Women's football - 6 Minute English

Catherine: Hello. This is 6 Minute English I'm Catherine.

Sam: And I'm Sam.

Catherine: Now Sam, have you been

watching the World Cup?

Sam: Cricket or football? Because they

are both being played at the moment

Catherine: They are. Now I’m talking

about football, the Women’s World Cup.

Sam: In that case, yes, I have. I’ve really

enjoyed it and it’s been great that finally

we can watch the matches live on TV and

that there has been so much interest in

the media.

Catherine: We’ll be finding out a little bit

more about the history of women’s

football in England in today’s programme,

but first, Sam, a question for you. When

was the first official woman’s football World Cup?

A: 1970, B: 1988, or C: 1991.

What do you think, Sam?

Sam: Well I think I can get this through

mathematics rather than knowledge, so

I’m not going to say it right now, but I'll

tell you later.

Catherine: OK. Well I will tell you the

answer later in the programme. Now,

Gemma Clarke is a writer on women’s

football in England and she spoke

recently on the BBC Woman’s Hour

Programme. Here she describes the

reaction throughout the years to women’s

football. Has it been easy for the women’s

game in England?

Gemma Clarke: Women’s football has

really been a struggle to play, to have any

kind of agency and to be taken seriously

as athletes. That can be seen throughout

history. I think every moment that

women’s football has had, you know

there’s been a kind of, a backlash

afterwards or a kind of an attempt to keep

women back and to dampen enthusiasm

for the sport.

Catherine: So, it’s not been easy, has it?

Sam: No, she said it’s been a struggle,

which means it’s been difficult to make

any progress.

Catherine: And she also mentioned that

there was no agency in the women’s

game. To have agency means

you have control over your own situation,

you can make the decisions you want to

make. So she’s saying that the women’s

game didn’t really have control over its

own future.

Sam: Every time they had some success,

there was a backlash, there was a

negative reaction to their success.

Catherine: That’s right and she goes on to

say that people tried to dampen

enthusiasm for the sport. They tried to

make it difficult to see and

enjoy it. So who tried to dampen

enthusiasm and how did they do it? Well,

during and after the First World War,

women’s football became really popular

with crowds of up to 50,000 watching

games. It may have been popular with

the crowds, but it wasn’t so popular with

the men who ran the game, the English

Football Association. Here’s Gemma

Clarke again.

Gemma Clarke: The men’s football

association were panicked by seeing

women doing so well and they banned

all women from playing football on

association grounds and that lasted for

about 50 years. It was a very concerted

effort to keep women’s football at

amateur status and ensure that

there weren’t crowds watching them play.

Catherine: So the men were really worried

by the success of the women’s game.

They thought that it might take money

and supporters away from the men’s game.

Sam: So they banned woman from playing on

their pitches. This means that they no

longer allowed them to use the pitches

any more. This effectively

killed the professional women’s game as

up to then they had been using the same

facilities as the men.

Catherine: This, she says, was a concerted

effort to restrict women’s football. When

you make a concerted effort to do

something it means that you try

really hard to do it.

I’m pleased to say that the ban on woman

using Football Association pitches was

eventually lifted, although only

comparatively recently, in 1971.

Catherine: Right, before we review today’s

vocabulary, let’s have the answer to

today’s question. So I asked you, Sam,

when was the first official Women’s World Cup?

Was it… A: 1970, B: 1988, or C: 1991.

And you said, Sam, that you were going to

work this out with maths – so come on

then.

Sam: I did! So, I know the World Cup is

held every four years, it’s 2019 now, so the

answer must be an odd year – bear with

me - which makes it 1991. Am I right,

Catherine?

Catherine: Well we’ll see if that

mathematical approach is any better than

actually just knowing the answer.

The first World Cup for women was

actually held in …..

Sam: Come on, hurry up! Let me out of

my misery.

Catherine: 1970

Sam: I can’t believe I got that wrong.

Catherine: But, it wasn’t an official

tournament. The first official Women’s

World Cup was indeed 1991. Your maths

worked. So well done Sam and everybody

else who got that right. Now, before we

get to extra time and penalties, let’s recap

today’s vocabulary.

Sam: A struggle is how you can describe

something that is very difficult to achieve,

something you have to fight for.

Catherine: To have agency means being

able to act independently

and have control over your own choices.

Sam: A backlash is a strong negative

reaction to something.

Catherine: If you try to dampen

enthusiasm for something, you try to

make people less interested in it.

Sam: Banning something means using

certain powers to stop something from

happening.

Catherine: And finally, making a concerted

effort means trying really hard.

Sam: Well the final whistle has blown for

us today.

We’ll see you again soon and don’t forget

to look out for more from the

BBC Learning English team online, on social

media and on our app. Bye for now.

Catherine: Bye!