In German football speak, the word for 'extra time' is 'verlaengerung', not only meaning extension being an extended word at the same time. But word extension is common in German, especially when it comes women's football. Female players are called 'fussballerinen', the referee is a 'schiedsrichterin', the Americans are the 'Amerikanerinnen'; the only word missing a female touch is the ball, which could be aptly called a 'ballin'.
It seems that I am not the only one who still hits some hiccups in adapting to watching female soccer. At some point I literally heard the commentator say "that was a good shot for a woman"! Regardless if there was a little pause between the two sentence parts or not, it is a rather high-handed remark.
The final of the World Cup yesterday once again made clear the changed landscape of a sport that is primarily designed these days to be consumed via the television screen. The depiction of women in sports differs a lot from the average portrayal of the caring and patient lover cum child bearer that television inherited from the 1950s in the US. The football players (or playerinnen) are muscled and confident warriors striding around the pitch, commanding and colliding. The only thing missing from the average league play was the excessive nose blowing so often portrayed.
Watching the game with a group of guys, we found ourselves drawn tot he practice of rating the looks of the players and googling the names of the favourites for extra foto material and background info, until one of us exclaimed: "but guys, this is how women usually watch football!". And from that moment the long absence of women's football on tv felt like an undefendable flaw in the system. You have it all: the exciting execution of high level sports and female beauty as a bonus.
And yes, I could be banished tot he ranks of reactionaries for this type of reasoning, but I would like to argue that the heightened succes of women's football is at the same time a result of an emancipation a long time in the making. The fact that I find myself in the position to be dazzled by skill and appearance speaks for not only the visibility but also the agency of the women competing for the cup. Were the adoring female football fans until now the epitome of a male dominated sport, that role will in the future belong to me when I will discuss all the players on the field with my friends and sympathize with their tears when they lose, while a big Nike Hope Solo poster is hanging from my bedroom wall.
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