Cultural anchoring of women’s football or deception? Comparative historical analysis of the processes of institutionalization of the practice

Abstract

ABSTRACT“More than a sporting event, the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup has been a cultural phenomenon (…) women’s football is attractive everywhere”. If the words of the FIFA President reflect the institutional desire to promote the momentum generated by the French World Cup, a simple look at the rates of feminization is enough to highlight profound federal differences: 7.4% in France; 15.5% in Germany; 24.6% in England; 29.7% in Norway; 38.4% in Sweden; 55% in the USA. To explain such heterogeneity, recourse to socio-history and comparison can be valuable. By comparing six figures considered as exemplary, we highlight the distinctive and complementary impact of historical levers and brakes on the development of the practice: sporting (mega)events, the media, egalitarian public policies and federal sports policies thus seem to be decisive in describing, explaining and understanding, according to the periods selected, the processes of institutionalization and the observed cultural anchoring of so-called women’s football. Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Notes1. Hassenteufel, “De la comparaison internationale à la comparaison transnationale”.2. Dupré et al., “Les comparaisons internationales”, 15.t.3. Women’s football’ here refers to the official category of practice that formally separates women and men. Nevertheless, we subscribe to the recent contributions of gendered research applied to sports and football. See Ottogalli-Mazzacavallo, Nicaise and Bodet, “Football et femmes en France”.4. Boniface and Gomez, Quand le Football s’accorde au Féminin.5. The main reasons for this are commitment to the game, club development, professionalization, technical support, media exposure and recognition, and economic support. (Source: FIFA Benchmarking Report: Women’s Football, 2021).6. The feminization rates presented were all produced and verified for the 2017–2018 season. For more information on the subject, see: Gozillon, “Entre bancs de touche et terrains verts…”.7. The “cases” analysed were selected for several reasons: their high rates of feminization; the density of clubs and championships that organize federal practice; the large number of international matches played by women’s national teams.8. Braudel, La méditerranée et le monde méditerranéen à l’époque de Phillippe II.9. Gozillon and Hidri Neys, “The impact of (mega)sporting events?”.10. Gozillon and Bréhon, “Le processus d’institutionnalisation du football féminin au prisme des politiques publiques égalitaires”.11. Quin, “La reconstruction de la Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) après la Seconde Guerre mondiale (1944–1950)”; Vonnard, L’Europe dans le monde du football; Gozillon,Anti-jeu, passe décisive et money time..Bellegarde, “Institutionnalisation, implication, restitution”; Boure, “Réflexions autour de l’institutionnalisation des disciplines”.12. Bellegarde, “Institutionnalisation, implication, restitution”; Boure, “Réflexions autour de l’institutionnalisation des disciplines”.13. Berstein and Milza, Histoire du vingtième siècle.14. Prudhomme-Poncet, Histoire du football féminin au xxe siècle; Breuil, Histoire du football féminin en Europe.15. Sirinelli, Les Vingt Décisives. Le passé proche de notre avenir 1965–1985.16. Documentary portals of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France (BNF).17. Corpus analysed: Markovits, “Pourquoi n’y a-t-il pas de football aux États-Unis ?”; Pfister et al., “Women and Football – A contradiction?”; Pfister, ‘The challenges of women’s football in east and west Germany; Hjelm and Olofsson, ‘A breakthrough; Markovits and Hellerman, ‘Women’s soccer in the United States; Prudhomme-Poncet, Laurence. Histoire du football féminin au xxe siècle; Williams, “The fastest growing sport?”; König, “Football féminin et société en Allemagne depuis 1900”; Travers and Hélène, ‘Une passion féminine pour une pratique masculine; Breuil, Histoire du football féminin en Europe.18. Williams, “The fastest growing sport?”.19. Breuil, Histoire du football féminin en Europe, 33.20. Pfister and al., “Women and Football – A contradiction?”.21. Breuil, Histoire du football féminin en Europe, 28.22. The Western Morning News was founded in 1860 by William Saunders and Edward Spender. It is a regional daily newspaper covering the west of the country.23. Le Matin, December 8, 1921, “Retronews”, BNF.24. Becker, La Grande Guerre.25. White, “Londres et la Première Guerre Mondiale”.26. Taylor, English History 1914–45.27. Breuil, Histoire du football féminin en Europe, 97.28. Wahl, Balle au pied. Histoire du football.29. Williams, A Contemporary History of Women’s Sport, Part One: Sporting Women.30. Travert and Soto, “Une passion féminine pour une pratique masculine”, 85.31. Prudhomme-Poncet, Histoire du football féminin au xxe siècle, 54.32. Carpentier, “Alice Milliat et le premier ‘sport féminin’ dans l’entre-deux-guerres”.33. Prudhomme-Poncet, Histoire du football féminin au xxe e siècle, 139.34. In 1921, the FSFSF changed its name to the Fédération Féminine Sportive de France (FFSF).35. L’Auto, June 4, 1925, BNF.36. Hjelm and Olofsson, “A breakthrough”, 182.37. Morel, “Politique sociale et égalité entre les sexes en Suède”.38. Hjelm and Olofsson, “A breakthrough”.39. Riordan, Krüger and Terret, Histoire du sport en Europe.40. Gymnastics movement initiated by Friedrich Ludwig Jahn in 1810 to develop a taste for physical exercise, to act on the robustness of the bodies and to consolidate an emerging German national feeling. See: Dietschy, “Introduction”.41. Riordan, Krüger and Terret, Histoire du sport en Europe.42. Pfister, ‘The challenges of women’s football in east and west Germany, 131.43. Manzenreiter, “Her place in the ‘House of Football’”.44. König, “Football Féminin et Société en Allemagne depuis 1900”, 6.45. Ibid.46. L’intransigeant, October 8, 1930, “Retronews”, BNF.47. Breuil, Histoire du football féminin en Europe, 89–90.48. Archambault and Artiaga, “Plus vite, plus haut, plus riche”.49. Markovits, “Pourquoi n’y a-t-il pas de football aux États-Unis?”.50. Markovits and Hellerman, “Women’s soccer in the United States”.51. Breuil, Histoire du football féminin en Europe.52. Corpus analysed: Fasting, “Small country – big results”; Pfister, ‘The challenges of women’s football in east and west Germany; Prudhomme-Poncet, Laurence. Histoire du football féminin au xxe siècle; Williams, “The fastest growing sport?”.53. Eisenberg, Lanfranchi, Mason and Wahl, FIFA 1904–2004 le siècle du football, 186–187.54. Breuil, Histoire du football féminin en Europe, 196.55. Breuil, Histoire du football féminin en Europe, 196.56. Breuil, Histoire du football féminin en Europe, 197.57. Kerber, “L’histoire des femmes aux États-Unis”, 41.58. Ibid.59. Montagutelli, “Les féministes et l’université américaine”, 101.60. Ibid., 101.61. Markovits and Hellerman, “Women’s soccer in the United States”.62. Ibid.63. Breuil, Histoire du football féminin en Europe, 240.64. Markovits and Hellerman, “Women’s soccer in the United States”, 20.65. Davie, L’évolution de la condition féminine en Grande-Bretagne à travers les textes juridiques fondamentaux de 1830 à 1975.66. Breuil, Histoire du football féminin en Europe.67. Williams, “The fastest growing sport?”.68. Breuil, Histoire du football féminin en Europe, 187.69. Breuil, Histoire du football féminin en Europe, 187.70. Williams, ‘The fastest growing sport?, 118.71. Perelman, “Médiatisation du sport et sportivisation des médias”.72. Barret-Ducrocq, “Égalité des sexes et pouvoir en Grande-Bretagne”.73. Williams, “The fastest growing sport?”.74. Breuil, Histoire du football féminin en Europe.75. Breuil, Histoire du football féminin en Europe, 112.76. König, “Football Féminin et Société en Allemagne depuis 1900”.77. Pyta, “Football et identité nationale en Allemagne”, 28. Corpus analyzéd: Pyta, “Football et identité nationale en Allemagne”.78. L’Aurore, March 25, 1957, “Retronews”, BNF.79. Breuil, Histoire du football féminin en Europe, 174–177.80. Dupeux, Histoire culturelle de l’Allemagne (1919–1960).81. Pfister, “The challenges of women’s football in east and west Germany”.82. Pfeil, “Sport et Jeunesse en SBZ/RDA (1945–1990)”.83. The Deutscher Fußball Verband (DFV) is the East German football association. See Pfister, “The challenges of women’s football in east and west Germany”, 139–140.84. Morel, “Politique sociale et égalité entre les sexes en Suède”, 66.85. Ibid., 67.86. Hjelm and Olofsson, “A breakthrough”, 196.87. Engwall, “Les universités entre l’état et le marché”.88. Hjelm and Olofsson, “A breakthrough”, 186.89. Ibid., 187.90. Ibid.91. Ibid.92. French Football Federation Archives.93. Minutes of the Federal Council, August 30, 1969. Georges Boulogne fonds.94. Bazoge and Jamain-Samson, “Les championnes du Miroir Sprint (1967–1970)”.95. The first issue entitled: “Those girls who dreamt of football”, Miroir-Sprint, November 18, 1969, 9–10.96. Minutes of the federal commission of August 29, 1970. Georges Boulogne fonds.97. Prudhomme-Poncet, Histoire du football féminin au xxe siècle.98. Rauch, Le premier sexe : mutations et crise de l’identité masculine; Tétart, Histoire du sport en France de la Libération à nos jours.99. Mennesson, Être une femme dans le monde des hommes. Corpus analyzéd: Mennesson, Être une femme dans le monde des hommes.100. Prudhomme-Poncet, Histoire du football féminin au xxe siècle, 271.101. Minutes of the DTN, meeting of 1st and 2nd division coaches, technical advisors and executives of the FFF, December 12, 1972. Georges Boulogne fonds.102. Grün, “Entraîneur de football”.103. Journal officiel de la fédération. 23 février 1965. Fonds Georges Boulogne.104. Mennesson, Être une femme dans le monde des hommes.105. Mennesson, “La gestion de la pratique des femmes dans deux sports ‘masculins’”, 57. Corpus analyzéd: Mennesson, “La gestion de la pratique des femmes dans deux sports ‘masculins’”.106. Minutes of FFF general meetings (1980–1988). Georges Boulogne fonds107. Corpus analysed: Mintert, “Women’s Football in the Public Media”; Breuil, Histoire du football féminin en Europe; Caudwell, “Gender, feminism and football studies”; Skogvang, “The sport/media complex in Norwegian football”; Kjær and Agergaard, ‘Understanding women’s professional soccer; Collins, “National sport and other myths”.108. Pociello, Les cultures sportives.109. Rabeux, Football féminin. Corpus analyzéd: Rabeux, Football féminin.110. Markovits and Hellerman, “Women’s soccer in the United States”, 22.111. The Today Show is a morning show that has been on the air since 1952 and is one of the most watched with over 5 million viewers a day.112. Markovits and Hellerman, “Women’s soccer in the United States”, 22.113. Ibid., 21.114. Breuil, Histoire du football féminin en Europe, 274.115. Williams, “The Fastest Growing Sport?”.116. Pielichaty, “‘It’s like equality now; it’s not as if it’s the old days’”.117. English Federation Football, “The game plan for growth. The FA’s strategy for women’s and girls” football: 2017–2020’, The Football Association, http://www.thefa.com/-/media/thefacom-new/files/womens/fawomensstrategydocfinal-13317.ashx?la=en (accessed July 18, 2019).118. Paxton and Hessler, “La révolution de 1989 et ses suites”.119. König, “Football Féminin et Société en Allemagne depuis 1900”, 11.120. Pfeil, “Sport et Jeunesse en SBZ/RDA (1945–1990)”.121. Breuil, Histoire du football féminin en Europe, 313.122. Pfister, “The challenges of women’s football in east and west Germany”.123. Mintert, “Women’s Football in the Public Media”, 100.124. Ibid.125. König, “Football Féminin et Société en Allemagne depuis 1900”, 12.126. Breuil, Histoire du football féminin en Europe,316.127. Hjelm and Olofsson, “A breakthrough”.128. Breuil, Histoire du football féminin en Europe.129. Breuil, Histoire du football féminin en Europe.130. Swedish Football Association, “Football in Sweden”, https://svff.svenskfotboll.se/om-svff/fotbollen-i-sverige/, (accessed July 25, 2019).131. Mennesson, Être une femme dans le monde des hommes.132. Ibid.133. French Federation Football, 2011.134. Fédération Internationale de Football Amateur, “More than one billion viewers watched the FIFA™ Women’s World Cup”, FIFA, https://www.fifa.com/fr/tournaments/womens/womensworldcup/france2019/news/plus-d-un-milliard-de-telespectateurs-ont-suivi-la-coupe-du-monde-feminine-de-la, (accessed May 22, 2020).135. Boniface and Gomez, Quand le Football s’accorde au Féminin.136. Breuil, Histoire du football féminin en Europe.137. Loubet del Bayle, Initiation aux méthodes des sciences sociales.138. Junod, “Grands événements sportifs”.139. Zancarini-Fournel, “1968”.140. Rioux, “À propos des célébrations décennales du Mai français”.141. France Info Sport, “FFF predicts ‘before and after’ the 2019 Women’s World Cup”, FranceInfo, https://www.francetvinfo.fr/sports/foot/coupe-du-monde-de-foot-feminin/la-fff-predit-un-avant-et-un-apres-la-coupe-du-monde-feminine-de-football-2019_3525353.html, (accessed October 15, 2020).142. Pellistrandi, “Marc Ferro avec Emmanuel Laurentin”.