Football is more than just a game: it is a profession, a recreational activity, a tool for individual and community development, a tool for social change, a unifying force, a way of life. It is these varied identities that make football more than just a game.
It is in honour of these identities that we have chosen to embark on this journey. We have witnessed how, across the globe, football has given people hope, brought diverse people together to achieve a common goal, brought smiles and a brief relief to ailing children, connected people to their heroes and sheroes and lifted people out of poverty and hopeless situations, providing them a pathway to a better life and inspiring countless others along the way.
It has been a global misconception, for many decades, that football is a man’s sport with women not supposed to have anything to do with it. In spite of this and many more misconceptions, women’s participation in the sport has grown considerably over the last two or so decades, especially in the West. There are now well-structured and competitive professional and semi-professional leagues (for example, NWSL in the USA, FAWSL and FAWC in England, W-League in Australia and Frauen Bundesliga in Germany), increase in number of girls playing at grassroots level, and more opportunities to be involved in the game other than as a player. It is this same wave of development that we wish to see in our country Ghana and on the larger African continent.
We are very passionate about the women’s side of the sport and want to contribute to its development in Ghana and Africa. We want show young girls that they can play football and still develop breasts, be able to give birth and still be feminine; that women footballers are smart and intelligent and capable of so much more.
This podcast is only the beginning and we are honoured to have you join us on this journey. We are neither journalists nor professional football analysts nor anything in-between, only two football-loving ladies talking about the women’s end of the beautiful game.