Breaking barriers: Women in saree play football in style

Women in sarees dribbling the football shows that game cannot be restricted to those playing in shorts.

Gwalior:Many say thatfootball is not a game one should play when in a saree. Being a sport where body contact is common and one needs to be in a state of motion throughout the game, a saree is often thought to be a hindrance.

However, these women playing at Gwalior MLB Ground have proved such stereotypical representations of the beautiful game wrong by dribbling with the ball effortlessly and running continuously as men in shorts. Some locals at Gwalior have organized a tournament called 'Goal in Saree'. The event will be held over a period of two days in which eight teams are going to participate.

A woman in a green saree was seen running, being completely at ease and in control of the ball, in an attempt to score a goal. In another instance, a woman in an orange saree tries to pull back another player in a green saree but the green team succeeds in the attack and moves forward with the ball.

On the first day of the tournament, the Pink Blue and Orange teams participated in which the Pick Blue team won the match. Women wearing colorful sarees were seen participating in the match. All the players were aged between 25 to 50.

The convenor of this special tournament Anjali Batra said that the spectators were thrilled to see the women play in sarees. The winner, the Pink Panther team said that they have put up a brilliant performance and shown the world of football that women in sarees can also play the game. The Blue Clean team put up a remarkable performance in the second match. The match showed that it is time for society to shed the masculine representations of football that have been prevalent for a long time.