Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic Unlock the Editor\u2019s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.If the prospect of England\u2019s men\u2019s team toiling their way to an inevitable semi-final exit at the Euros is already getting you down, then the BBC\u2019s Storyville strand presents a stirring 90-minute documentary about a national squad to be proud of. Copa 71 is the story of the \u201cLost Lionesses\u201d \u2014 and their counterparts from Denmark, Mexico, France, Italy and Argentina \u2014 who took part in a record-breaking, convention-shattering, unsanctioned Women\u2019s World Cup in Mexico in 1971. Through previously unseen footage from the three-week festival of football, present-day interviews with the players and expert contributions, the film both celebrates the beautiful game and exposes the ugly chauvinism of the sport\u2019s male gatekeepers.We begin with a dispiriting history of how the English Football Association (and later other countries\u2019 FAs) banned the increasingly popular women\u2019s game in the early 1920s because of pseudoscientific concerns about health. It wasn\u2019t until the late 1960s that women, encouraged by second-wave feminism, started to take to the field again \u2014 as seen in a very enjoyable montage set to Nancy Sinatra. These boots were made for kicking balls.Despite the hand-wringing at Fifa, football\u2019s governing body, a few savvy entrepreneurs saw the potential of following the lucrative 1970 Men\u2019s World Cup in Mexico with a women\u2019s tournament in the football-crazed country. Suddenly teams without funding or infrastructure \u2014 used to playing on muddy fields in front of dog-walkers and hecklers \u2014 found themselves invited to compete in a packed 110,000-seater stadium. A strong sororal spirit emerged between the squads and a febrile atmosphere built. The broader significance was never lost on them. \u201cIt was a political act,\u201d says Mexico\u2019s Elvira Arac\u00e9n.But the film is not so condescending to suggest that taking part was all that mattered. A trove of match-day footage showcases the players\u2019 flair as well as crunching tackles and contentious decisions on the pitch. Half a century on, some refereeing calls and missed chances clearly continue to sting. But while the players remember every kick, it took the world just weeks to forget these pioneering women, many of whom never had the chance to play professionally again.With this poignant tribute, however, the legacy of that glorious summer should finally get the recognition that it deserves \u2014 even if, according to the film, to this day Fifa still refuses to acknowledge the legitimacy of the tournament.\u2605\u2605\u2605\u2605\u2606On BBC iPlayer now<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic Unlock the Editor\u2019s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.If the prospect of England\u2019s men\u2019s team toiling their way to an inevitable semi-final exit at the Euros is already getting you down, then the BBC\u2019s<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-130957","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-culture"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130957","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=130957"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130957\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":130958,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130957\/revisions\/130958"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=130957"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=130957"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=130957"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}