As for my very first blog writing for the infamous Our Game Magazine, it is clear to me that I should open my career with a banging first blog. As for that, I really hope the owner of FIFA subscribes to Our Game in hopes of reading this, and when I say FIFA, I am referring to the video game. As I watch the beautiful game of soccer being controlled by two people in unidentified locations via Xbox LIVE, I wonder why no one is playing with a women’s soccer team.
Of course as a male with their egos, why would you ever play a video game with a girl soccer player, right? The problem here for women for the first time is not the male ego, it is the fact that Mr. FIFA did not include one female soccer player, let alone a team in the entire video game to chose from. We can’t blame men here, unfortunately. I know that most females do not play video games as regularly as males, but what about the rare girls that want to?
I think that this corresponds with the fact that the WPS does not get the coverage it deserves. The U.S. Women’s National Team has been the one sustainable soccer association in America at the highest level over a very long time. Why are they not a part of the video game, FIFA? It’s not like the U.S. Women’s National Team was popular a year ago. If every single person that bought the FIFA game was able to scroll through the immense amount of teams to choose from to compete with and just casually came across a women’s team, that is one more person to scratch his head and ponder, “who is that?” After some research, he would soon find out that there is a women’s professional league in America, and not only an average one but noted to be “the best in the world.”
There are women’s professional leagues that succeed in other parts of the world that value soccer at its highest. I think that the next FIFA12 (’12 meaning the year) should include women’s professional soccer around the world. If there are division two men’s teams to chose from in leagues around the world why shouldn’t there be the best women’s teams. Regardless if they are chosen to be played and competed with, not only would the video game itself increase in revenue due to every girl wondering what Mr. FIFA made them out to be, but Women’s Professional Soccer just might be a step closer to getting recognized, valued, and respected as in the men’s game.
Allie Long is a midfielder for Sky Blue FC of Women’s Professional Soccer. She played for the Washington Freedom in 2009 and 2010. The 23-year-old scored two goals in each of her first two years in WPS and was recently called up to train with the U.S. U-23 Women’s National Team. (Photo copyright Women’s Professional Soccer and may not be replicated, reproduced, distributed or downloaded.)