World Cup Balls: Oliver Holt fails his own test for misogynists and the fools
“Why are so many trying to belittle the women’s game?” asks Oliver Holt in the Daily Mail. Holt is on the side of the righteous in his look at the FIFA Women’s World Cup (not boycoted by anyone).
The misogynists and the fools came crashing through England’s hedgerows like a herd of T-rex that hadn’t been fed for a while. Some of the reaction to the start of a football tournament eagerly awaited by so many was sad, ignorant, arrogant and really rather stupid.
Like all tournament sport, the play is mixed: some games are decent; some dire. But Holt is keen to make a point that comparing the men’s game with the women’s is irrelevant and dumb.
Those of us with daughters, what should we do? Tell our kids not to take up football because they’ll never kick it as far as boys? Tell them never to play tennis because they’ll never serve as fast as boys? Tell them not to try athletics because they’ll never run as quickly as boys? Don’t insult us with that kind of garbage.
Holt will not compare the sexes. He will take each game and play on its individual merits. Right. Er, wrong because after reminding us how good Serena Williams is at tennis, he says:
I sat in a sports bar packed with football fans in Moncton on Thursday night, watching China vs Holland, then Ivory Coast vs Thailand, then Canada vs New Zealand and each one had thrilling moments. The 30-yard pass that led to China’s injury-time winner? Let’s just say Steven Gerrard would have been proud of it.
Steven Gerrard is a man.
Such are the facts.
Posted: 15th, June 2015 | In: Reviews, Sports Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
