Posted on 01/16/2004 1:12:13 PM PST by Leroy S. Mort
LONDON (AP) - The president of world soccer suggested that female players wear more revealing uniforms to bring more attention to their sport. One English player called the suggestion by FIFA president Sepp Blatter ``ridiculous'' and ``irresponsible.''
Blatter said women's soccer needed different sponsors from the men's game and should try to attract fashion and cosmetics companies by featuring ``more feminine uniforms.''
``Tighter shorts, for example,'' Blatter told the Swiss newspaper SonntagsBlick. ``In volleyball the women also wear other uniforms than the men. Pretty women are playing football today. Excuse me for saying that.''
Brandi Chastain caused a stir at the Women's World Cup in the United States in 1999 when she removed her shirt in celebration of a title-winning victory over China to reveal a sports bra.
England goalkeeper Pauline Cope called Blatter's suggestion ``typical of a bloke.''
``To say we should play football in hot pants is plain ridiculous,'' she said. ``It's completely irresponsible for a man in a powerful position to make comments like this.''
FIFA spokesman Andreas Herren said Friday that Blatter never mentioned the word ``hot pants.''
``The remarks were by no means meant to be offensive - not at all,'' Herren said. ``Whatever he said, it was more a general remark, 'Let's take a look at that.' But it's not the ultimate recipe to salvage the women's game because he went on to say women's football has established itself and it has a future.''
Swiss captain Evelyn Zimmermann and Norwegian players Lise Klaveness and Solveig Gulbrandsen also rejected Blatter's fashion advice.
``You can't compare us with volleyball players and, apart from everything else, those shorts are uncomfortable,'' Zimmermann said.
Klaveness said soccer is about sport, not sex.
``If the crowd only wants to come and watch models then they should go and buy a copy of Playboy,'' she said.
Added Gulbrandsen: ``If I wanted to wear a bikini, I would have chosen to play beach volleyball.''
Marianne Spacey, manager of the London club Fulham Ladies, said Blatter's comments should be taken seriously because of his position, but some of her players reacted with laughter.
``It does surprise me because people might actually listen because he's such a powerful person in the game of football,'' Spacey said. ``For people in the women's game it's caused uproar and it provided a few chuckles in training, that's for sure.''
Wonder if he's related to Swiss rap star M.T. Blatter...
It's a target-rich environment guys. Fire at will !!
gym·na·si·um  ( P ) Pronunciation Key (j m-n  z - m)n. Sports pl. gym·na·si·ums or gym·na·si·a (-z -)
[Latin, school, from Greek gumnasion, from gumnazein, to exercise naked, from gumnos, naked. See nogw- in Indo-European Roots.] |
No. Not true. The first Olympians did not. After a female successfully infiltrated The Games among the male warriors, participants in Games following, were required to compete in the nude to avoid any such 'confusion'.
...ahh...ditto!
New uniforms are (relatively) expensive. As an alternative to this idea I propose that female soccer players play without bras. Not only would this save the expense of new uniforms, but additional moneys would be saved by the elimination of the bras. Also, and most importantly, the resulting "trampoline effect" would bring in the important male audience component and probably save the sport.
I certainly can't imagine watching women's soccer for the pure sporting thrill of it.
``If the crowd only wants to come and watch models then they should go and buy a copy of Playboy,'' she said.
Yep. I can see where Ms Klaveness might have a problem with this idea.
They can play women's soccer all day long, but that doesn't mean they're going to get an audience. The WBA proves that.
All the feminism in the world won't get you an audience. Not without some kind of inducement, such as doing without bras. I thought feminists wanted that anyway. Hey! They can burn their bras and then go play soccer to a huge worldwide audience. Damn, I'm smart.
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m
) An academic high school in some central European countries, especially Germany, that prepares students for the university.