I just came across this tidbit in an interview with Sepp Blatter about FIFA's "Win with India in India" program (initiated in 2007):

FIFA: Women's football is not very developed in India. Do you feel it is possible to change that situation?

SP: Women's football has already managed to grow in countries where cultural, religious or political factors might have made that appear unlikely. As a result, there's no reason why it can't work in India. For example, a film such as 'Bend it like Beckham', in which Parminder Nagra, an actress with Indian roots, put in such a brilliant performance, could act as a spark for women's football in the country. It's just a question of opening the door. I said in 1995 that the future of football was women's football and I don't think I was mistaken. The epidemic could well reach India!

1. Let me start with the question - it's very problematic. India's national program has been a mess. But women's football some regions (half the NT comes from Manipur) is very "developed." See #2.

2. "Women's football has already managed to grow in countries where cultural, religious or political factors might have made that appear unlikely. As a result, there's no reason why it can't work in India."

Blatter seems to have confused India with Afganistan. What does he mean by this? Perhaps he means England and its national FA which banned the women's game for 50 years.

Seriously, this suggests that there are "factors" in India that make the development of women's football seem "unlikely." It would be generous to say this is ill informed. It's colonialist/racist/imperialist bullshit. Women play soccer in India. They have since the 19th C. Like the US, soccer in India isn't so much a "man's game" - girls play it in schools, and the sport has had its moments of popular success (in the 1970s & 80s).The WPS should be so lucky as to get the numbers that have turned out for some of the country's regional derbys.

3. "For example, a film such as 'Bend it like Beckham', in which Parminder Nagra, an actress with Indian roots, put in such a brilliant performance, could act as a spark for women's football in the country."

This is again ridiculous, on quite a few levels. The president of FIFA should know something more about women's football than the storyline of this film.

This statement assumes that women in India - no matter where they live or what background they have - will automatically identify with this story of a daughter of a Punjabi Sikh immigrant family in London. I can't even begin to map the problematic assumptions here - the collapse of all people of "Indian background" as one, and the assumption that everyone's story - and relationship to tradition is the same.

Nagra was great, but we actually don't see any real football in the movie - at least nothing that makes anyone convinced they are watching footage of a top female player. I'm sorry, but that movie, as much as I loved it, didn't make me want to play soccer. Goal, a shitty film in so many ways, is much better at making you want to kick a ball around.

I suspect he has never seen the movie. It's a lazy and stupid statement.

4. "It's just a question of opening the door. I said in 1995 that the future of football was women's football and I don't think I was mistaken. The epidemic could well reach India!"

I would say FIFA is better at closing the door than opening it. Blatter is a moron, and women's football is popular in India already. Girls all over the world grow up with a ball at their feet. The real question is why more countries don't have strong national programs. The fact that he refers to women's football as an "epidemic" says it all. FIFA actually controls that epidemic by recommending that FAs taking development funds spend 15% of the money on women. Last I looked, that was 35% shy of equity.

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