LAST week it felt as though I had fallen asleep, just for a split-second and when I awoke I was transported back to the 1970s. Back to an era that glorified women as pretty objects that had no real place in many aspects of our testosterone-filled society, particularly in sport. Just when I thought it was safe to put away my suffragette outfit and ‘votes for women’ banner, I have been proved wrong, yet again.
How do you promote inclusiveness, how do you get the community behind you to support your club, and how do you sell merchandise to the buying public? Well if you are Ayr United FC, it seems that you paint a naked women’s torso in your club colours to promote the launch of your latest football top! To be a bit more accurate, it seems that this was the brainchild of the kit sponsors themselves, who have had enjoyed enough free publicity on the back of this shameful episode, that I have no intention of extending that publicity by naming them in this article. This does not however exonerate Ayr United, who have to have need to stand up to the plate and start a grown-up conversation with their current kit sponsors to look at changes for future launches.
I did take a little comfort from the fact that the majority of people interviewed for a TV news-piece on this, were not at all supportive of this stunt. In fact it took a male member of the public to state the obvious, it was borderline pornographic! Ayr United now wait to learn of their fate as this has been referred to the Scottish FA compliance officer for consideration.
At a time where the women’s game is growing in strength and stature it is shameful we still have clubs who live in the past and don’t embrace the growing army of female players and supporters all of whom are fans of the beautiful game.
We have in Scotland a world class footballer and one who was recognised for her footballing achievements just last week when she topped a supporters’ poll to become only the second winner of the BBC World Service award. Kim Little, who currently plays with Seattle Reign in the US, beat off stiff opposition.
No mean feat for a young girl from Mintlaw, Aberdeen, who started her career playing for Buchan Girls before moving to Hibernian Ladies. The choice to focus and play football at an early age, when let’s face it, most young girls were more interested in other pursuits, took not just the dedication of Kim herself, but the immense support and love of her parents, who drove her to training and games, which at times could include a five hour round trip
This amazing support system, which has been in place from an early age, is one of the reasons Kim now has so many ‘firsts’ under her belt, particularly at such a young age. First female to be voted Women’s Players’ Player of the Year for 2012-13 by the Professional Footballers’ Association, in the first year that the award was presented to a women and also one of only two Scots names in the 2012 GB team for the Olympics.
However for Scotland, the news is even better as Kim is joined by a wealth of talent in the Scottish squad. Now with the majority of the starting 11 of the women’s national team playing abroad, we have a core of professional players coming together to represent their country. Scotland can now call on a Bundesliga winner with Bayern, Manchester City’s top goal scorer, Liverpool’s top scorer and an FA Cup winner. What an immense array of talent all with one aim in mind, to get to Europe’s top competition and make every Scot proud of them. I have to say I am proud of all the players as I know how much of a sacrifice that each and every one makes in order to play for their country and I hope that they all now can realise their long held ambition, to represent Scotland at the next European Championships.
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