Posts Tagged soccer

By Juliana Britto Schwartz • 9 years ago

Why I am not a monkey

Update: It turns out this was a planned marketing stunt.

Last Sunday during a soccer match between Villareal and Barcelona, a fan threw a banana at the Brazilian Barcelona defender Dani Alves as he went to make a corner kick. Alves has made internet history with his witty response: without missing a beat, he grabbed the banana, took a bite, then jumped right back in the game. Since then, Brazilian Facebook and Twitter have taken off with photos of soccer players, celebrities, and ordinary citizens posing with bananas, accompanied by the hashtag #todossomosmacacos  or “we are all monkeys.”

Unfortunately, taunts about bananas and references to black people as “monkeys” within soccer is embarrassingly common. And for someone from Brazil — where ...

Update: It turns out this was a planned marketing stunt.

Last Sunday during a soccer match between Villareal and Barcelona, a fan threw a banana at the Brazilian Barcelona defender Dani Alves as he went to ...
By Maya Dusenbery • 10 years ago

Girls soccer team in Colorado wears hijabs in solidarity with Muslim teammate

How great is this? At a recent match, referees told Samah Aida, a high school soccer player in Colorado, that she wasn’t allowed to wear her hijab on the field. The refs claimed that it posed a safety risk — not actually true according to soccer’s governing body FIFA, which recently lifted their ban on religious head coverings. 

How great is this? At a recent match, referees told Samah Aida, a high school soccer player in Colorado, that she wasn’t allowed to wear her hijab on the field. The refs claimed that it ...
By Maya Dusenbery • 10 years ago

Watch: ESPN documentary on the 1999 Women’s World Cup

I get ridiculously excited just watching this preview for The ’99ers, a new documentary about the 1999 Women’s World Cup, which premiered earlier this week as part of ESPN’s Nine for IX series celebrating women’s athletics on the 40th anniversary of Title IX.

The tournament’s epic final match–in which Brandi Chastain famously ripped her shirt off after nailing the winning penalty kick–was watched live by over 90,000 people at the Rose Bowl and millions more at home. Over a dozen years later, it remains the most watched women’s sporting event in history.

But it wasn’t just a pivotal moment in women’s sports history. In 1999, as Travis Waldron reminds us, soccer hadn’t yet become a hugely popular youth sport, Major League Soccer was only a few years ...

I get ridiculously excited just watching this preview for The ’99ers, a new documentary about the 1999 Women’s World Cup, which premiered earlier this week as part of ESPN’s Nine for IX series celebrating women’s athletics on the 40th anniversary of ...
By Maya Dusenbery • 12 years ago

FIFA takes first step towards lifting hijab ban for Muslim women soccer players

File this one as a win!

Muslim female soccer players are celebrating a decision by the International Football Association Board to allow them to test specially designed head coverings for four months.

Soccer’s international governing body, known as FIFA, has prohibited headscarves since 2007, citing safety concerns. The new headscarves will be fastened with Velcro rather than pins.

As you may remember, thanks to the ban on veiling, Iran’s women’s soccer team was effectively banned from participating in the next Olympics. That prompted Jordan’s Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein, who is a vice president of FIFA, to start pushing for change. A Dutch design successfully convinced FIFA that safety was not an issue.

I’m thrilled to see that there’s one ...

File this one as a win!

Muslim female soccer players are celebrating a decision by the International Football Association Board to allow them to test specially designed head coverings for four months.

Soccer’s international governing body, known ...
By Samhita • 12 years ago

What exactly do we have to do for you to watch women’s soccer?

According to three members of France’s womens’ soccer team, Gaetine Thiney, Elodie Thomis and Corine Franco, it’s probably–show up naked. In a risky move, all three players posed nude for a German magazine to generate some discussion around why people aren’t as interested as they should be in women’s soccer. The image, while so obviously sexual, is made interesting with the caption, “Is this how we should show up before you come to our games?”

Most people are missing the point, arguing that these women are using sex to garner more viewership. And while on one level that might be true, it is really the controversy around using the image that is being used for more attention–a decidedly political ...

According to three members of France’s womens’ soccer team, Gaetine Thiney, Elodie Thomis and Corine Franco, it’s probably–show up naked. In a risky move, all three players posed nude for a German magazine to generate ...

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