Forward and Backward: Women's Soccer in Twentieth-Century India

Abstract

E ngland’s progress in the World Cup is likely to draw record interest from women, as the notion of the “football widow,” annoyed and alienated during high-profile matches, becomes a thing of the past. For the first time, marketing of the World Cup is being directed toward women, particularly younger ones, as companies attempt to cash in on the growing popularity of football. High Street stores, including Top Shop, have produced World Cup merchandise like bikinis and underwear, printed with the cross of St. George and other slogans designed to show support for the England team. Both the Football Association (FA) and television companies expect record interest in the tournament from women, and about 15 percent of England fans in Japan with the official England supporters’ club will be female. Pubs and clubs also expect many women will watch England during morning broadcasts. Female football merchandise is one of the fastest-growing areas in the marketing of the game at club and international level. There has always been England merchandise aimed at men during a World Cup, making it a multimillion-pound industry, but many firms now feel that similar merchandise for women could prove just as lucrative. Umbro, which makes the England kit, has produced an England team shirt taking into account the female body, and an England team dress bearing the three lions crest. Top Shop has England World Cup products aimed at women in all of its three hundred stores, with a glitter England bikini and England beach towels proving the biggest sellers. In contrast to the upbeat nature of women’s soccer in Britain, women’s soccer in India continues to languish, hardly comparable in popularity to its British counterpart. Women spectators, key to the popularity of football in Britain, are still rarities in India, with football