ago, a woman’s place in football was deemed to be back in the clubhouse making the sandwiches.
These days, girls are more likely to be jostling for space on the terraces and pitches than arguing over who gets to do the washing up. Unsurprisingly, women are pushing for space on the football bookshelves too, as publishers cotton on to a previously untapped market.
Hence a rash of female friendly footie books such as Everything A Girl Needs To Know About Football and Boots and Laces.
The former is aimed at teaching women the men’s game to help them find a fella or get closer to their man.
The latter is a teenager-friendly fact-filled guide to the women’s game in this country.
Put bluntly, ‘Everything’ is a kind of extended Cosmopolitan article with knobs on, while Boots is more of a Trainspotters Weekly.
Which could explain why ‘Everything’ made me want to throw plates, and ‘Boots’ helped me appreciate why I’m never around to do the washing up.
Despite its tongue-in-cheek style, there’s something about ‘Everything’ that made me as uncomfortable as those too-tight strips my Spurs have taken to wearing.
The cover features a cringeworthy black outline of a stiletto kicking a football.
While the acknowledgments see co-author Sophie Brown thank her husband-to-be for: “…his love, support and enduring patience – particularly during matches, when she repeatedly asks him which end her team’s goal is”.
The groan factor is whacked up further with the inevitable explanation of the off side rule, “natty pieces of man-impressing trivia”, mention of “public orgasms”, and the prevalence of shopping, clichés and more clichés.
It is not until the authors’ funny chapter on actual footie clichés that this book actually becomes readable.
While the trivia in “how to win bar stool soccer debates” is interesting and the chapter on women’s footie contains some decent factual information. But if improving your knowledge of the women’s game rather than the quality of your love life is more your onion bag, then Boots and Laces is your best bet.
Photographer Gill Sandford spent nine months slogging around the country getting the low-down on the women’s game for the book.
Having spent her career covering men’s sports, she says she was pleasantly surprised.
“I was very impressed by the professionalism of the women’s game at the top,” she says. “There is no arrogance within women’s football and a far greater understanding of the fans needs.”
For her troubles, Sandford has created a slim volume containing more photos and facts than you can shake a stick at.
There are histories of all Premier League teams, plus centres of excellence, women’s football in the navy and the England team.
But for those who wouldn’t include Statto on their list of dream dates, there is the personal touch with accounts from the likes of Arsenal’s Faye White and Julie Fleeting and Charlton manager Keith Boanas.
Sahara Publications have offered this slim volume to clubs to sell as a fundraiser.
But it is also being snapped up by teens at book signings across the country.
Which is not so surprising given that football is the most popular sport amongst girls and more than 70,000 fans attended England’s three games in the Uefa European Championships this summer.
“The main point is to open everyone’s eyes to women’s football and to raise money to put back into the game,” Sandford adds. “When I was growing up it was frowned upon, I think girls are very lucky now.”
As England manager Hope Powell says in her chapter, the “novelty” factor of girls playing football has almost gone. With more books like this on our shelves those days could be washed up forever.