Women’s football left on sidelines

Hurriyet Daily News with wires

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A story released on the New York Times yesterday echoed Turkish women’s struggle to play football for acceptance. "Football is seen as a man’s game in Turkey," the daily quoted Nurper Özbar, the coach of Marmara University. "We’ve had men come to watch our practices and yell at our players: ’What are you doing here? You should be at home, cooking!’"

The story added that despite the fact that Turkey is mad about football, the 22 players in the league game between Kartalspor and Gazi University outnumbered the spectators.

"In my neighborhood, because it was seen as a man’s game, there was pressure on me and my family that I not play football," the daily quoted 18-year-old Deniz Biçer, who plays for Gazi University, the only top-flight team of the capital city. "People kept telling me this is a man’s game, you should be interested in other sports, but football is a passion for me."

But maybe the ones who are making it should count themselves lucky because they are part of a small group. Only 798 women players are registered as players with the Turkish Football Federation, the game’s governing body in the country, which is a really small number in comparison to about 230,000 male players registered.