Urbanization and female football in Nigeria: history and struggle in a ‘man's game’

Abstract

Social obstacles including colonisation, cultural inhibitions, and religious restrictions impact female participation in sports. In Nigeria, particularly, where urbanisation and women participation in football has increased, interest in studying women's football amid social obstacles continues to be important. Some of these obstacles included a British colonists’ edict prohibiting female football in the country. The edict stunted the growth of female football in the country. Today, religious prohibitions, along with several other obstacles, such as cultural inhibitions, in the northern part of the country, create additional fault lines in the game's development. Indeed, several of the obstacles are rife in women's football in Nigeria and deserving of academic investigation such as reported in this paper. The paper uses a critical discourse analysis of archived newspaper media to expose the struggle and resistance of female football from the mid-twentieth century to date. The analysis makes the female game's urban existence essential in understanding its development, resistance to obstacles, growth and advancement.