WARNING: CONTAINS UNLADYLIKE LANGUAGE

 

Basingstoke Town Women 2 Weymouth Women 4

10^th September 2023.

**Warning – contains swearing**

Jill Scott. A Lioness. A certified legend of English football. A “heads up” type of player in that she would already have picked out her next pass or move before she had received the ball. Excellent control, skillful, with an uncanny ability to pick the right pass, whether it be a through ball to unlock a defence, or simply playing the ball to a teammate to start another attack. Everything I’ve ever seen of her in the media also suggests she is a genuinely nice human being. I’ve watched her play live twice, and both times took time away from supporting one of the teams, to just watch her on the ball. The fitting end to her career was being part of England’s successful European Championship victory in 2022, a career that saw her traverse the dawn of professionalism in women’s football in this country. She represented England 161 times, was a Great British Olympian, and won every domestic honour in the English game.

Also, in that European Championship final at Wembley, she told one of the German players to “f*ck off, you f*cking pr*ck”, beamed to the world, in one of her last acts as a professional career.

There are some people who are upset by swearing. I completely understand this, which is the reason I put the warning at the top of this page and censored the words above. There are a further group of people who are upset by women swearing, specifically. This I can’t get my head around at all. The handwringing when an emotionally charged Mary Earps saved a penalty in the World Cup Final and let out a massive “F*CK OFF” for the World’s cameras was remarkable, with an astonishing number of people, a majority of them being men, saying it wasn’t very “ladylike”. I witnessed Reading Women’s keeper Grace Moloney venting fairly explicitly at her defence after conceding a goal in the WSL2 days. A fan (male) behind her goal audibly tutted and commented quite loudly that this also wasn’t very ladylike. Loud enough for Grace to hear. Her glare back in his direction even made my blood run cold, and the supporter kept his opinions to himself from then on.

The almost Victorian level of disdain for Women’s sport and its unwillingness to be “ladylike” is something that all that has been used to hold women’s’ sport back. The Football Association banned Women from playing the sport in 1921, using some completely fabricated “science” about the effects of physicality on the players as their justification. The ban was only rescinded fifty years later, with the sport arguably only really starting to recover fully in the last decade. Women were banned from partaking in the Marathon at any Summer Olympics until its inclusion in Los Angeles in 1984, whilst boxing wasn’t opened to females until 2012 in London. Rugby Union, itself suffering from the men’s games late conversion to professionalism in the mid-1990s, is currently undergoing its own growth spurt, with the Women’s Union operating separately from the RFU until 2009. Whilst females playing the sport is now considered normal (apart from the more unhinged, chauvinistic corners of social media which sadly still exist), there are still struggles. The utter train wreck that has been the aftermath of Spain’s victory in the FIFA Women’s World Cup has been the peak of what female athletes have had to fight against for decades but is sadly only the tip of that iceberg. Various associations, including the English FA, were involved with payment disputes with their squads throughout the tournament. Mary Earps, officially the best female goalkeeper on the planet, had to go public with her complaints that nobody was able to obtain her replica jersey from England’s kit supplier, Nike. An easy PR opportunity by on of the biggest sports manufacturers on the planet – confess they’d got it a bit wrong, then get some kits in the shops with “Earps 1” on the back – was squandered at every step and was made to look more ridiculous with each passing game, as Earps played an integral part in England’s journey to the final, culminating in her penalty save in the final. Nike eventually agreed to release “limited numbers”, just in time for the players to return home. How noble of them.

It's comforting, therefore, to be able to watch Women’s sport when clubs take it seriously and treat the players with respect. Players being provided with a proper kit, not hand-me-downs from a men’s youth team. Proper changing facilities. Having their own dedicated and qualified coaching staff, not just someone who has played and “knows the game” and knows how to put a few cones out once a week for the players to run round. The growth of the Women’s FA Cup is a further example, with a record 456 clubs entering the tournament this season. A majority of senior football clubs in England now have a Women’s team directly associated with them, with varying degrees of assistance, both financial and technical.

Basingstoke Town are such a club. One of several teams playing at the Winklebury Sports Complex on the outskirts of town, their home since 2019, the Women’s side are fully affiliated having played their first game the following year. Competing in the Hampshire League Division One (which I believe is Tier 8 of the Women’s football pyramid), this was their first entrance into the FA Cup. One of my teammates in the Frimley Lodge Five-A-Side League is also one of Basingstoke’s coaches, and it was on his suggestion that my daughter and I attended. I will freely admit, the thought of eating a “Stoke Stack” burger – for the record, THE best burger I have ever eaten at a sporting event – did also factor into my decision to come to this game. The disappointment upon finding the burger bar wasn’t open was offset slightly by the hearty sausage rolls.

This was a Proper Cup Tie. Both teams went hard no quarter given. It was exciting, had drama, and the game was in the balance into injury time at the end of the game. Basically, everything you want from an FA Cup tie. Both teams had spells when they were in the ascendancy, both keepers had excellent games, and but for the bounce of the ball on a few occasions, the result could have been reversed. Weymouth started brightly with Ellia Webb hitting the post when clean through on goal, despite the linesman raising his flag for offside and the referee ignoring him completely – he stood in the same position, flag raised for a minute, whilst play carried on without him. Basingstoke went in front midway through the first half when Chelsea Pennock capitalized on a defensive mix-up to roll the ball into the unguarded net. Tackles were flying in, the referee taking a relaxed view to some challenges – one of the Basingstoke players dipped into the Jill Scott phrasebook, calling one of the visitors a “f*cking pr*ck” after having her hair pulled back on a breakaway. Weymouth levelled just before half time, with Kaydee Thornicroft – on her competitive debut for the first team - finally stabbing a loose ball home following two terrific saves by Erin Davis in the host’s goal.

The second half was even more end-to-end. Basingstoke were denied by the post twice before the hour, with Pennock rattling one post from the edge of the box, before hitting the other post from a free-kick a little further out. They finally retook the lead on the hour, Billie Gardner winning the ball inside the penalty area, and drilling past the impressive Renee Marquis. That lead didn’t last long, with Zara Hunt’s defence splitting pass sending Thornicroft through on goal, and she slotted the ball beyond Davis. At this stage, either side could have won the game. It was the visitors who broke the deadlock, with Ellia Webb thumping a header from a corner in with fifteen minutes remaining. The match became more open as Basingstoke chased the game, and Weymouth countered, hitting the post, and missing a couple of chances that were the definition of “gilt-edged”. Finally, Weymouth won a penalty in injury time, which was calmly slotted home by captain Charlie Wilson, settling the tie.

So, Basingstoke’s FA Cup journey is over for another season, and my daughter (still wearing her grass-stained rugby kit from the morning) and I headed briskly back to the train station, glancing nervously at the doom-laden clouds following us. I have no idea how her sporting journey is going to look. In my more day-dreamy moments (or “work” as most people call it), I picture her making her debut for Harlequins and scoring under the posts against Saracens, or belting out the Irish National Anthem at a packed Lansdowne Road prior to scoring the winner against England in the World Cup final (I haven’t worked out how Ireland ended up hosting the World Cup final, but am sure I will be at some stage day-dream the administrative side of things). Alternatively, she may not play sport at all, and go in a totally different direction completely, being the youngest headliner at Glastonbury, or winning Employee of the Month at her local Costa Coffee. However, thanks to those who’ve gone before – Jill Scott, Mary Earps, and the players of Basingstoke Town and Weymouth included – she now has that as a legitimate and perfectly normal choice to make. No matter how unladylike some people find it…