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NUWFC player Spotlight
Leo Kennedy
get into
! How did youup was afootball? we used to
My best friend growing
lad and
spend our time kicking a ball around the street. It
wasn't until I was 16 that I joined a team and started
taking it seriously. Never looked back since. Worked
my way up from the durham county league with
Boldon Ladies/Gateshead Rutherford to then playing
in the North East Premier with Hartlepool St Francis
which is who I was playing for when I got scouted by
the then Nuwfc manager Gary Mutimer during a pre
season friendly.
Why do you think women’s football gets less
coverage/support?
It is historic?
! gets less coverage because there is less interest in it.
It
Companies/tv providers will predominantly show
what is in the greatest demand, whether this is sport,
drama, documentaries etc. they are after all
businesses, they look at what's going to make them
the profit. The coverage has picked up a fair bit in
the past few years with BBC showing the national
games and now BT showing a number of WSL
games. The problem is attracting the crowds and
creating an atmosphere at games. Even in the men's
game matches become dull when watching on tv if
there is no atmosphere within the ground. You
wouldn't think it but this is something that comes
across even through the tv. Sunderland a few weeks
ago was a great example of this, flat atmosphere at
the game and afterwards it's all a lot of football fans
talked about, even the commentators in the BT
Of course it is historic. Up until 1921 when the FA
banned women from affiliated football, the sport
was massive and it's support could give the men a
run for their money. The most famous of teams Dick
Kerr ladies attracted over 50,000 spectators when
they played at Goodson Park in 1920. During the
war women picked up the jobs which were normally
done by the men due to them going off to fight, and
played a vital role. Sport was encouraged and with
the 1914/15 male football season being abandoned
due to so many men being at war, attention turned
to women playing the sport. It first acted as just a
reprieve on a Saturday away from the worries of
war but players where then seen for their ability and
skill. After the war the government believed that
women should go back to being the perfect
housewife. Lots of propaganda starting flying
around stating how women where needed to stay at
home, raise the children and look after the husband.
The FA seem to have picked up on this and banned
women’s game from being played on affiliated
pitches stating that 'the game of football is quite
unsuitable for women and should not be
encouraged.' That ban stood for 50 years, who
knows where the game would be of it never
happened.
NUWFC Player Leo Kennedy
Did the Olympics help the image of women’s
football?
! did yes to a point. It's was a great showcase for
It
the game especially with the British team doing
pretty well for what was technically a new team.
However I don't think it had the impact people
hoped as in creating lasting interest. You hear a lot
of how great it was that the games had 80,000
spectators at the ground alone, but thinking about
it, how many of them where generally there
because of an interest in women’s football and how
many where just caught up in the hype of the
Olympic Games and just wanted to be at any
event. The interest spiked just after the games but
by the time the WSL kicked off nearly 6/7 later
most had forgotten. No harm has come from the
games as their was some fantastic matches played,
who can forget England beating Brazil 1-0! I think
it opened people's eyes and showed them that
actually women can play. Yes it's not as fast as the
men's game and maybe doesn't come across as
physical (trust me it is, we just don't roll around
the pitch after a hard tackle) but skill wise and
Will mens’ sport always overshadow women’s?
!
Unfortunately I believe yes it will be. even if our
national team won a major trophy I doubt as much
fuss would be made as it would with the men. Sport
is dominated by men, it always has been. They have
the physical advantage of being faster and stronger,
2 things that are major aspects in majority of
sports. Essentially sport was created by men for
men. This will only change if we can get more
people to games and show that women can be just
as could as the men if you watch with an open mind