Back on the football field

Thursday night the girls took to the soccer pitch again. The invitation to play was sent to all the MIB courses - International Masters in Tourism and Leisure, the Masters in Insurance and Risk Management and of course to us. In addition the visiting executive MBA students from EADA in Spain were invited to play. The guys quickly gathered a team and they were set up for a 4 team round robin competition.
As the exams were finished though (barring resits!) the girls were also keen to play. I gathered the team list and we had 9 volunteers ready to play. Unfortunately, there were only 4 other girls ready to play.
It surprises me that girls playing football is still seen as a bit revolutionary in Italy. Many of the other girls didn't want to play because they knew nothing about football. Some just said, no, they don't play football, and I got the impression that others seemed to think we were crazy to ask! The owner of the football field also complained that allowing the girls to play was a waste of 15 minutes of pitch time - charming!
These outdated opinions however didn't stop the 8 MBA girls, along with one IMTL and one MIRM ringer from having a game. We also turned down the option for a smaller pitch scoring on wooden boards, opting instead for a faster, running 5 a side game. We ran a lot, and had a giggle, but ended up in a no-score draw. Finally we settled the game with penalties, but with 4 MBA girls on each team, we have kept both the winners and the second place cups!
I suspect much to the disappointment of the pitch manager, we would like to play again. And maybe we managed to convince some of the girls from the other courses that it is OK for girls to play footy!
The girls were followed onto the pitch by the MBA guys playing the final against IMTL. It was a match that really brought out the passion in Italian football - with some Oscar-winning floor-rolling by some of the opposition! In the end we had a 3 cup tally in the MBA classroom - now if only we can find out where we put them for safe keeping....