When Ilyana started playing soccer 11 years ago, the boys on her team didn’t take her seriously. “Now, a girl who plays football is commonplace,” she assures us from a field in La Duchère, one of the large cities of Lyon.
That evening, however, when the 17-year-old teenager and her teammates arrived on the pitch, they had to win against around thirty men who occupied the pitch and loudly claimed it.
“It always happens like this, in the long run, it’s very tiring…”comments the coach of the amateur women’s team Angelo Salvator Cyiza, tired of “those individuals who come onto the field when the slot is reserved for girls”.
Helped by the influence of the players of theOlympique Lyonnais, 17 times French champions, many women’s clubs have emerged in recent years in the region, but their development faces many obstacles. At the club Ducherewhich boasts 20% female players – above the national average – Mr. Cyiza says he is impressed by the confidence gain, in the space of one season, of his protégés in the under-19 team.
“Energy”
“They expend energy and feel free, more and more”, he marvels. And according to him, “it takes them out of their environment (…) it breaks barriers, and for some, it can take them very high”.
On Sunday, one of its teams which played under the colors of Thailand finished in 3rd place in the second edition of “the Women’s District World Cup”. This festive competition is organized by the “We talk France” association to promote the inclusion of young girls through sport. The Givors girls, who represented Brazil, left with the Cup.
Sports sociologist and former handball player, Béatrice Barbusse warns against a vision of football as “mass social elevator”. But she is inexhaustible on the virtues of team sport in terms of personal development: “It provides a whole bunch of interpersonal skills that are necessary to do well in life”.
“To get dirty”
In football, “you have to shout, run, take up space, get dirty, it’s the opposite of what we receive as an education as a girl”continues the researcher, who was one of the first women to coach a team of men.
“At first, my family didn’t like me playing football”concedes the left lateral of the Duchere, Malak15 years old, who wouldn’t change sport for anything in the world. “Football has made me evolve mentally. On the pitch, I feel good.”
At the national level, the federation wants to double the number of female licensees within five years – from 220,000 to 500,000 – a growth significantly higher than that expected on the men’s side. However, even Jean-Michel Aulasthe former boss of theOL and president of the new Women’s Football League which should see the light of day this summer, admits to being aware of a “significant delay in practice”on the amateur or professional club side.
In fact, despite the big talk, girls still often come second to boys. “A grant from the town hall was granted, with a part dedicated to the development of the women’s section, but no project was set up, no educator recruited”explains, on condition of anonymity, a club manager. “We don’t see any desire to undertake in the women’s section”he asserts.
“Private space”
In a context of insufficient sports equipment, especially in very urban neighborhoods, girls struggle to gain ground.
Due to lack of resources, the president of the DuchereJean-Christophe Vincent, refuses “450 kids per year”. “We try not to refuse girls” but “if accepting them means refusing all the guys in the neighborhood”that does not make their acceptance easier, he believes, pleading for “a Marshall plan for sports equipment” in the suburbs.
Givors, south of Lyon, which has more than 400 male licensees, 30 players train in half of the stadium. Their coach, Julien Orjollet, hopes to have 40 players next year and would like for them “have the big field, like the boys”.
“If we don’t continue to fight, things won’t move forward, they will go backwards, and we will be sent back to our private space”fears Béatrice Barbusse, noting that some women still remain on the sidelines, particularly those who wear the hijab, a religious sign banned on football fields.
