The Rise of Women’s Recreational Football女子休闲足球的兴起

More women in England are making up for the decades when they felt shut out of the game.

几十年来，女性都被拒于足球场外，而今有越来越多的英格兰女性在弥补这一缺憾。

It’s Saturday-morning 11-a-side at a football pitch squeezed between a scrubby path running along the River Lee Navigation and a technology campus in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park， Hackney. A dark-haired woman in red defies a gaggle of defenders with a skilled pass to the front. “Yes！ Beginner’s debut， right there，” yells coach Julie Leaff at the top of her Mancunian lungs. The player breaks into a grin.

周六早场的11人制足球赛打响了，场地就夹隐在利·纳威伽什河畔灌木丛生的小路和伦敦哈克尼区伊丽莎白女王奥林匹克公园科技园之间。场上一位红衣黑发的女球员越过一群后卫的拦防，娴熟地将球传至前场。“对了！新手亮相，就这么踢！”教练朱莉·丽芙喊道，这大嗓门一听就是曼彻斯特人。那红衣女球员听了冲她咧嘴一笑。

The camaraderie and joy on the pitch， where women are playing football， some for the first time， is noisy and infectious. This is Clapton Community Football Club’s open access training， one of thousands of grassroots sessions in England that have sprung up as women’s football has advanced. Unlike many targeted at encouraging young women and girls to take up the sport， however， it is for all ages.

参赛球员中很多人是头一回上场踢球，大家吵吵闹闹，结下深厚友谊，欢声笑语极具感染力。这次球赛实际是克莱普顿社区足球俱乐部（CCFC）组织的无门槛训练。这类基层体育活动英格兰还有上千个，随女子足球的兴起如雨后春笋般涌现。这类培训不同于其他，并非只鼓励年轻女性和女孩参与，而是对所有年龄层开放。

“We wanted it to be open to older women，”said Leaff， 54， co-founder of the training session for women of all ages and abilities. “We wanted mums who watched their kids play， to realise they could step over the line and play themselves.”

“我们想让年长些的女性也有机会踢足球。”54岁的丽芙如是说，正是她与人共同开办了上述足球培训班，向所有女性开放，不论她们的年龄和身体素质如何。“我们希望看孩子踢足球的妈妈们意识到，她们完全可以跨进球场，亲身体验足球。”

Leaff， who teaches at Grasmere primary school in Stoke Newington， and co-founder Ellie Guedalla， 45， who works in children’s services are part of the “lost generation”， football fans whose gender meant they missed out on the opportunity to play and to develop in the sport when young.

丽芙是斯托克纽因顿区格拉斯米尔小学的老师，45岁的埃丽·圭达拉则在儿童服务机构工作，两人一起开办了足球培训班。她们属于足球运动“迷惘的一代”，尽管从小热爱，却因身为女性而无缘足球，也无法在这个领域有所发展。

My own football journey began at CCFC open access after the pandemic hit. In my fifties， I had never kicked a ball， knew nothing about the sport but loved the training. Last year， I was asked to join a spin-off vets team， brazenly named Hot Flush， and now play most weeks in a five-a-side women and non-binary people’s league， Super 5.

我自己的足球之旅始于疫情暴发后的CCFC训练。我50多了，从没踢过一下足球，尽管一窍不通，可我就是喜欢踢。去年，有支退役重组的球队拉我入伙，我们“大言不惭”给自己取名叫“潮红队”，目前大部分活动周都在踢专为女性和非二元性别人群举办的五人制“超级5”联赛。

The Football Association barred women’s professional football from its club grounds in 1921， deeming it “quite unsuitable” for females. The ban， only lifted in 1971， set the tone for the sexism that still prevails in football today. Two decades passed before the FA established a women’s committee， with the first women’s FA challenge cup in 1993.

1921年，英国足球协会不允许有女子职业足球俱乐部存在，认为女性踢球“不成体统”。直到1971年这项禁令才解除，但这也给足坛性别歧视埋下了祸根，遗患至今。又过了20年，英国足协才成立了一个女足委员会，并在1993年举办了首届女子足协挑战杯。

But since the pandemic， many women in their 30s， 40s and 50s appear to be making up for lost time. According to Sport England’s Active Lives survey， covering 2020–21， a higher percentage of women aged 35 to 54 have participated in the sport at least once in the past year or become a member of a football club than ever before.

但自新冠疫情暴发以来，我们看到不少30、40、50多岁的女性似乎正在补上她们缺失的足球时光。英格兰体育委员会2020—2021年度的运动活跃人群调查显示，在35—54岁的女性群体中，过去一年参加至少一次足球运动或加入足球俱乐部的，其占比处于历史最高水平。

Guedalla， who played for Wanstead Girls as a child， said： “Our generation never got to play in PE， let alone in the park. Me and Julie both played and we got called ‘It’， ‘What’s it’. That was normal in the 70s and 80s.”

圭达拉小时候在旺斯特德女队踢球，她说：“我们这代姑娘从来没在体育课上踢过足球，更别提上公园踢了。我和朱莉都当过球员，那会儿别人称呼我们都用‘它’，‘那个什么’。这种事在七八十年代稀松平常。”

With some football foundation cash from the CCFC， they set up the open access sessions in 2019. From a handful of people back then， the membership has grown to more than 100 today， with players aged between 22 and 60.

有了CCFC足球基金会的资金支持，两人在2019年办起了无门槛足球培训。刚开班那会儿没几个学员，到现在会员人数已经涨到了100多，从22到60岁的都有。

Research shows a significant increase in participation in football among women and girls after the 2019 Women’s World Cup， increasing by almost half a million among the over-25s.

有研究显示，2019年女足世界杯后，参与足球运动的女性人数显著增加，且25岁以上人群增加了近50万人。

Guedalla is passionate about the power of football for wellbeing， fitness and a sense of community.

足球有益身心健康，加强社区意识，这种能量让圭达拉对足球充满热情。

“When women come together things happen，” said Guedalla. “You put on a shirt and you’re part of something. It’s about fitness， fun and of course， the beautiful game.”

“女人聚堆儿，就能成事儿。”圭达拉说道，“队服一上身，你就是球队的一分子，为的就是健健康康、快快乐乐，当然啦，踢起球来也是英姿飒爽的”。

Women talk about the optimism it has brought to their lives， and of the joy of pulling on a team jersey， of playing with others of all ages， of standing a bit taller1 as part of a team. They talk about the therapeutic benefits of exercise on their bodies， on menopausal symptoms and on the way they feel.