SPORTS> Feature and Column
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SPORTS> Feature and Column
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Soccer-Minnie aged 10 sparks debate over FA's rules
(Reuters)
Updated: 2006-03-21 10:44 Greg Cruttwell believes that girls should be able to decide for themselves if they want to carry on playing in mixed teams. "It's about having the choice. To deny them the choice means that you are denying them the potential to progress at the highest level," he said. Cruttwell reckons that the FA could learn a few lessons from Germany, where the women's football team are world and European champions and several of the top players were allowed to continue competing against boys during their early teenage years. "To play with boys is an advantage for any girl...having to win your place in the team makes you more competitive," Silvia Neid, Germany's national team coach said. "Playing against men helps you think quicker and accept physical challenge." AVOID INJURIES The FA argue that their system is better for the girls so that they can develop successful womens' teams and avoid injuries. "By streaming the children at the particular age it allows us to develop specific career paths for these children that might actually go on and play at the highest level," the FA spokeswoman said. "Boys and girls develop at different stages and that's not just to do with height its also to do with muscle mass... we have to be careful about injuries," she said. But Minnie, who has been a key player in helping her mixed team build their success, is dreading being left on the sidelines while her team carry on achieving. "I'd much rather play for a mixed team," she said. "I know they'll go on and win loads of things and I'll be really left out if I'm not winning with them."
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