It has been 50 years since the first women’s team was set up at amateur club VV Brabantia in Strijp. Playing with limp balls, training on the worst pitch, and comments from the men were nothing special for the team. Fortunately, times have changed.
It all started in 1973 with a newspaper article in the Eindhovens Dagblad: VV Brabantia wanted to set up a women’s team. Girls from thirteen to thirty could sign up. There were many responses to the newspaper article. The interested ladies came to the club and so the club’s first women’s team was born in 1973. “Getting along with each other, I thought was very nice, despite the difference in age you could see that things were going very well,” says Ineke Louwers, a member of the first women’s team.
Challenges
Establishing a women’s team did not come without challenges. For example, the team received many negative comments from the boys at the club. “They were all laughing and saying: Women can’t play soccer, women should be in the kitchen and behind the stove,” says Annemarie Colombon, a member of the first women’s team. “You shouldn’t say that to us. We were so motivated to show precisely that we can play soccer.”
In addition to the comments, the ladies also noted that they were treated differently by the club. “We got the slacker balls, they weren’t pumped up,” Ineke says with a laugh. Also, the ladies had to train on the worst field and were not given soccer uniforms. “We had to prove ourselves first and show that we persevered.”
The mixed canteen was also an aspect many men had to get used to half a century ago. Suddenly there were women sitting at the bar, which created a whole different atmosphere. “There was suddenly a lot of socializing in the canteen. Eventually, it even resulted in marriages,” says Ineke.
Marriages
Fifty years later, the women see that the women’s team is viewed very differently. Discrimination has not completely disappeared in the past fifty years, but it has diminished. The current ladies on the first team face almost no criticism. “Men generally like girls playing soccer. Especially of our age, they are used to it.”
On the field, the ladies don’t notice the comments. “Maybe in the cafeteria, after a few beers, there might be some comments,” she said. Ineke and Annemarie also see a growth of respect toward women. “They have it right I think.”
Last Saturday, the anniversary was celebrated with a reunion for the first team and a party at the Strijp soccer club.
Source: Studio040
Translated by: Chaitali Sengupta. She also gives online INBURGERING classes.
