Cultural values: Sweden v England

With the upcoming match for third place at the Women's Football World Cup between Sweden and England, I thought I would look at some of the ‘core values’ of those respective countries and wonder how that may play out on the football field. According to the (Australian-based) Cultural Atlas:

Contemporary Sweden prides itself on championing human rights and equality, as manifested in its social welfare system. Additionally, concepts such as ‘lagom’ (‘the middle way’) and modesty are cornerstones of Swedish culture. ....

According to Hofstede Insights (2017), Sweden is a ‘feminine society’ in which balance, inclusivity and consideration for others are core components of the social structure. The notion of ‘folkhemmet’ (‘the people's home') is a metaphor for the nation of Sweden as a family household. This idea symbolises social democratic ideals of equality and mutual care, which form the foundation for a society mediated and supported by social welfare. 

So, will we see teamwork, sharing the ball and consideration for others on the football pitch tomorrow morning?

On British culture (no separate entry for England), the Cultural Atlas says of the British (including England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland):

They strongly value fair play, believing everyone should have equal opportunity to better their circumstances regardless of their background. Fair play also translates into a respect for order. …. People pride themselves on a capacity to ‘grin and bear it’ whilst being diligent and respectable. The British have earned a reputation for remaining stoic through tough times, rarely letting their emotions show, though they might complain in private. 

The cultural atlas also says, “The British are generally quite reserved.” – perhaps not on the playing field, whether its men or women playing.

I leave you with a distinctly unfeminine rallying call for English footballers, intended for the English men’s team - a legacy of the late Rik Mayall, and football fan:

Fairness, justice and women’s football

With the Women's Football World Cup underway in France, and about to conclude this weekend, thought it was time to pull together some interesting facts and links about women's struggling path to glory in 'the beautiful game'.

Gender inequality in football is more entrenched than in politics, business, medicine and space exploration, according to a worldwide salary survey of male and female footballers. (But then, is it fair to pay people to play sport? That’s another question)

Latin American sides don’t fare so well as their male counterparts, in part due to greater sexism, neglect, and corruption in the football organisations of those countries. Read about the Argentinian women’s side road to Paris; and a fascinating Time article by Shireen Ahmed on how corruption and abuse stops women all around the world from participating fully in the sport. Ahmed is a writer, public speaker and activist focusing on Muslim women in sports, and the intersections of racism and misogyny in sport.

Rose Reilly played for Italy in the 1970s because her home country Scotland would not recognise female players – and thereby paved the way for other women footballers from that bonnie (and now fairer) land.

Meanwhile, closer to home – according to a Stuff rundown on equality – or lack thereof – in NZ sport Football NZ struck a landmark deal with their footballers when they granted the Football Ferns (women) and All Whites (men) equality in pay parity, prizemoney, equal rights for image use and travel. However, the lack of payment for both sides has seen this agreement labelled symbolic!

The previous NZ Football Ferns coach (he who shall not be named) resigned last year because of bullying behaviour and downplaying his players as almost destined to lose. Things have got a lot better in the NZ camp since then – I mean, they nearly beat the Dutch didn’t they!

More to come before the great US v Netherlands showdown on Monday morning (NZT).