A very subjective look into AWFC

If there’s one thing I know, and that I know that you know, is that I am not a women’s football expert. I just love the sport a lot, I love AWFC a lot and I love learning a lot. Every single day that goes by I feel like I learn something new and I find that process incredibly fascinating.

I’ve watched men’s football my entire life. One of my first and core memories was watching the Dutch national team with my grandma Hilda back in 88, when I was six. I was just consuming it and had no idea who the players actually were, I didn’t know national teams from club teams and I didn’t care when I was that age. Later in life I do have a vague memory of learning about Arsenal, the history and all that. I know I felt very excited back then and I would do so much research online but only now at my age is when I kind of say to myself: “Holy sh*t, I’ve watched a lot of football & I’ve spent a lot of energy and time on it.”

Then I found women’s football a few years ago and the moment I saw DVD kick a ball I knew I was screwed… I knew I was obsessed, I knew I had found “IT”

I also understood at that moment that I had a lot of work ahead of me if I was ever to catch up to my men’s football knowledge, whatever that means. But just by time spent, it’s like 37-5. I had a lot to learn from the oranje leeuwinnen and AWFC. That, of course, still applies but I have worked as hard as I can to acquire knowledge so understand myself better too. Eventually feeling confidently enough to have the podcast and this blog.

But sometimes it feels overwhelming. Like I feel very confident with my knowledge of the men’s game, who the players are, history of teams, rivalries… I’m old enough where I also watched a lot of the current players’s fathers play. And it’s natural for me to, for whatever reason, compare that to what I know about the women’s game. It’s not like I’m actively working to match that, not at all. I know how silly that is because there’s no actual way other than to “feel” that I know X or Y, but as you know, the women’s game is different and it evokes different things, much like playing different musical instruments and hearing someone play different musical instruments make us feel certain things.

I’ve been playing drums since I was 12 or something and I have never ever stopped and made that my life and career. Whenever I pick up a new instrument (and this applies to percussion and also harmonic instruments) I know that I’m about to potentially take on a journey that has decades of work, I know how much time it takes to learn and what the challenges might be. And to be fair my friends, as I type this I have a feeling that I’ve already spoken about this? If so, my apologies, but anyway….

Men’s football is my “drums” and women’s football is that new instrument that as much as I’m excited about, eager to learn about, and maybe even “easy” to learn, it still has and is a universe within it self, with it’s own culture, identity and codes.

The World Cup is the perfect time to learn, to grow and to expand. I hope that I’m able to watch as much as possible but at the same time it can be overwhelming.

So if you feel some anxiety about having to be all over the WC and watch every single match and tweet and be relevant or whatever within the community or on twitter, please know that you don’t have to. Women’s football is yours, truly yours, not anyone else’s. Digest it and consume in your own way and trust yourself and your opinions. Try to know that others will always know more than you and that’s fine!

Just enjoy it like you would enjoy a song you love… you do it and you don’t care what anyone says about it.

d ❤
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