Reykjavík Grapevine - 04.07.2008, Blaðsíða 12

12 | REYKJAVÍK GRAPEVINE | ISSUE 09—2008
ARTICLE By páll HilMarSSon — pHoto By gaS
I grew up in a small village on the east coast of Iceland. In
many ways it was an ideal place to be a young kid; the free-
dom was a lot more than in the larger village Reykjavík. There
were endless opportunities for active children, the closeness
of the community created a safe environment – in a small vil-
lage everyone knows everyone – which is great for children
but maybe not so much for adults. Today, some 25 years later,
most of the people my age have moved away.
Our favourite pastime was playing football at the small tar-
mac field by the school. We spent endless hours there, play-
ing from early in the morning until late at night. It was there
that we honed our skills which we put to use playing for the
local team. Most of the competitive games we played were
against teams from towns close by, but sometimes we got to
travel to Akureyri for bigger tournaments and once we took
a long bus ride to Reykjavík to meet up with the bigger teams
there. This was mostly fun and games – the point was to have
fun – the obsession with winning would come later.
GIRLS NOT INVITED
There were 17 kids in my class at school, 9 boys and 8 girls.
Almost all the boys were involved in the football team al-
though some of them were hopeless at kicking a ball and
should really have spent their time reading books or collect-
ing stamps. Only one girl took the sport seriously and she
outclassed most of us. She was a great technical player, as
strong as any boy on the team and as fearless as any 12 year
old boy. At that age none of us questioned having a girl on
our team; it didn't even enter our minds that football should
be a gender segregated sport. In a few years that changed.
When we were 14 then it suddenly wasn't considered proper
to include a girl in the team. She was off the team despite
the fact that she made our team stronger and our chances of
winning greater. I'm not sure if this was insisted upon by our
rival teams or our adult coach, but the result was the same:
this young woman had to play football with other girls and
not us boys.
Now in a small village with a population of 700 people it
is quite a feat having one football team that caters to different
age groups. The possibility, at the time, to have a separate
team for girls was slim, especially considering that a fewer
girls wanted to play football than the boys. Now the reason
why so few girls wanted to play football was, in my opinion,
simply because they couldn't. If the local community had
made it easy for girls to participate, to compete and to train,
then a lot more of the girls in my class would have joined.
There simply wasn't a lot of interest in providing these girls
with facilities, trainers, and opportunities. There was a wom-
en's team in the next town, some 30 kilometres away, a hefty
distance to travel for practice.
This girl was more stubborn than most. She travelled the
distance and practiced with the team of the adjacent town.
Later she moved to Reykjavík where there were bigger op-
portunities (in every sense) and played with some women's
teams there in the premier division. At that time the women's
division was an afterthought to the men's, they often played
at the practice fields of the clubs instead of the formal pitch,
their games went unnoticed in the media and generally
didn't get much support.
TWO WINS IN ONE WEEk
This is slowly changing. Now the women's national team is
outclassing the men's team – they have a good shot at mak-
ing it to the European Cup Final in Finland next year – and
in doing so, may become the first Icelandic football team to
enter a final round of a big tournament. Last week the na-
tional team played two home games, beating Slovenia 5 – 0,
and five days later annihilating the Greek squad, 7 – 0. These
games drew a big crowd, over 5000 people showed up for
the match against Greece and the media is catching on that
women's football is something worth mentioning.
When girls all around the country get the opportunity to
practice and play football for as long as they want – and not
just when the boys "let them" – we will in the future have an
even stronger national team than we do now. When girls see
positive role models in the media, women who are success-
ful at what they do, there will be even more girls wanting
to play football. The fantastic achievements of the women's
national team will propel women's football here farther and
make it possible for girls all around the country to reach their
greatest potential.
Hopefully girls all around the country will be able to play
football as long as they'd like, in an environment equal to
what our young boys get. There is no reason why a 14 year
old girl today should not get the same opportunities as boys
her age.
as it turns out, iceland's women kick ass in football
Equal Opportunities
Iceland’s women draw attention as they move closer to Euro 2009
INfO
The Icelandic team is in Group 3 in UEFA Euro 2009
Qualification with France, Slovenia, Greece and Serbia.
The team will meet France on September 27. They need
only a draw to secure qualification for UEFA WOMEN'S
EURO, taking place in Finland from August 23 to
September 10, 2009
Reykjavik Looks
fASHION By rvk lookS
NAME
Hildur Yeoman
AGE
24
OCCuPATION
Designer
fAVOuRITE SHOPS IN ICELAND
Trilogia, Kronkron and Systur
NAME
Anna Kristín Sigurðardóttir
AGE
25
OCCuPATION
Kron shop-manager
fAVOuRITE ITEM
IN THE CLOSET
“All my clothes are friends, I don’t
favour one over another.”
NAME
Pan Thorarensen
AGE
27
OCCuPATION
Musician
MOST fREquENTED SHOP
Noland
noW tHe WoMen'S national teaM iS out-
claSSing tHe Men'S teaM – tHey Have a
good SHot at Making it to tHe european
cup Final in Finland next year – and in
doing So, May BecoMe tHe FirSt icelandic
Soccer teaM to enter a Final round oF a
Big tournaMent.
reykjaviklooks.blogspot.com