Hey, Girlie! No Football For You!
Football IS king in Ohio.
My husband and I decided ‘cheerleading’ was, while many do very athletic skills, an unnecessary activity and persona for our two older girls to bother with in school. Real sports only were worthy of their/our time, energy, and attention.
So, we compromised by allowing them to get the cheerleader bug out of their systems in our local youth/pee-wee league for a couple seasons. Worked rather well … And our oldest was playing hockey on a boy’s team at the time …
Anyhow, our youth league allowed and had a couple gals playing on the football teams. My oldest may as well have been playing football, as the ‘play on the field’ always seemed to find her on the cheerleader sidelines in a tackle and massive pile on … Got to the point where my husband told her that if she couldn’t get the hell out of the way quick enough to throw one of her hockey body checks into the bunch coming at her … and let the fucking referees hand our team the penalty. (We also instructed her to do this, BTW, while playing basketball in school … as the other teams always tried to get her to foul-out of the game with cheap shots … hockey-check to the opposing player on the last foul remaining always seemed to work … even with the refs.) … HEH!
(FOX)
10-Year-Old Barred From Playing Football Because She’s a Girl
A 10-year-old was barred from playing in a Cleveland-area youth football league because she’s a girl.
Alycia Figueroa of Ashtabula, Ohio, has loved football ever since she was small — and often plays with the boys. But when her parents took her to sign up for the Ashtabula Midget Football League this week, they were turned away, MyFOX Cleveland reported.
The league’s president told them that according to the bylaws set in 1971, girls aren’t allowed.
“It’s not fair that it’s 2008 and she still can’t play because she’s a girl,” her mother, Poula Stitt, told MyFOX Cleveland.
The league’s president told Alycia’s parents that she should try out for cheerleading instead.
“It upsets me,” said the 10-year-old. She’d rather play football, she added, “because I get to tackle people.”
The league seems concerned that Alycia could get injured. Her mother brushed that reasoning aside.
“She’s pretty tough,” she told MyFOX Cleveland. “If that’s what they’re worried about is her getting roughed up, she’ll be fine.”
Poula and Roy Stitt have since enrolled their daughter in a youth league across town that does accept girls.
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