Tue, Aug 09, 2022 page14

• Women’s soccer energizes England in a league of their own 英格蘭女足歐錦賽奪冠　激勵女子聯賽發展

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  England beat Germany 2-1 in the final of the European Championship after extra time on Sunday last week to win its first major women’s soccer title. The final, which was played before a sellout crowd of more than 87,000 at historic Wembley Stadium, is seen as a watershed moment for women’s sports in England. Although the game, known here as football, is a national passion, female players have often been scoffed at and were once banned from top-level facilities. Now the women’s team did something the men haven’t done since 1966: Win a major international tournament.

  Hope Powell played 66 times for England and coached the team from 1998 to 2013.

  “I think we have to give thanks to the people that worked really hard before us, that went through all of that, being banned, fighting for the right to play,” Powell told the BBC. “I think we have to remember what came before is what got us to the point we are today.”

  

  England’s striker Chloe Kelly, second right, shoots past Germany’s goalkeeper Merle Frohms, left, to score their second goal during the UEFA Women’s Euro 2022 final football match between England and Germany at the Wembley stadium, in London, UK on July 31. 二○二二年歐洲女子足球錦標賽之決賽中，英格蘭隊前鋒克蘿伊‧凱利（右二）射門越過德國隊守門員梅爾‧弗洛姆斯（左），為英格蘭隊踢進第二球。七月三十一日攝於英國倫敦溫布利球場。

  Photo: AFP 照片：法新社

  But it’s not just the victories that are attracting fans. It is how the team is winning. With money from sponsorship deals and a new TV contract supporting full-time professional players, there is more flash and polish than many expected. While they don’t play like the men’s team, that’s not a bad thing. There are fewer players flopping to the ground to draw fouls, less rolling around on the turf dramatically clutching purportedly injured knees or ankles and little shouting at the referees. Instead there is teamwork, artful passes and stunning goals like Stanway’s 20m screamer in the quarterfinal victory over Spain and the backheel from Alessia Russo in England’s 4-0 semifinal win against Sweden.

  And here’s the thing: People like it.

  Coach Sarina Wiegman has made a point of noting that there’s more at stake than victory alone. “We want to inspire the nation.”

  Women’s football has a long and sometimes controversial history in England. The women’s game flourished during and for a few years after World War I, when teams like Dick, Kerr Ladies Football Club filled the sporting gap created as top men’s players went off to the trenches to fight. Women’s teams, many organized at munitions plants, attracted large crowds and raised money for charity. One match in 1920 attracted 53,000 spectators.

  But that popularity triggered a backlash from the men who ran the Football Association, the sport’s governing body in England. In 1921, the FA banned women’s teams from using its facilities, saying “the game of football is quite unsuitable for females and ought not to be encouraged.” The ban remained in place for the next 50 years.

  Women organized their own football association in 1969, and soon after the FA ended its ban on women. The FA took over responsibility for the women’s game in 1993, beginning the slow process of improving funding and facilities.

  Things accelerated after the 2012 London Olympics, when authorities began to recognize there was a global audience for the women’s game, said Gail Newsham, author of In a League of Their Own! that tells the story of Dick, Kerr Ladies.

  Last year, the FA signed a three-year deal for broadcast rights to the Women’s Super League, increasing funding and exposure for the game. Sky Sports will broadcast a minimum of 35 games a year on its pay TV channels, and the BBC will carry another 22 on its free-to-view network.

  “It’s not that long ago that girls, you know, top players, were paying for their own travel to get to matches and then having to get up to go to work the next day. So all of this is helping,” Newsham said of the funding. “You can see the difference now in the professionalism of the girls playing football.”

  (AP)

  上週日舉行的歐洲錦標賽決賽中，英格蘭隊在加時賽以二比一擊敗了德國隊，贏得其史上首座女足大賽冠軍。這場決賽被視為英格蘭女子運動的分水嶺，在歷史悠久的溫布利球場舉行，門票銷售一空，觀眾超過八萬七千人。儘管足球這項運動在英國被視為國球，但女性足球員常受到嘲弄，甚至曾被禁止進入頂級球場。現在，女子隊做到了自一九六六年以來男性從未做到的事：在國際大賽中奪冠。

  霍普‧鮑威爾為英格蘭隊出賽過六十六次，並於一九九八至二○一三年擔任該隊教練，她對BBC﹝英國廣播公司﹞說道：「我認為我們必須感謝那些在過去付出許多努力的人，他們經歷了被禁賽、為比賽權利而奮鬥等種種磨難」。「我想我們必須記住，過去所經歷的，也就是讓我們能夠達到今天這成就的來時路」。

  但吸引球迷的不僅僅是勝利，而是球隊獲勝的方式。有了贊助商金援和資助全職職業球員的新電視合約，賽事的盛況超乎預期。雖然她們的球風跟男子隊不同，但這並不是件壞事。倒地製造犯規的球員比較少，也比較少人在草地上翻滾、戲劇性地緊抓膝蓋或腳踝說受了傷，也很少有對裁判大聲吼叫的情況。取而代之的是團隊合作、巧妙的傳球和令人驚嘆的進球，例如史妲維在半準決賽勝西班牙的二十公尺（二十二碼）精采進球，以及英格蘭4-0勝瑞典的準決賽中，阿萊西亞‧魯索的腳跟射門進球。

  而且重點是，大家愛看。

  教練莎琳娜‧魏格曼特別指出，此戰不光是為了勝利，「我們想激勵這個國家」。

  女子足球在英格蘭的歷史悠久且有時頗具爭議。女子足球在第一次世界大戰期間及之後的數年中蓬勃發展，當時像「迪克科爾女子足球俱樂部」這樣的球隊填補了因頂尖男子球員參戰而在體育界留下的空白。許多在軍火廠組成的女子隊吸引了大批觀眾，並為慈善事業募款。一九二○年的一場比賽吸引了五萬三千名觀眾。

  但這種受歡迎程度卻招致英格蘭足球管理機構足球總會男性主管的強烈反對。一九二一年，英足總禁止女子球隊使用其設施，稱「足球運動非常不適合女性，不應鼓勵」。該禁令在之後的五十年一直存在。

  一九六九年，女性組織了自己的足球協會，不久後英足總取消了對女性的禁令。英足總於一九九三年接管了女子比賽，開始了改善資金與設施的緩慢過程 。

  二○一二年倫敦奧運之後，當局開始了解女子比賽的觀眾遍及全球，因而事情加速發展，《在她們自己的聯賽！》一書作者蓋爾‧紐沙姆說道。該書講述迪克科爾女子足球俱樂部的故事。

  去年，英足總簽署了一項為期三年的女子超級聯賽轉播權協議，增加了比賽的資金和曝光率。天空體育台每年將在其付費電視頻道上轉播至少三十五場比賽，而BBC將在其免費收看的電視網另轉播二十二場比賽。

  「不久之前，女性頂尖球員還需要自付旅費去參加比賽，然後第二天必須起床去上班。所以這些都是有所助益的」，紐沙姆談到這些資金時說道。「現在這些女性足球員的專業水準不可同日而語，大家有目共睹」。

  （台北時報林俐凱編譯）
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