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If driven by the favorable context of two successive World Cups in France, the craze for women's football actually follows a trend that began several years ago. According to the Federation, they will be more than 200 000 licensed in France at the beginning of the next school year. South of Paris, FF Issy is one of the few clubs exclusively reserved for girls. Met.
" Become a professional footballer and play PSG. This ambition, 11-year-old Emma Fournié, does not think about it except in front of her ice cream. Even in English class, she wrote the portrait of her favorite player, Amel Majri. She points to the poster of the French women's team, posted in the bar. Why Majri? " She goes into contact, she distributes the game well and she occupies the same position as me. The answer was fuse, limpid, perfectly calibrated for a press conference.
On this stormy afternoon, the synthetic grass of FF Issy, nestled between the premises of the group Marie-Claire and the Palais des sports of Issy-les-Moulineaux, teems with multicolored chasubles or, as for Emma, Parisian jerseys. It's the football school that trains. Here, the boys are only stealthy shadows. " The club was created in 1997 by women of Latin origins and was called EuroPérou, from which the FF Issy was born, three years later. It has been thought of as a women's club and has remained, "says its iconic president Christine Aubère, also a member of the Club of 100 women leaders, recently established by the French Federation (FFF).
runoff
Never far from her little free electrons gravitating around her, the former international, an energetic with clear green eyes and a frank and fleeting smile, does not stop. Today, the sports association that she carries at arm's length counts 225 licensees - one of the two biggest clubs 100% female of Île-de-France - distributed among 110 teams, ranging from the elites of the D2 the "diversified" (health, futsal ...), through referees and coaching.
For women's football, the situation in 2019 is ideal. One year after Deschamps' men's world title, the Blues attempt to flock a star on their jersey, also at home; the audience figures exceeded the forecasts; the chains have reviewed the price of their ad second; the matches are sold out (even if the stadiums are not necessarily filled) ...
→ Read also: The Women's World Cup is full
Consequence: it trickles in amateur clubs, girls are always more likely to want to play football. " The craze is real. We see an increase in applications for registrations compared to other years, at the same time. Usually, it is rather in September, during the forum of the associations ", remarks Christine Aubère.
Last year already, the club had experienced a 15% increase in the number of licensees. A figure identical to the national average announced by Brigitte Henriques, Vice President of the FFF, end of September 2018, while the evolution observed in previous years was " + 10% ". In 2011, there were 51,000 licensed in French clubs; " At present, they are 185 000. So we will of course exceed the 200 000 mark in September, " said Frédérique Jossinet, director of women's football at the federation.
On the lawn, women take root
However, this bottom line can not be explained by the only football context of these two years. If it seems sudden and unexpected, it follows an ascending curve observed for several years. " The real turning point dates back to 2011, points out Syanie Dalmat, who follows women's football for the newspaper L'Équipe . People had already followed the good course of Blue in Germany until the semifinals. They brought freshness to their playing style as well as their state of mind, one year after the strike of the footballers in Knysna [World Cup in South Africa in 2010]. The public has become attached to this state of mind. "
This interest is also the result of a federal sports policy in the background. In 2011, the arrival of Noël Le Graët at the head of the Federation and Brigitte Henriques, a strong supporter of women's football, as Vice-President, is marked by the implementation of a plan for feminisation, a fact now established and rooted. " We do not really talk more about feminization, but about diversity, " says Frédérique Jossinet. " Today, a club can not no longer welcome women, " adds Christine Aubère. In 2019, French football has 8500 women's teams.
If the trend is confirmed, the FF Issy could be a victim of its success and a double-edged media coverage: more girls ball on the foot yes, but how far and under what conditions? " We do not refuse any registration, even if we reach 250, Christine Aubère promises. So we work with the city to distribute the land. Because in urbanized areas like the Ile-de-France, it's difficult to find a place, to push the walls, to find slots, because we arrive after decades of development of men's football. We are preparing to welcome them both structurally and at the level of management. Little girls today dare to ask to play football, it is necessary that the clubs are ready. "
They are, guarantees the federation. " An envelope of 15 million euros has been released for 2018-2019 [14 million, including a participation of Fifa, ed], to promote the Women's World Cup in the territories, to develop the reception of news licensed at the start of the 2019 school year and develop the club structure for women's football, for example by looking for coaches. We are ready to easily accommodate 300,000 licensees, "says Frédérique Jossinet, head of the project Impact and Heritage 2019 launched before the World Cup.
Finally, " gestures have been made: after the 2018 World Cup, D1 clubs have each received a donation of 100,000 euros, " says journalist Syanie Dalmat.
However, if the general public responds more and more present in stadiums - " more family and younger " than for men's football -, the way to go for a fairer media treatment and societal consideration is more the trail that the finish. Yet, Syanie Dalmat insists, " the feedback from our readers is very clear: they demand more equality in coverage. The media must play their role . "
Mixed or unmixed genres
To find a place is also the concern of young women footballers and, recently, their parents. At the foot of the stands, several interviewees recognize that registering their daughter at their request to football was not easy. " I was an old fool: I had a girl, I wanted her to be a girl, and my boy stays with the boys ," laughs Sebastien, Emma's father. Then I told myself that I had to live with my time. "
" The mentalities are progressing. A mother told me that it had been two years since her daughter wanted to register. It took her two years of reflection for her to consent, "says Christine Aubère. We find this mother, Johanna, on the sidelines. " I was scared " What? " The brutality of the boys. Let's say they are less sweet. For her who has done dance and whose eldest has chosen riding, this unisex club is a good compromise.
The non-mixed " reassures families, " observes Christine Aubère. The girls regret for example that they do not pass the ball in the playground. " Boys do not stop saying that I play badly, " laments a blonde with long hair. U11 team leader and mother of a practitioner, Magali Bethencourt is adamant: " I wanted a women's club so that she could have fun without any competition problem with the boys. The girl must always make great efforts to win. But it reflects the place of women in society. "
Others adapt to the contrary of this state of mind. Like Emma, with a strong character. " Playing with boys, it goes faster, we take shots. We do not have the right to the error, otherwise it is the whole team that undergoes. Delivering battle, cultivating competitive spirit is essential for her. " Girls do not have the sense of winning. After three years at the FF Issy, " to progress ", she has been playing since that year with the boys from FC Issy. In France, girls can play with boys up to 16 years old.