“Is my city stadium macho? » wins the Reporters of Hopes prize in Bordeaux

“Is my city stadium macho? ''We're told, girls don't play football!''' Assia Hamdi, independent journalist, is the winner of the 2024 Reporters of Hope for Sport and Social Innovation prize. It was awarded this Saturday, November 23 at the end from the Press Tribunes at the TnBA in Bordeaux. Her report, published in July 2024 in “Le Monde”, deals with these new female sports collectives which occupy urban sports fields. This is the third presented by Reporters d'Espoirs, this pioneering association in solutions journalism since it has been “showing the world moving forward” for twenty years, underlined its director Gilles Vanderpooten.

Assia Hamdi is interested in the place of sport in society. “I looked at these collectives which are spreading all over France and which decide to occupy the terrain of “city stadiums” to go beyond fear and negative experiences. Non-mixing allows them to find collective strength, to be in a process of dialogue and not confrontation. Another objective is to occupy the field so that little girls and boys are no longer surprised to see women playing sports in public spaces. »

Geography of gender

She met, for example, the Comxte Club collective which has opened single-sex basketball slots in the Paris region since 2021, and, in Bordeaux, the Skate'Her collective which promotes the practice of skateboarding for women. Skate'Her is also in Capbreton and Bayonne. “I also met a geographer like Edith Maruéjouls. According to recent university studies, more than 75% of city stadiums are occupied by boys. »

His report, among 62 applications received, caught the attention of a jury of journalists and innovation experts. For Héloïse Lhérété, editorial director of “Sciences Humaines”, present at the award ceremony, “sport is also a window for understanding society”.