April 17, 2001

WUSA's arrival has come and gone (at least in Italy)

Some observations on Italy's perspective of the recent WUSA inaugural match, and thoughts about the girls' game there


By Mario Rimati

A few weeks ago your correspondent contacted several Italian women's soccer clubs from the 1st division to the 3rd one, and asked them for an opinion on the new WUSA league and the eventual impact that it might have one day on the women's game in Italy. Representatives of the Italian Female Soccer Division were also contacted. The feedback was almost nil, either indicating a total ignorance of the subject matter or a "I couldn't be bothered less to answer" attitude. It was probably a mixture of both.

As the league opener approached an interesting article, by the paper's American correspondent Riccardo Romani appeared in the sports section of Italy's major news daily, the "Corriere della Sera." The article contained two pictures, one of a triumphant Mia Hamm with her clenched fist held high over her head and the other of a jubilant Brandi Chastain sans top of Rose Bowl penalty kick fame. Even though Romani referred to Hamm's team as the "Diplomats" (???), the article appeared to be rather well written and praised the efforts of John Hendricks, the sponsors and some of the aspirations of international players such as Sun Wen, and her dream-come-true of finally owning a dog! Coverage was severely lacking in some of the other sports dailies and on the major television networks.

"The world is watching us" comment, as evoked by one of the 34,183 spectators present at the inaugural match the other day, may have applied to viewers on the North American continent but for many in Italy major news was the Serie A 3-1 victory by Juventus over Inter Saturday night and the pole positions of the two Ferraris heading into Sunday's San Marino Formula1 Grand Prix race. The Easter holiday hotspots were the other major news attraction for Italians last weekend.

An occasional editorial on an Italian women's soccer web site discussed the possible impact that the WUSA will have on Italy's program. Reading between the lines one notes the skepticism that still prevails on this side of the Atlantic for two basic reasons: just how successful will the WUSA really be and how can a professional league in Italy be created when the foundations (funding, media involvement, qualified presidents and managers and the "phobias" of many parents about letting their daughters play in such an "unfeminine" sport) are still desperately lacking?

According to one web site, there appears to be a small increment in the number of young girls who want to play the game (the Internet has helped in the exchange of ideas and information among players and clubs). The soccer school of Rome's Lazio's Serie A club (where national team player Patrizia Panico plays) currently boasts up to 250 young girls learning the fine art of playing soccer.

One of the major problems with Italian women's soccer still remains the lack of highly qualified coaches who are willing to dedicate their time and effort, especially to the youth sector, for basically nothing.

This correspondent believes strongly that the future of the game in Italy MUST rotate around the future Panico's and Guarino's of the national team. It took the Italy National Team a whopping 88 minutes awhile ago (with 10 players that were part of Italy's WCWCup'99 contingent) to do away with a young (average age: 19) U.S. National Team in Rieti, Italy. A U.S. team which had 8 players that were part of the senior national team for the first time. To a certain extent, that pretty well tells it all about Italy's program at the moment (n.b. at USA'99, the oldest (in average age) of the 16 teams was Italy). If Italy wants to successfully compete internationally there has to be a generation turnover. And fast.

There's also the question of the mentality vis-à-vis training in Italy. In a recent interview in a soccer magazine, head coach Carolina Morace expressed her concern that many 2nd division teams (which supply the U-18 national team with many of its players) practice only twice a week. Not enough says Morace, especially when Italy has to compete with teams from northern European countries practicing much more often. Some of the Italian players work all day while others study or are unemployed, so why don't players work out on their own if national club titles or national team aspirations are what they dream of most (n.b. Italy's U-18 national team last week failed the European qualifications)? An article awhile ago spoke about Mia Hamm and Kristine Lilly who were off somewhere training in the heat of Texas. They were dropped off at the soccer field but had no way of getting back home. Someone offered them a ride back. They opted out and in the sweltering heat decided to jog back a couple of miles "just to keep in shape".
Mentality. Just the same kind of mentality that pushes many North American athletes to NOT mix sports with smoking. It is not at ALL unusual to see players in Italy, from the 1st division (including national team members) all the way down to the 4th division who smoke, even while watching their friends play in official competitions).
Mentality.

As with many things which eventually hit the shores of Italy from the U.S. (technology, fashion trends, culture, etc.), so will the effects of the WUSA one day make it to the "Bel Paese". It might not happen overnight but sooner or later someone in the "Palace" (a.k.a. the seat of the Italian FA) will wake up and take notice of the WUSA. After all, Italy has been practically eating, breathing and living men's soccer (by far its number 1 sport) for well over a century. There's absolutely no reason why in the 21st century Italian women should still be at the bottom of the rung of Italian sports.