Coach Profile | Marisa Gonzalez, Mexico

Meet Marisa Gonzalez, one of our Mexican coaches who has been so successful with her team back home that she can no longer climb the mountain with us – so that she can dedicate her time to her team’s success! She will be running sports clinics in Mexico later this year under the Equal Playing Field banner. Here she tells us what playing and working in football has done for her and why she is supporting Equal Playing Field.

I grew up in Puebla Mexico, surrounded by a big family. My dad always played soccer and coached, so I was introduced to football very early. I was lucky that way. I started playing at around 7-8, then played competitive starting age 12.  Later, I played college soccer in the US. Division 2. I got injured my junior year so my last two years I was a student coach so I could stay on the team.

I have been involved in football as a player, then as a coach, as a manager, as a leader. It has become one of the most important parts of my life. Being a woman in sport pushes you to work harder and prove yourself. 80% of the people I work with are men. It’s tough, especially if you are a manager or have people working for you. I am one of the few women coaches in competitive teams, so I’m always needing to prove that my knowledge of soccer is as valid as theirs.

People here still believe football makes you less of a woman or will change your sexual orientation. I believe that the biggest problem is that sport are not seen as “ladylike”. Girls playing sports are then not taken seriously, and girls are never treated as genuine athletes.

I hope that we see more girls doing sport at a younger age - and parents supporting girls who decide to take part in any sport they choose.

Because of sport I am willing to overcome any challenges, work in teams, not be afraid of being a leader, work well under pressure. Football has given me my best friends. It has given me a purpose and has allowed me to connect with many girls and be a positive influence in their lives. It has made my family come closer because we are all involved in the club. And I believe it has made me a strong, independent woman that is not afraid to speak up and with a better self-image and self-esteem than many of my friends.

I play football not only because I love the game but because when I play, I feel complete. Football allows me to be myself.

It’s important to show that the everyday struggles women face happen all over the world, not just in a single country. There is such power in women that work together. I am climbing this mountain for me, to show myself how strong I can be and to show the girls I coach I am willing to climb a mountain if it means it will help them to have equality in their future.

For more information please visit www.equalplayingfield.com

Former England Player joins international all-woman football world record attempt

Rachel Unitt launches fundraising drive to get her to top of Mt Kilimanjaro to play 90-minute match, calling for an equal playing field for all women and girls in sport.

Former Lionness Rachel Unitt, who played for Notts County, Everton and Wolves during her career, has joined an international 30 women squad to try to break the world record for the highest altitude football match ever played. The women will play a full 90-minute game, officiated by female FIFA accredited referees just below the Summit of Mt Kilimanjaro, almost 2 kilometres higher than the highest stadium in the world. A documentary team and TV crew will join the women as they climb the mountain. The international squad, is composed of professionals, national team players and competitive amateurs from more than 20 countries, as diverse as Afghanistan, Argentina, France, Jordan, Sweden, South Africa, and Tanzania but still seek final funds to make sure it can take place in one month’s time.

Should the squad raise the funds required, the world record game scheduled for June 24 during UK Women in Sport Week, will draw attention to the daily discrimination faced by women seeking to play, compete, coach or work in football and raise the profile of inspirational female sporting role models in the media.

Unitt said “Every day women face many small mountains whether at grassroots or elite level. Unfortunately, many drop out too early because the support, the investment and the visibility is lacking. We want to climb this one huge mountain, to inspire women and girls over the world. We want them to know that no matter the barriers or challenges they may face they should never give up. Anything is possible.”

Maggie Murphy, co-organiser of the record breaking feat, also from the UK said “We are delighted to have Rachel join our squad. All our players, whether from the US, Tanzania or Afghanistan have faced many challenges throughout their lives – just to play the game they love. Some challenges may be more extreme than others, but the playing field is far from equal for all women. Playing football should not have to be a dream and no girl should miss out because of her gender.”

In taking on this world record attempt, Unitt joins two time Olympian and World Cup Winner Lori Lindsey (USA) former Mexico women’s team captain Monica Gonzalez, Egyptian player of the year 2011 Esraa Awad, South African record goal scorer Portia Modise, Sandrine Dusang and Julie Soyer (France), Zahra Mahmoodi and Hajar Abufazl (Afghanistan), former Fulham player Deena Rahman (Bahrain), and other pro or competitive amateurs and FIFA accredited referees from Argentina, Canada, Indonesia, Italy, Jordan, Nepal, Singapore, Sweden, Switzerland, Tanzania, the United Arab Emirates and the UK. Other UK based players include organiser Maggie Murphy (Camden Town FC), Katie Donegan (Basingstoke Town LFC) and Nikki Riley and Lisa Clutterbuck (South London WFC).

Equal Playing Field is partnering with Football for Peace in the lead up to the record breaking attempt as well as through a series of global clinics that will take place once the attempt has been completed.

To watch the film trailer and support the world record attempt, please visit https://startsomegood.com/projects/equalplayingfield 

To support Rachel Unitt’s participation: https://www.gofundme.com/rachels-record-breaking-challenge?rcid=e158f77b3d7f4fc4985bd558840a5fc7 

For interviews

Maggie Murphy, Communications Lead  +44 751 7707 565 | mmurphyiw@gmail.com

Player Profile | Haneen Al-Khateeb, Jordan

Meet Haneen Al-Khateeb from Jordan. She’s represented her country at the U17 level at the World Championships and tells us here what it is like to be a young female athlete trying to compete at the highest level and why she is joining the Equal Playing Field squad.

Haneen is kindly being supported by Sportrak but is still looking for additional supporters. Want to help her and her teammates get up Mt Kilimanjaro and inspire the next generation? Visit https://startsomegood.com/equalplayingfield

 All my experiences have taught me that football is not just a game. Football is life, hope, and love.

I grew up in a small town playing football with the neighborhood boys in the streets from the age of 9. I joined a local club and later, was selected for the U-17 national team. In 2010 I played in the world championships in Sri Lanka. I then co-organized the 2016 U-17 Women’s World Cup in Jordan and am involved in football clinics for refugees. I believe there will be many more football opportunities in my life and I’m very excited for what will be ahead.

Football hasn’t always been so popular in Jordan. It’s grown a lot though it’s not yet equal to men’s football. Fortunately, Prince Ali has been a huge supporter of gender equality in football, not just in Jordan but all around the world. He was successful in helping to lift FIFA’s ban on the hijab in women’s football and that has been so helpful to me and other hijabi athletes.

I have been told to stop playing in the streets. I have been told to stop playing the game I love. I have been told that football wasn’t for women. I have been told that women are not strong enough to compete. I have been judged by what I wore.

Football was the first opportunity for me to fight for what I wanted and encouraged me to chase my dreams. Football has given me strength, passion and opportunities in life. 

Now I am a 22 year old hijabi woman athlete. I run, I play football, I cycle. I still constantly worry about what people will say or what people will think. I only ask to be respected in whatever sport I decide to take up, regardless of my gender.

My family are my number one supporters. They’ve always known that I was not going to submit to society’s rules if they were unfair. No matter what, I know they’ll always be there to encourage me to follow my dreams and I would not be where I am today without them. 

As a hijabi athlete, I know the obstacles and struggles that women face. As a journalism and media student, I see the power of media and how it can change people’s lives. We need to show the world the abilities and achievements of every successful woman. Thousands of talented and passionate women athletes have many stories to tell and are waiting to tell them.

Climbing this mountain shows I am able - and crazy enough - to go after what I want with passion, determination and love. It means I have accepted the challenge to prove to every single woman that anything is possible regardless of gender or what society says is acceptable. I’m doing it for myself. I’m doing it for my love of the game. I’m doing it for each person who always believed in me.  I’m doing it to inspire and be inspired.

If you would like to support Haneen and her team mates break a world record and inspire a new generation please donate here https://startsomegood.com/equalplayingfield

To find out more about the challenge, please go to www.equalplayingfield.com

Player Profile | Monica Gonzalez, Mexico

Monica Gonzalez has not only captained Mexican national women’s team and founded Gonzo Soccer Peace Foundation, but she’s worked the sideline as a reporter for ESPN, is a commentator and analyst for FOX Deportes and sits on the Advisory Board for FIFPro, the World Players Union. As if this wasn’t enough, she’s joining us in a climb of a lifetime, up MtKilimanjaro in June to break a soccer world record.

If you want to support us to break a soccer world record, please visit: www.startsomegood/equalplayingfield    

Football has been the spine of my life. As I’ve grown its place and meaning has evolved as well. It’s a game, a business, an expression of culture, a mechanism to develop character and to raise strong women and productive future employees.

I think I may be from the last great generation of street rats. It’s sad our world has become more dangerous over time and kids now don’t get to spend as much quality time together.   My dad played soccer for the US Men’s national team in the 1972 Munich Olympics so he had a ball at my feet since before I can remember and even lied about my age to get me in the boys’ league when I was 4.

When I was 13, I learned that playing soccer could get me a college scholarship and from then on, it was my goal and soccer became my job. But now there is a mad race for college scholarships - women’s soccer in the United States is becoming much more exclusive and girls in underserved communities are missing out on the chance to play.

In 2012, the NCAA reported that only 4% of its female student-athletes were Latina, and this is in a country that has almost 20% Latino population! The statistics for early pregnancy, and thus sustained poverty cycles, in US inner cities are worse than the 15 communities where I have soccer academies in Mexico and Colombia, so I know that there are still thousands of girls in the US that need someone to speak up for them.

I learned through having set up the Gonzo Academy that when a girl plays sports it doesn’t just change their life, it changes her family, her friends and the entire community. Now I see that empowering women is what will bring peace and prosperity to all of us. I got lucky, and ended up playing professional soccer, working as a sports broadcaster, and travelling the world - all because of soccer. I’m climbing Mt Kilimanjaro with Equal Playing Field for those girls out there who want go out and play but aren’t allowed or don’t have the chance.

There seems to be a sense that we need to “protect” girls, which is maybe partly because of levels of violence against women - but there is also implies an inherent “weakness” in women.

It was hard to be the captain of the Mexico national team, center back, #4—just like Rafa Marquez—and be making $300 a month while I knew he was making millions. Later on it was hard for me to be ESPN sideline reporter, as a FIFA World All Star, when all I was allowed to do was to be the “jock sniff” - chasing the boys around the field to get interviews. ESPN didn’t let me make comments or have my own opinions. I was only allowed to report on things I saw or heard on the field.

But sometimes I wonder, is that discrimination, or is it just businesses at different stages of their evolution?

As I speak to more women around the world I hear they suffered the same way we did yet we kept telling ourselves we were lucky to be on a national team and kept our mouths shut. FIFPro women’s director, former Swedish goal-keeper Caroline Jonsson, calls it “gratitude guilt”. Many amazing players my age, including myself, still have financial problems today because we chose to follow our hearts and listened to our coaches when they told us not to complain or else our program would get cut. Today, female footballers across the globe are discovering that it is not only okay to speak up, it is essential for us to continue to evolutionize our sport, discover our own competitive advantage, and prove our value to society.

Our world is in dire need of female role models and football is the perfect industry to get them from. The most important work ever is taking place now -  as we see national teams like Ireland and Chile unionizing and demanding basic human rights be met.

My vision for the future is the same as my vision for Gonzo Soccer---a world with more female footballers will be a more peaceful and prosperous world. Football is global - so it could be what unites our world and builds bridges if we want it to.

To find out more about the challenge, please go to www.equalplayingfield.com

Player Profile | Lori Lindsey, USA

Retired US midfielder Lori Lindsey is Equal Playing Field’s newest recruit! With 31 caps for the US, playing in the 2011 FIFA World Cup and part of the gold medal winning squad in the London 2012 Olympics she has plenty of experience to draw on as she now aims to break a footballing world record. Here she tells us why she’s joined the Equal Playing Field squad.

Do you want to support Lori break a world record so she can help younger players realise their dreams? Sponsor her here: https://www.gofundme.com/kn5a2-equal-playing-field

Football has brought me so much joy to my life.

I grew up in Indiana and played every sport possible, but soccer was my first love and favorite. My older brother Chris played so I would play on his all-boys teams since there weren’t as many opportunities for girls at that time. I remember watching the first ever Women’s World Cup when I was 11 and thinking that one day, I want to be just like those women. Some twenty years later I can now reflect back on what I have achieved. I am one of only four players to play in all three of our women’s professional leagues here in the US, and represented the US Women’s National Team, notably in the 2011 World Cup and then at the London 2012 Olympic Games. I am now in a position to inspire young players to reach their dreams.

The first time I pulled on the US national jersey, it felt amazing. It felt like all my hard work over so many years was paying off. And it wasn't just about the hard work I had put in....the jersey represented all the time, love, and money that my parents, my family, countless coaches and numerous friends had put in to get me to that point.

My most proud moment is the 2011 Women's World Cup. As any player knows, the World Cup is the pinnacle of our sport and to play and participate in what was arguably the most successful women's sporting event in the world at that time was a dream come true for me.

I have been afforded some amazing opportunities through football but even as I climbed up the ladder to professional football – one thing was clear; the playing field for women in sport is not equal. We are making strides in the U.S. especially with the most recent collective bargaining agreement with our Women’s National Team – but I believe the next step is for us is to help other countries to close the inequality gap. The 2015 World Cup highlighted some of these drastic inequalities in some countries between their men’s and women’s teams and we need to help them. I hope to play a vital role in this.

Football taught me many things; I’ve learned dedication, heartbreak, how to be a team player, the power of persistence, hard work, that change is constant. Most importantly I have learned to believe in myself. Climbing up this mountain allows me to continue to play an important role in raising awareness and end this inequality.

To support the Equal Playing Field squad break a world record and inspire new generations please visit: www.startsomegood/equalplayingfield     

To find out more about the challenge, please go to www.equalplayingfield.com