Equality or invading spaces?

 The modern world throws up all manner of wierd and wonderful stuff as much that some of things that were wrong back in our day are at least recognized as such equal opportunities when it comes to subjects studied at school for boys and girls, equal pay for men and women and so on.

Football for girls has come a long way from I dare say some of our peers (or even our younger selves) said "Go away! Only boys play football" whenever any girl showed any interest in having a kickabout and when women were in effect banned from playing all together.

So we see a great national Women's Super League (the WSL), more girls teams being set up to cater for demand and a better share of the money from the Football Association to pay for this.

Recently though it was reported a teenage boys parents were pressing to have him join the Girls Team using a "grandfathered" F.A. rule from the 90's where then because of the shortage of Girls Teams, a girl could join a team comprising of boys.

One obvious thing is to say is the strength of children between the sexes changes after 11 and appreciably after puberty with boys being stronger and in general more able to play to almost adult standards compared to girls.

Often boys are"scouted" by the big premiership teams at 14 plus so what could be more discouraging to a girl than to have boys in her team getting all the breaks?

A pretty good question I'd ask is "Just what does a boy in his teens want BEING in a girls team"?

Most of us if there was a group that did something we were mad keen with boys joined them, we were comfortable with one another and wanted the benefits. We certainly didn't wish to be seen to just spend our time as if we were in a group of girls, far from it.

I only hope this nonsense gets stopped so girls can get on playing in girls only team developing as themselves and this boys parents are put in touch with a local team for their BOY to join so he plays with other boys at the level he's capable of.

R.I.P Sir Bobby

 Things will be a bit quiet around the weekend online as I'll be away for Halloween and would would be Monday's blog may be late because of it but there's only one thing really on my mind today.

Football was the main thing for me and my pals in juniors and at high school, playing during breaks, following Saturday's matches (and it was nearly all played then or Sunday) and talking about results which we followed intently.

It didn't matter who you supported in this area it was Port Vale or Stoke City although families that had moved from elsewhere supported their teams like Sunderland and I now as then supported Wolves, we had the greatest of respects for one man (mon in my dialect).

Sir Bobby Charlton was a amazing player, playing for Manchester United before he got involved more in running the club and also was a member of that marvellous England Team of 1966 that won the World Cup at Wembley against the then West Germany.

He was a supremely decent, caring man who put a lot back into the game even though he was one of the lucky ones to survive the tragedy of the Munich Aircrash of 1958, which my late mother and ardent Man U fan remembered so well as the sad news went around the factory she worked at here in Staffordshire, dealing with the trauma of that but getting back into the game.

Aged some eighty-six year, he died on Saturday and believe me all of us footie fan's will miss him.

R.I.P. Sir Bobby.

Two steps forward and one step back

 There were a few things I could write about this week but this is really the compelling one.

We all hoped as the weekend approached that our National team approached the finals of the Euro 2020 that the great work Neville Southgate had put in in managing the team thus far would lead to that elusive much sought after thing, a win in a final after fifty-five years.

It's been that long that although I have no recollection of it, it seems from the age I went to Infants we'd been looking for it for ages and we were up against an exceptional experienced  opponent who really had got it together from their first match.

A goal scored by Shaw in the second minute no less looked like it was going to set us up for that win we desperately wanted by having scored a a goal in the second half, Italy held us to a draw.

Then it happened, no progress being made by either us or the Italians we went into a penalty shoot out which our strikers lost at, penalties are something English player in particular always seem to struggle at and it was all over with.

A Three-Two win on penalties to Italy. 

For a side that had done so well, putting the everything into it as sad as that was, we couldn't of expected more from them.

Then the backlash started with frustrated fans racially abusing three of the strikers who'd missed on social media as if that had *anything* to do with it, something that at one point we thought we'd tackled but in the age of the armchair racist with his smartphone it has resurged and sadly this joyful sporting event even if we lost, was marred by this behaviour by so-called fans.

As far as I am concerned you're no fan of England, no patriot, if you attack racially your own sides players because they represent US and they are proud to do regardless of race and religion.

In this competition, religious and racial differences were put aside in communities where things haven't always been as harmonious as we all would of liked with people supporting as one, waving our flag together.

We were United and we all stand together in opposing racial abuse of our own countries team players.

Be the change.

The weekend report

It's been an odd kind of a week with England's team in the Women's World Cup through to the quarter finals after yesterday's match with Cameroon which was more noted by that teams lack of discipline on the pitch than our teams focus and 3-0 win.

The women's game isn't my thing as with most things feminine it has nothing to offer me as I was always more interested in school footie and the men's game throughout my boyhood, watching MOTD, sunday afternoon matches with my Gran and rushing back from fairs in time for F.A. Cup Finals and the like but I wish them well.

The rebooted music forum account given the male oblique adult little boy referencing make over is working out well with an acceptance for my little side shown in the avatar and by having my gender openly affirmed and acknowledged apart from being spoken to as a male by all the men.

I also decided to reset a google account to give proper acknowledgement of my gender as that too had be neutered around the same time. 

I went out with Dad and Mum in my uniform so their I was with tie, grey shorts and long socks on celebrating his birthday as his boy, having a celebratory meal together in public totally accepted in this community as the adult little boy I am.

And as more will be mentioned on the other blog I'm getting my very own small computer which was designed very much for schoolboys and girls so it looks after itself with keys better aligned to help us type.

Little boys play soccer

A boy is I feel more than any one presentation and an adult little boy, the male age regressed version just the same because if he was anything like those boys I grew up with he was sporty and not just academic.
We played mainly association football aka Soccer both as an improvised on spare grass or even a quiet street kickabout making goals from coats piled up in our regular play clothes to wearing a actual football strip although ours was not an era hung up on expensive replica strips that is an issue for bio-kids and their parents today.
We were a strip because we saw ourselves at that point having a game more by the rules and although it wasn't our word for it in a way we were going about things in a more professional way.
The other way was a organized match which was certainly the case at school as every boy who could just about walk played as it was the Autumn/Winter team sport for boys or if you played 'lads and dads' on Sundays after Saturday team soccer which as the name suggested was run by grown ups for us to play, learn more about our game and have fun. 
It wasn't unknown for us to wear our strips even if we were not playing.

Summertime with more play

Summer for me always brings back memories of vacations of the past typically in traditional seaside resorts with beaches, long shore lines to walk on and playing in the sand, making big sandcastles with moats.

It includes the days we went down to the park for a game of footy or just a made run about making up games as we went along.

It's also days out at the fair, visiting the amusement arcades, eating ice cream, going on the Dodgems and riding the Merry-Go-Round with its distinctive rhythms without a care in the world.

It's also the place adult but child me really feels at home in, doing what I understand the best having fun.