Letter from Boston Women's World Cup By MASAKO YAMADA	フレームで見る  英文をプリントする  脚注をプリントする
女子サッカー・ワールドカップ スポーツにはあまり興味がなかった雅子さんですが、友人に誘われ、女子サッカー・ワールドカップの観戦に出かけました。女子スポーツは盛り上がりに欠けるという声とは裏腹に、試合のチケットは売り切れで、スタジアムは大満員。サッカーのルールをほとんど知らない雅子さんも、懸命にボールの動きを追いながら観戦しました。

A few weeks ago, I got a mass e-mail from a friend of mine inviting all of us to watch the Women's World Cup on Sunday, June 28. I'm not a big sports fan in general. I've never cared to watch the World Cup (men's) on television, but this invitation intrigued me. I thought going to a major sporting event with a bunch of friends sounded like fun, and the fact that it was a women's event helped me make the decision to shell out $30 (¥3,600) for a seat.

Women's sports are often not recognized by the general public, and it's hard for women's games to attract audiences. I wasn't too fond of the marketing strategy that emphasized the "we can achieve" aspect of the event, but the bottom line is that the event needs supporters, and I wanted to support it.

Terry, my friend who was coordinating the trip, invited us all to his place for a barbecue before the game. There must have been about 20 people at the barbecue, many of whom I'd never met. Terry's siblings were present, and it was interesting to see them all in one room, since I'd never met any of them before. Perhaps because of the familylike atmosphere, the conversation was easygoing.

We had a leisurely lunch because we decided not to go to the first game of the day. We would have been able to watch the match between Mexico and Italy since the tickets were valid for two games, but we decided to take our time and not cram too much in a day. The second game, an evening game, was between North Korea and the United States. Not too surprisingly, this game was more popular among the natives.

Any skeptics who believe that there is no market for women's sports should have seen the crowd that assembled at Foxboro Stadium. It was a sold-out event, and there were more than 50,000 people present. This wasn't one of the final games, either — it was still one of opening games!! Although half the people from my own group were men, I expected that the stadium would be filled mostly with supportive women. I was wrong. There were plenty of men in the stands, and they looked like they were having a great time.

There were also many young girls, and their bright T-shirts caught my eye. Many of the shirts had phrases like "Newton Girls Soccer Club" printed on them, and I realized that to them, the players on the field were probably some thing like idols. I saw many enthusiastic men — probably the girls' fathers and coaches — escorting them and I thought it was great that they were supporting the young girls' interests.

There was also a conspicuous group of Koreans. Although they were definitely the minority fans at the game, I couldn't help noticing these fans because some of them had formed a cheering squad complete with a ringmaster, confetti, drums and a droning bagpipelike instrument. They were the best organized cheerleaders in the stadium, I think.

There was a smaller group of Koreans sitting near my group. They had on matching T-shirts with Korean characters. The younger boys in this group looked a bit bored and started playing with their Gameboy — they were probably dragged along by their parents — but I could tell that the adults were eager to root for their team.

I have only been to a few sporting events in my life so even mundane details seemed exciting. I enjoyed participating in The Wave many times and I stood in line for 30 minutes and paid $3 (¥360) for a drink that should have only cost a buck. I don't know the rules of soccer, so I couldn't enjoy the subtleties of the game. However, I could understand that the players were trying to get the ball into the goal, and time went by very quickly as I tried to keep track of the ball.

The U.S. team was obviously stronger, so we decided to leave the game a bit early so that we could beat the crowds. Unfortunately, plenty of other people had this idea and it took us about 30 minutes just to get out of the parking lot. It took us another 30 minutes just to get on the highway. I was casually told that this is just another part of going to such sporting events. This made it almost seem like fun.

Shukan ST: July 9, 1999

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