The Only Woman In The Room

With the Women’s World Cup this month, The Times sports writer Alyson Rudd examines how much – and how little – has changed for women in football…

- Alyson Rudd

The first time I travelled abroad to cover a football match, my fellow journalists, all men, hid my coat in the toilets and teased me constantly, believing that by doing so they were magnanimously including me in their banter.

On another trip, a different group of colleagues, upon seeing me already at the restaurant they had picked, turned on their heels and left. I was told, later, having a woman in their midst cramped their style. I was a reminder of the wives and girlfriends back home, and how they would have not approved of their conversations.

In some ways, it feels as if my own career reporting on men’s football has followed a similar pattern to women’s football. The Women’s World Cup will dominate the sporting schedule until the Final in Lyon on 7 July – but it has been a long and arduous journey for the game to gain recognition and widespread support. All that “banter” stuff was 25 years ago. It is not like that any more. Back then, my male colleagues would chat to me if we happened to be on our own together, sharing the same train carriage, about their families, mothers with dementia, sons with debts, but as soon as we were joined by others, they would clam up. It was not done to be seen to be friendly with the only woman in the room. Nowadays, a bloke will even ask my opinion about a football team in front of his mates. My workplace is a nice place to be.