Football is Life... For women to.

The beautiful game, a connecter of different cultures and languages, a sport that connects the world. Soccer. Football. The greatest sport in the entire world. I love this sport, its beautiful, I love being a consumer of the game, from the players, the teams and the game itself.

I started loving the sport because of my family, my uncles but mostly because of my aunts. There has never been a moment where the women in my family have been looked at as less of a fan than my uncles. There has never been a moment where their opinions in regards to the sport have EVER been in question, and that has helped my growing passion and love for the game.

However, as soon as I move into public spaces, where clearly people don’t realise that the views and opinions of women matter, and probably some of the very same women would run circles around them. I move into these spaces and realise not only is my opinion shut down, but it is automatically dismissed. Now naturally, I am usually not the type of person to speak too much about a lot of my passions, in particular at the start of me getting into social media, however I am no longer holding back, and that means a lot more people are going to start getting comfortable, and think that I need their opinions.

I recently listened to a podcast (Inner Hoe Uprising), this had Blerds (Black Nerds), and how women have to continue to prove their worth, and fandom to their male counterparts. A lot of gems were said, however the male guest on the show decided that he would say that for him (or specifically him and his male friends), he would HAVE TO, test women on their knowledge of blerd culture he says he does the same for the men, but that was never in question.

My question has always been, what is the point? Why does someone else have to prove their worth to you? Who made you the authority on fandom? My issue with testing people on something that should bring you joy, is that your stupid questions, and dismissals can suck the fun, and joy from that person. The expectation from me is never to change the mind of people. You only have to fucking understand that people just want to stan for Cristiano or Messi, go to the Soweto Derby, and fan girl for our faves as well.

I have learnt to never take the BS anymore, I will continue to stan, and argue with my uncles about why I think CR7 is the GOAT, I will stay heartbroken forever as an Arsenal fan, and I’m just going to love the game that I enjoy with my family. And if you have any questions about the validity of my fandom, then you can kiss my ass.

Peace and Love.

Leh xx