This week, as part of our series reviewing recent books on the women's football scene, we look at football journalist's Gemma Clarke's new book on the women's game entitled: Soccer Women—The Icons, Rebels, Stars and Trailblazers who Transformed the Beautiful Game (Published by Bold Type Books—New York—2019), which features profiles and stories from a number of past and current players in the U.S., Europe and other regions around the world.
The first section of the book examines five players from the 1890's to 1980's, including historic British footballers Nettie J. Honeyball and Lily Parr (Dick, Kerr Ladies). For the 1990's (section two) she tells stories about 12 players, nine of which are Americans, including Brandi Chastain and Mia Hamm, with the others include Hege Riise of Norway, Sun Wen of China and Sissi of Brazil—who now lives and coaches in the U.S.
Section three on the 2000's focuses on league play, with all 7 featured players being internationals, including Kelly Smith and Fara Williams of England and Marta of Brazil. For the 2010's, in a chapter titled Fighting for Equality, she tells the stories of 21 players, 9 of whom are American players or coaches such as Carli Lloyd and Alex Morgan but also includes well-known personalities such as Homare Sawa of Japan, Eniola Aluko and Chelsea's current head coach Emma Hayes of England and forward Asisat Oshoala of Nigeria.
For the 2020's—the Future is Female—there are five featured players, 3 Americans including WWC 2019 star Rose Lavelle (the author must have been clairvoyant about how well she would perform in France as she is now one of the most sought-after players in the world) as well as Lieke Martins of the Netherlands/Barcelona and Sam Kerr of Australia/Chicago Red Stars. The stories are shorter than in Gwen Oxenham's Under the Lights and In the Dark: Untold Stories of Women's Soccer, which debuted in 2017 and goes into depth on salient stories affecting the game but with lower profile and yet extremely interesting players. Clarke's work provides an overview of the development of the game focused on the stories of present and past leading stars and developers of the sport. Overall Clarke's work is fascinating and quite well written.
A key benchmark for any new soccer literature—men's or women's—is does it engage a reader who is new to the sport while still edifying and accurate for someone well-versed in the sport—and this book does both. The chapter on American soccer coach Lisa Cole, who this reporter has interviewed on multiple occasions in the past, was particularly insightful regarding her time coaching Papua New Guinea in the U-20 Women's World Cup in 2016, which the country hosted. In their first game against Brazil, one of her seventeen-year-old substitutes walked back to the dugout from warming up during the game in tears, with Lisa explaining: "The men in the stands were booing and heckling her and calling her nasty names and stuff because we were losing. Of course we're losing; we're playing Brazil. In our first-ever international game, we're playing Brazil, and we actually did pretty well for a while. We just aren't at that level." After the 9-0 defeat, Cole gave the Papua New Guinea fans a clear message through the post-match press conference: "Don't come. If you're not going to cheer, then don't come. If you're going to heckle, then don't come. We'll play in an empty stadium. Only come if you're going to support our women and recognize the sacrifices they've made" (Page 289). One of her aides told her that she could probably be hung for what she said in the very conservative and male-focused country, but Lisa Cole felt it needed to be said, and was courageous in doing so.
Also fascinating was the fact that the then Papua New Guinea Football Federation President as well as (at that time) Oceania Confederation President David Chung brought Cole to the country. Clarke explained: "The plan was for Lisa to remain in charge for four more years, to perhaps shepherd PNG to a senior World Cup and bring another group of young women up through the Under 20's. She thought she was to implement the legacy Chung had heralded, but as soon as the tournament was over, she felt him grow cold on the idea. 'It was about him, you know what I mean? [Lisa Cole said] and not about growing the game ultimately.'" The FIFA vice president dismissed Cole, ending her work with the young women's team. Cole explained: "Basically once the World Cup was over, he was like, 'Okay, get out of the country'" (Page 290). Chung would later resign from all of his football positions in April of 2018 and in March 2019 he was fined 100,000 Swiss Francs and was banned from football for six-and-a-half years after being found guilty of corruption.
Some stellar chapters in the book include the one on Asisat Oshoala of Nigeria, who has struggled with her club career in England, went to China with Dalian Quanjian and is now with Barcelona, though she is still seen as a key young talent for her national team. With Barcelona on loan, she scored seven goals in 11 matches in all competitions, was with the side which fell to Olympique Lyon in the UEFA Women's Champions League Final earlier this year (for 2018-19), scoring the only goal in the 4-1 loss in the Continental Club Final and inked a two year permanent deal with the Spanish club. When she won the African Women's Player of the Year award for the third time in 2017, she said at the awards banquet: "They said my career was finished when I left Arsenal for China. But here I am tonight. This award is for every young African girl: don't let them tell you that you can't do it." (Page 220)
Azize Ay is not an international player or well-known to even the most fervent football fan, but she is featured because she waited over 30 years to play for a women's team and debuted when she was 48 for Diyarbakirspor in the third division of Turkey's women's football structure, inspiring her young teammates and readers alike with her struggles and perseverance.
The chapters on well-known figures in the game such as Christine Sinclair of Canada, Megan Rapinoe, Brandi Chastain, Mia Hamm and Alex Morgan of the U.S. still delight—which is difficult to do with players who's stories are so well known—revealing new insights into their lives and their respective vision for the game.
This book is really creatively done, thematically on point, inspirational and with new information gleaned from interviews and key sources. It's a must have for women football fans.
Tim Grainey is a contributor to Tribal Football. His latest book Beyond Bend it Like Beckham on the global game of women's football. Get your copy today.
Follow Tim on Twitter: @TimGrainey
