Yesterday I was driving back from Las Vegas with one of my bandmates. He not only isn’t into football at all but he isn’t into sports at all, but since we had a 5 hours journey it was bound to happen that we would talk about football, specially since I was watching the England men’s match on my phone while he drove.
He asked me why I liked the sport so much and we ended up talking about women’s football and I explained to him how our club was affected by ACL injuries and more. I made it a point to explain to him things in the most objective, non biased way, to someone that has ZERO idea of the sport, the rules, the culture, etc. We eventually touched the subject of the current manager.
Before I even spoke he said the he found very weird that we had a male manager and the way he phrased it was essentially that he thought it was really terrible for any sport in any country to have a man telling women what to do, how, why and when. He mentioned how, in society, the norm is to be surrounded by men who feel a need to mansplain things and so on and that why would anyone would be willing to put themselves through that in a work environment when sports are supposed to be about artistry as well, which implies self expression, freedom and authenticity.
I was fascinated by his insight and I agreed with basically everything he said. Of course there is some nuance there and it’s way deeper and also not but it was interesting to hear his perspective and when I showed him the video of our current manager shoving Viv. We stopped at a Starbucks in mid conversation and I took the chance to, without saying anything, playing it for him and he said: “So who’s the new manager?” I was stunned.
What do you mean? I asked, and he said: “there’s no way that dude keeps his job” And I wish this was the case, so very much, but alas I had to explain to him that indeed he has kept his job and that the club seems to be backing him to the hilt.
We then got in the car and started talking about music theory, piano learning, course creation and more so the topic was long gone but I kept thinking about he said and this morning I read Casey Stoney’s post and all my respect for her was reinforced.
I’ve liked her the whole time I’ve followed women’s football. I like her attitude, her vibe, who she is a person, the fact she’s a former Arsenal Women player and more.
Now, I know there’s not a clear path for her to join our team and the current manager has signed a new deal etc but if I could snap my fingers and make anything happen it would be that. I would love to have someone like her energize our squad, our club and our lives.
d ❤
THAT ARSENAL WOMEN PODCAST on:
You can listen to my music HERE
A very subjective look into AWFC 
Leave a comment