An amateur Dutch ladies soccer team, FC de Rakt, has opted to play in skirts. Check out the comments below the video on YouTube – you’ll find a much different perspective than the American blogosphere offered following the PUMA/WPS kit launch on Feb. 24. (see below)
1. One of the best things about being a woman today is that we have so many options. Whether we are in the boardroom, on the home front, or on the starting line, we can bring it on like a man, but it doesn’t mean we have to look like one. Source: The Rise of Skirt Culture (Runner’s World)
2. The miniskirt can be seen as a celebration of the female form, asserting your right to be proud of your figure and your right to display it. Source: The Miniskirt and Women’s Lib (Icons.org)
3. Shunning skirts altogether is a perverted version of radical feminism that just doesn’t make sense. It’s certainly not the battle I would choose to fight. So I say “Let them wear skirts!” (or shorts or catsuits, or full-length white body suits.) Source: Chasing Skirts, why to Women Tennis Players Choose to Wear Them?
4. The flapper (of the 1940′s) would have laughed at the ideal, chaste, Victorian maiden who considered a kiss tantamount to a proposal. But the flapper didn’t want to be a man. She wanted to be a woman, a New Woman, the woman of her own creation. Source: Flapper Skirts as Feminist Symbols (FFWDMag)
5. We think they’re far more elegant than the traditional shorts, and furthermore they are more comfortable. Source: Rinske Temming, 21-year-old captain of FC de Rakt (video above).
More about the optional PUMA WPS wrap here: http://womensprosoccer.com/newsitem_ektid9342.aspx
From womensprosoccer.com:
One of the more unique elements of the WPS collection put on display are “ wraps” that were made as an additional piece for the Los Angeles Sol, Boston Breakers, FC Gold Pride and Sky Blue FC. It’s a complement to the shorts and definitely something different.
They are completely optional and will not be worn in games. The wraps are removable and can be detached from the shorts with easy to remove buttons.
PUMA’s wrap takes cues from the trends in female sports gear today, as well as fashion, such as the popularity of technical running skirts. The wraps were designed with the female player in mind.
It uses the same technical performance elements as the rest of the uniforms, so it could be worn to and from the field, after practice — and if a player really wants to, they can wear it on the field, too, in training or warm-up.
WPS and PUMA Uniform Unveiling
Other Opinions
Not everybody thinks the optional PUMA wrap is a good idea, but I’m still looking for a reasonable justification. Most dissension that I’ve found in the past two days has been on the Big Soccer Forums, Text Messages, Tweets and Blog Comments.
Women’s Professional Soccer unveils PUMA uniforms: A skort?!? (Because I Played Sports)
http://becauseiplayedsports.com/2009/02/25/womens-professional-soccer-unveils-puma-uniforms/
WPS Fashion Show (Women’s Sports Nation)
http://www.womenssportsnation.com/2009/02/wps-fashion-show.html
Terrible team names and beauties in short skirts: Women’s ‘soccer’ gets the American treatment (Daily Mail)
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1155029/Beauties-short-skirts-Womens-soccer-gets-American-treatment.html
Underwhelmed by the skort (goldpride.theoffside.com)
http://goldpride.theoffside.com/gold-pride-team-news/underwhelmed-by-the-skort.html
What do you think?
My blog, Soccer Science: The Neurotic Genius of Soccer in the Digital Age, takes a look at the new media technologies that are revolutionizing the way we see the beautiful game. I'm a web geek, former college coach, industry professional and sports fan. 
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
I say why not! They wear skorts in field hockey as well with no big to-do. I also think they’re cute! :)
I think the option is great. It’s not being “forced” on players so there’s no set definition of what should be considered feminine or not. It’s up to the player to decide, and that’s awesome.
There’s no reason that a female athlete should have to remove the word “female” in order to be respected.
Implying that it’s better to be a powerful “person” instead of powerful woman seems to suggests that theres something wrong with beng a woman. And that almost seems to be a step backward. That’s not the message I want my daughter to grow up with.
I say: Embrace it. Own it.
That’s what’s great about this league. It’s not generic and genderless. These aren’t just athletes. They’re female athletes. And that means something.
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