Kicking this Women's World Cup year off with a stomach-turning graphic
I'm really reining myself in here but when is enough ever going to be enough
Happy Women's World Cup year to everyone who's celebrating!!
And sorry for the click bait-y headline, the graphic in question is beautifully done by the page Soccerdonna. It's simply the content that is making me want to
And the graphic that I’m referring to is the one below, listing all of the players in the TOP SIX leagues in Europe (so not even counting top players from the leagues in North or South America, Africa or Asia) that suffered ACL injuries during 2022 alone.
When we talk about "growing the game", THIS is the kind of things we need to desperately focus on: adequate scientific research into issues that actually concerns the majority of female players - why are our ACL's tearing left right and center? (well actually I learned from my little brother, who is a physio in the making, that the ACL is the Anterior Cruciate Ligament, so only the 'center' applies here as it specifically runs down the front of the knee.)
Is it the lack of boots made after the measurements and design of female feet? Is it the lack of knowledge around the impact of hormones? Is it the lack of proper strengthening exercises targeting these areas specifically? Is it a lack of proper nutrition and diet aimed towards maximising the development of female physic? Is it a lack of knowledge about, and accommodation around, the menstrual cycle?
Most likely a mixture of all of these and possibly other issues that we don't even know of yet, as the amount of research into this is still appallingly low? I mean, take this from the Mayo Clinic for example:
They simply rate "BEING FEMALE" as one of the risk factors, without even being able to present proper facts and reasons as to why females face this higher risk factor (only "possibilities".) Not good enough. Not even close.
This is not a new problem. Jessica Creighton wrote a blogpost about this called “ACL injuries: is there an epidemic in women’s football?” that sounds like it could’ve been written yesterday - except it features a babyfaced Ellen White who was not able to play for her new club Notts County due to her ACL injury, written nine years ago.
To add insult to injury (quite literally), the issue is not being taken seriously at all by the clubs and the federations (considering what a big problem it is and for how long they’ve been aware of it being a problem.) Back in November 2018, a mere four years ago, Louise Taylor covered a story about how the Danish newspaper Politiken had found a clause in the small-print of standard contracts used by WSL teams that stated how clubs were able to fire a player with three months notice if the player suffered an injury or an illness that would sideline them for three months or longer. In 2022, the contracts were updated to include maternity rights and injury cover.
Playing further down in the leagues, there’s even less support to be expected. Emma Beckett, playing for London Bees at the time, had four teammates, three of which needed surgery for ACL injuries (one for the third time) and without the means to fund it themselves, so she set up a Crowdfunder to help them. In 2019, Gemma Bryan (who was playing for Crystal Palace at the time) tore her ACL and got an initial private scan funded, but after that it was crickets from the club while she was directed to the NHS waiting list or faced with the choice of funding the operation herself.
The Soccerdonna graphic includes the names of some of the biggest names in women’s football, who will be missing the chance to help their team for the rest of the season, miss the final Champion’s League games, and a World Cup in the summer. But this problem not only seriously stunts the growth of women’s top football (which loses an edge of competitiveness when many of the stars are injured), but it also lets down the other divisions of the game that are just as important, if not more, for the continuous growth of the game. That’s where new players are going to come from, that’s where they have a chance to develop before moving up the ranks.
And what is FIFA’s solution to this epidemic in women’s football? Say no to the request of getting to expand the squad sizes from 23 to 26 players for this summer’s World Cup (despite the fact that it would obviously help massively in offloading the pressures on the players, many of whom are already facing hectic schedules) and to introduce yet another competition, a Club World Cup, to the women’s game (naturally without any information on what this is going to look like, or when it’s going to start because, in all truth, they have no fucking clue.)