The womens World Cup is about to begin. It ought to be an enthralling event. It sadly won't be. Why? The reasons are simple. To understand why it will not entrance we need to understand what aspects of a modern professional game make it so successful. Broadly speaking most modern games are designed around the capabilities of full grown adult males. The game matches their physical capabilities. The simplest example is baseball. Once there was a child's game which morphed (by highly disputed routes) into the game we now enjoy. The nature of the ball, the bat and the precise size of the pitch fit ideally the capabilities of adult males and create the opportunities for spectacle. Any other group playing the game with the same equipment would fail to enthrall.
And so with football. The ball, the pitch and the goalposts are the ideal size to create just enough opportunities for adult males to give us the spectacle we so much enjoy.
For women playing soccer the pitch, the goalposts and the ball are all too large. The players cannot run fast enough on the full sized pitch, the goalkeepers are not tall enough to defend their goal adequately and the ball is proportionately too large and heavy.
Reduce the sizes of the ball, the goal posts and the pitch and we would have a true rival to the male version of the game.
When it happens remember you read it first here!
