Why don't girls play football?

[Alex Franke]

Also, why don't boys play softball?

Is it historical? Does football (also wrestling) being a contact sport have anything to do with it? Is there just not enough interest?

This just came up around the coffee pot where I am, so I thought I'd see if this coffee pot has any ideas...

[TB Roye]

They have a women's football league here in CA. Sacramento has the Sacramento Sirens who have won the championsip a couple of time. It is full tackle football and I guess it is pretty entertaining although I have never seen a game. I think there is a female wrestling thing going here at High School level. There are Male Fast Pitch Softball leagues here in Sacramento along with Womens Fast pitch and Male, Female and Coed Slow Pitch Softball.

Tom

[Tom Slick]

There is women in wrestling, water polo, football at the high school level around here. at the ametuer level we have tons of guys that play softball.

[jackellis]

I'll ask a friend of mine. She loves football, has a Ph.D. in psychology, and isn't afraid to speak her mind.

[Tequila]

My wife's in a football league with her office, and there's plenty of softball leagues out there that men play on.

If you mean why aren't there any pro leagues, it's all about business.

[Kristofor]

As adults, at least around here I'd guess men outnumber women 4 to 1 playing softball. There are men's leagues, women's leagues, and co-ed, but I see a lot more men's teams.

For school age kids, the reason boys don't play softball is called 'baseball' . Since that's what all of their friends are playing, and since it takes 18 or more people to play a game, there's a benefit to picking a popular sport if you actually want to play.

There are school-aged girls who play football, but generally not a lot of them. Those that do tend to be very atheletic (or out to make political statements that might have had some meaning in the 70's but are cliche now). It's easier to compete in grade school and junior high, but by the time you make it to high school in any moderately successful program you're going to need to spend time lifting if you want to start at most of the positions.

A highly gifted and hardworking female can make make a team, contribute, and enjoy herself. I think a fairly high percentage of female high school atheletes *could* make it if they wanted to, but a mediocre female will tend to be at a disadvantage to a mediocre male who has 4" and 60Lbs. on her and the same is true of gifted females and males so there's a physical disincentive to participate that goes on top of the social issues.

[LinuxRandal]

As for softball, one of the teams we have sponsered, won the national 50+ fast pitch softball nationals last year. I didn't know they had them.
Years earlier
One of our teams, for all effective purposes, had a ringer on it. They played, because they liked to then go out and drink (non tournament). I don't know if the ringer was allowed to pitch since that was what he did professionally, previous to that.


As for woman and football, while there are a few playing (you see them on the news, normally as a QB or kicker), I think most don't play, because they get tired of the shirts verses the skins (guess who is which).
As for other contact sports, for our female members, Do you like being gropped? Really?

I would love to see some of Heff's gals play football though.

[Ed62]

Shortly after I got out of high school I played on a softball team. It was 12 inch softball, not 16 inch. There's a big difference.

Ed

[rnelson0]

I'll assume that you mean at a competitive level, either a Pro level or an Amateur level where there is actual reward (i.e. a league with prize money versus a group of people that get together every week for fun).

Boobs.

I play flag football, a non-contact sport. I can't tell you how many times I've been punched in the upper chest. There are no pads allowed in the game. I know of no woman who wants any part of that.

There are some co-ed true non-contact football leagues, my brother is in one around Washington, D.C. The "problem" with it as I see it is that the game really is neutered. Within every 3 plays, you have to throw the ball to a female. If you don't, the 3rd play MUST go to a lady. Gee, I wonder where they'll throw it? Also, males cannot cover females on such plays, etc. While there are some women who enjoy that, from what my brother says it drives people of both sexes away - you're taking away what makes the game great, so even though you're allowing women to play, they're not really playing the game anymore. These leagues are also not very competitive, I don't think you win anything except some beer-branded bumper sticker that says you won, or something.

There's other things that make football manly - it requires aggression and toughness in spades, plus a willingness to lay it on the line for others - but I know plenty of females who have those attributes. They just don't want to get hit in the boobs.

I think that the social aspect of grade school contributes as well. Girls between 6-10 are typically not physically aggressive and that is what the game demands, even at the Pee Wee level. Once you get into middle school and grade school, some of those attributes come out, but now you're just starting with people who have been playing for 5+ years and you're gonna get your clock cleaned - not the least because you're "intruding". In high school, you're really going to be outmatched by opponents and teammates alike and the atmosphere is going to be adversarial. So, basically, unless a female starts playing at a young age, which they are not likely to do, it becomes increasingly hard to play at a competitive level.



For fun? There's one lady (out of something like 20 regulars) who shows up at the bi-weekly football group I joined. She has fun, she does great, and she enjoys it a lot. I don't think I could ever get my wife out there, but I have a feeling she'd like it. It would be nice if more females played, I know some very competitive females from other sports who would do great and provide a good challenge as well.


As for softball versus baseball, I gave up on both sports after the 92(?) strike. I could probably still play a game, if I had a glove, but it will always be baseball for me. I know the softball leagues in Raleigh were absolutely huge and dwarfed the baseball leagues - mostly male leagues too - so there's a lot of male crossover into that sport. The reason I was always told was because it was easier on an older body.

That didn't explain the number of guys out from work with injuries the day after softball games

[jackellis]

My wife's answer:

There are no football leagues for small girls to play on.

Softball is a women's sport.

Excerpts of my female friend's answer:

Women love contact sports (and the violence therein) as much as the men. Haven't you seen a woman's soccer game? Those gals are tough!

But football is expensive (to a college, for example) and to offset the cost, there has to be an audience. Women's sports have a hard time getting supporters because men don't validate the sport (due to cultural beliefs that women are inferior) and women don't often have extra money for frivolous things like sports tickets.

But beyond all that, football is perceived in our culture as a manly sport, so women avoid playing it.

Mostly.

Men don't play softball because... well, they don't anymore. It was invented as a winter version of baseball to be played indoors. The ball was therefore softer, slower, etc. And men played plenty of softball.

But beyond all that, softball is perceived in our culture as a feminine sport.

[rnelson0]

Does football (also wrestling) being a contact sport have anything to do with it?

I thought it should be mentioned that the ancient Greeks believe wrestling was the most important sport. In Sparta, there were women wrestlers (all nude, of course), but the other Greeks were prudes and thought it was vulgar. So I guess you could say there's historical precedent