Merlin

FIFA president calls for sexier uniforms for women

LONDON (AP) -- The president of world soccer suggested that female players wear more revealing uniforms to bring more attention to their sport.

One English player called the suggestion by FIFA president Sepp Blatter ``ridiculous'' and ``irresponsible.''

Blatter said women's soccer needed different sponsors from the men's game and should try to attract fashion and cosmetics companies by featuring ``more feminine uniforms.'' ``Tighter shorts, for example,'' Blatter told the Swiss newspaper SonntagsBlick. ``In volleyball the women also wear other uniforms than the men. Pretty women are playing football today. Excuse me for saying that.''

Brandi Chastain caused a stir at the Women's World Cup in the United States in 1999 when she removed her shirt in celebration of a title-winning victory over China to reveal a sports bra.

England goalkeeper Pauline Cope called Blatter's suggestion ``typical of a bloke.''

``To say we should play football in hot pants is plain ridiculous,'' she said. ``It's completely irresponsible for a man in a powerful position to make comments like this.''

FIFA spokesman Andreas Herren said Friday that Blatter never mentioned the word ``hot pants.''

``The remarks were by no means meant to be offensive -- not at all,'' Herren said. ``Whatever he said, it was more a general remark, 'Let's take a look at that.' But it's not the ultimate recipe to salvage the women's game because he went on to say women's football has established itself and it has a future.''

Swiss captain Evelyn Zimmermann and Norwegian players Lise Klaveness and Solveig Gulbrandsen also rejected Blatter's fashion advice.

``You can't compare us with volleyball players and, apart from everything else, those shorts are uncomfortable,'' Zimmermann said.

Klaveness said soccer is about sport, not sex.

``If the crowd only wants to come and watch models then they should go and buy a copy of Playboy,'' she said.

Added Gulbrandsen: ``If I wanted to wear a bikini, I would have chosen to play beach volleyball.''

Marianne Spacey, manager of the London club Fulham Ladies, said Blatter's comments should be taken seriously because of his position, but some of her players reacted with laughter.

``It does surprise me because people might actually listen because he's such a powerful person in the game of football,'' Spacey said. ``For people in the women's game it's caused uproar and it provided a few chuckles in training, that's for sure.''
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welfareloser

what?

they rolled their eyes and laughed it off. nobody's up in arms. nobody's suing. nobody's calling for reprimands, apologies, or punishments. they don't wanna, for lots of reasons. good for them. they had absolutely the appropriate response.

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attgig

uniforms?
use body paint to put sponsors logos on the players

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Grimm

Yeah, body paint doesn't even chafe.

welfareloser

boy, if they did that, the rained out games would be SOLD OUT games...

eSDee

Sounds like a good idea.

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whitak24

no matter how much i like t&a, i say the dude is a dumbass. no need to sell the player's bodies. but eh, they obviously aren't going to do it, so no need for it to be too big a deal

Grimm

The reason I have heard some women friends say they go to football game: The tight pants worn by the players.

coleslaw

YES!

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bachviet

BTW I watch soccer because I like the game but the missing part with women soccer is the speed. The men games move so much faster especially league games in Europe.

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Grubbie

They actually need to use sex to sell the sport. Look at the wusa, they folded real quick. But international play doesn't need it. It is a hard time in womens professional sports leagues. Its hard to attract people to watch the sport.

attgig

except for golf, and they're not necessarily sexy......actually, they're not really sexy at all.


womens tennis is one sport that may have an edge over the men's in terms of public attraction...and guess what they wear.

whitak24

i've had this discussion on here i don't know how many times but people don't seem to get it.

women's sports have not been around for that long. the idea of women's professional sports leagues is even more recent. and only only has to look at the hundreds of flopped men's sports leagues to see that it takes quite some time, and a good amount of luck, to make a successful pro sports league, especially in today's entertainment culture which offers potential fans so many alternatives. basically, people are only going to tune in if there's a really compelling product to see.

right now, women's tennis is more popular than men's tennis. why? because the players are putting a more compelling product on the court than the men. sure, some of it may have to do with anna K. and the sexy outfits that venus and serena wear, but quite frankly, since the glory days of agassi, sampras, chang, et al, men's tennis has been fairly boring. but there are tons of hot, talented women's players and great rivalries.

sex does not necessarily sell. if it did, the XFL would still be in business.

attgig

how much sex was there really in the XFL?

whitak24

well, the scantily clad cheer-babes were a major feature. they used sex heavily in their advertising. but even this was not enough to rescue their pathetic on-field product

(although i must admit that i love the fact that "he hate me" is now a major special teams player for carolina )

Grubbie

There is a difference in using sex to sell the game in ads, and using sex in the game to sell the game If the players look sexier males might be more inclined to watch it, but if the ads have pretty girls on them in skimply clothes. Why watch the sport when you can just watch the ads.

The problem is this, it takes 6-10yrs to turn a profit from a league. Look at the MLS they are doing it right, but they are just getting close to turning a profit. But they have been around awhile. YOu can't start a league and expect it to do well in the first 3years.

Yes womens tennis is more fun to watch, but they have more exciting stories then the men. But who wants to watch say womens Basketball compared to the Mens game. It is a whole different game, slowed down, boring to watch, and less action. They can't draw on the same fans.

attgig

exactly.

bachviet

Anna is one of the reason I watch tennis or may be it's the only reason.

Merlin

Sometimes life is just so ridiculous it makes me laugh.

ArkiStan

Personally, I think Agassi, Sampras and Chang are perfect examples of how tennis is becoming more boring and less interesting. Contemporary tennis players are displaying greater physical abilities and skills than ever before. Never in the history of tennis have we seen such explosive power and accuracy. Service speeds of 120-130 mph have resulted in players such as Roddick, Krajicek, Philippoussis or Ivanisevic serving as many as 15-20 aces in a single game, which is quite amazing, but not very entertaining. And more and more players are sticking to the base line, which means that much less serving-and-volleying. I consider net play the most interesting and exciting aspect of tennis, and it is pretty much becoming a lost art. If I had a choice, I'd turn tennis back to the days of Ivan Lendl, Boris Becker and Martina Navratilova.

Sorry to drift off topic....

DaFunkyUnit

don't forget John McEnroe and Jimmy Connor, the true "bad boys" of tennis.

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