Monday 5 March 2018

(Un-)Quoting Frederik Jacobus Johannes Buytendijk

"Football as a game is first and foremost a demonstration of masculinity as we understand it from our traditional view of things and as produced in part by our physical constitution (through hormonal irritation). No one has ever been successful in getting women to play football. ... Kicking is thus presumably a specifically male activity; whether being kicked is consequently female - that is something I will leave unanswered."
Buytendijk (1953:20)



"Kicking differs essentially from throwing. For one thing, kicking is by nature more aggressive than throwing; for another, throwing is linked to catching, i.e. receiving, whereas kicking is linked to kicking back. ... One can certainly throw like a girl, but one can only kick like a man."
Buytendijk (1953:20)

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- F. J. J. Buytendijk (1887-1974), Das Fussballspiel. Eine psychologische Studie, published in 1953
- photograph of the Dick Kerr Ladies F.C. via

3 comments:

  1. Abbie Winterburn5 March 2018 at 11:01

    What nonsense! What a nerve!

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  2. There is a wonderful analysis (Lames et al., 2011) of men's and women's football. Apparently, women play more efficiently: shorter breaks, less time spent on celebrating goals, and significantly less time spent on dramatising their injuries (on average 30 seconds less). And most importantly: no spitting ;-)
    Many thanks for sharing your thoughts, Karen and Abbie!

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