Boys Out, Girls In: How Girls in Hyderabad Break Stereotypes by Playing Football in the Old City of Hyderabad
Girls as young as 7 are breaking social conventions to play football on a local playground in the Old City of Hyderabad, India, a first-time initiative that has seen no female players in the court before and it has been conducted under the guidance of SAFA India with the contribution of the "Girls on Ground" project.
A tectonic transformation is afoot in the altered nature of the world in the narrow lanes of Chatta Bazaar, one of the sections of the Old City of Hyderabad. Saba, a native of the area had never stepped foot into the public playground several streets away known as Balsetty Khet which was a public playground and less than 600 meters to the family home due to an unwritten rule: women stay out. This all changed in April, when Saba and several Muslim girls started to take to the fields with footballs at their feet, proclaiming their claim to urban space.
This is a revolutionary step driven by the Girls on Ground program initiated by SAFA India- a powerful program open to girls between the ages of 7 and 17 years to train at football pitch at the center of their neighborhood. Girls who are still young enough to have enthusiasm painted on their faces dribble, pass and score goals in the same places only boys once went freely at play. It is not only a game to them, rather it is reclaiming and taking back the popular space along with proclaiming equality.
Reactions of communities have varied. As certain neighborhood principles have been modifying slowly, the ancient biases still exist. But the girls – through the support of SAFA India – are proving to be strong and determined. It is not only football that is imparting to them athletic abilities, but also that of providing them with a new visibility and confidence. They are also exorcising the notion that playfields are male territory as they pursue the objectives.
Analysts note that, Muslim girls are most of the time locked outside of the society recreational platforms due to the conservative social demands- a common theme in most societies. This is directly tackled within the Girls on Ground sports campaign in order to build the girls with an element of agency and empowerment. Football here, is a means to radical social change.
The project is consistent with an existing trend in Hyderabad to encourage women in football. This came in early August, when FIFA opened the doors on its first-ever girls talent academy in Hyderabad, in partnership with AIFF and Telangana government, and is indicative of increasing infrastructure assisting in building on female athletes.
All kicks, to Saba and her teammates, are symbolic in their own right: shattering expectations, entitlement, as well as what it means to be visible in the public sphere. Not only are they playing, but they are also rewiring their community with their ideas of gender, space, and possibility as they go out and take the field.
