Oldham: We Want A Lady! Wait, No We Don’t.

By: chris | February 16th, 2009

How does that famous quote go? “One small step for women, one giant leap backwards for mankind”? Or something like that?

Okay, maybe not, but that’s how it’s being muttered within the walls of Oldham Athletic these days. The club was in talks to have a certain Brazilian player make a pre-season friendly cameo- no, not Socrates, though he is still available upon request for League Two, Blue Square Premier and children’s birthday parties – for the sheer purpose of ratings and newspaperheadlinemakeability.

Except they canned the idea because said player, Marta, doesn’t have man parts.

Alan Hardy, who does something of unknown importance for the club, tells us most triumphantly just why Oldham decided to pull out of the ~~ratings~~ negotiations.

“There were discussions with a TV company who have done work for Channel 4, but in the end it wasn’t considered appropriate for Oldham to involve themselves in something that could bring ridicule to the club and the League.”

And in the next chapter of Alan’s book, How to Alienate an Entire Gender, we’ll learn how to convince a woman to spend the rest of her life barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen within just three dates! (Which she can’t pay for.)

Now that we’re back from 1953, it should be said Alan doesn’t proclaim “something that ‘deserves to’ bring ridicule to the club and League”, it’s just that sports are a culture bustling with machismo and certain fans, perhaps a large group of them, and even some players wouldn’t take well to a women suiting up with a group of lads – unless, of course, her name is Kathy Ireland, she’s spent most of the previous years adorning SI Swimsuit covers and Scott Bakula is playing the sympathy-inducing over-the-hill quarterback with one last chance at glory. So there could be a massive PR backlash to come along with all those ratings they were supposedly cooking up.

But what would be interesting is to get a definitive account of just why the club thought she’d bring ridicule to the club and League: is it simply because she’s a woman and thus the potential PR backlash? Or is it perhaps because she’s not just a woman, she’s also a phenomenal player – the best female in the world by some margin from what I gather, as three time world player of the year, and at only 22 – and that maybe, just maybe, she might look like a player Oldham Athletic could use…

Some Related Stories:

Category: World Football

« The Very Definition of “Taking One for the Team” | Home | Eduardo Makes His Senior Return; Bendtner Loses His Mind. »

The Offside RSS Feeds

Mike

If I recall, there's an entire WPS league, and like others have said, there are rules against co-ed teams, so why is this such a big deal?
Ian

Thanks, Shazback. I wasn't aware it was actually in the FA rules. I agree with you - I hope there's a challenge, and that it comes from a player of Marta's quality, because it really would be good for the game.
Marco P.

In the end, this is just another lame attempt by a nobody-president to get its club name in the news. Gaucci-Prinz ring any bells?
Melissa

Ha! So if they were in talks, does that mean she was actually considering it?
Shazback

Ian, actually there is a rule in FA regulations that stipulate that all players must be of the same gender.

However, leaving aside that technicality, all four comments here are relevant. The average in womens' teams is relatively low, but that is party due to the lack of training that is availible (if you're the female Pele, you're likely to never express half your talent), but also due to certain physical differences between men and women, in particular in relevance to muscle volume.

I hope one day a woman will challenge the various regulations to be able to play on a man's teamn and prove to be a valuable player. That will truly be a great day for football.
Cerberus

The ability differences between the sexes is not as severe as we're lead to believe. She will be playing on a men's team one of these days and I will be one to tune in.
Yevy

This is an old idea that sounds interesting in theory but is not plausible in practice. The research has been done and the simple fact is once men hit puberty they leave women in the dust in terms of athletic ability. In track and field the results of 15 year old boys begin to surpass women's world records. A good U-17 boys team would wipe the floor with the best women players you can find. It is not a knock on Marta's abilities to say that she would not stand a chance on the same pitch with male professionals.
Kelly

i would be really interested to see a girl play in league 1 or anywhere against the boys
Ian

Marta could play circles around a good proportion of League One players, and some egos would be seriously dented. I think you're right, that this deal was canceled not because it wouldn't work, but because it might just. If she wants to play with the boys, she'll find some team that will take her, and I for one would be interested to see it.