I'm Writing A Book!

Afternoon all, hope everyone’s well. I have succumbed to a winter cold, but the show must go on. Particularly because this is a very fun (book-themed) edition of The Cherry on Top!

We’ll start with an exciting announcement to kick off today’s newsletter – I’m writing a book! I’ve been sitting on this news for a while now and I’m not really sure why. Perhaps I was worried I would tell everyone and then not actually finish the book, so wanted to make significant progress before letting the world know.

Having now written a third of the book, I don’t think I can use that as an excuse anymore! So, here goes…

La Vie Jamais Raconté: Alice Milliat, a French Heroine and Sporting Suffragette will explore the life of Alice Milliat, a 20th century Frenchwoman who worked tirelessly to promote women’s sport in a society often hostile to female athletes.

Over the course of 25 years, Milliat became an influential woman in French sport, set up the International Women’s Sports Federation, organised four editions of the Women’s World Games, and lobbied the International Olympic Committee for the inclusion of women’s athletics at the Olympics. She even found time to set up a French women’s football team and arrange a tour to the UK, before welcoming the renowned Dick Kerr, Ladies to France a few months later.

My book will detail Milliat’s life, but also the achievements of the successful female athletes she helped elevate in the early 20th century. It is set to be published in July 2024, in advance of the Olympics in Paris. The Games will have the same amount of male and female competitors for the first time ever, so I hope the book can be something of a tribute to a person who set the foundation for this special achievement around 100 years ago. 

I first had the idea for the book back in 2019, while I was working for insidethegames.biz. I came across this article by my colleague David Owen, and was taken aback that, despite my love for women’s sport, I’d never heard of Milliat. The idea of writing a book on her life has lingered in my mind ever since, and last year I decided to make it a reality.

A big thank you to Pitch Publishing who have taken on the idea, as well as The Society of Authors, who have given me an Authors’ Foundation grant. The grant has allowed me to go down to part-time hours so I can have more time writing the book, and for this I am very grateful. 

As such, I am spending most of my days researching and writing. There have been some unexpected obstacles, such as the British Library suffering a major technology outage after a cyber-attack, thus preventing me from accessing much-needed journals and books, but otherwise I am making good progress! I will keep everyone here updated on how I go.

I do think there’s currently a lack of books on women’s sport, at least compared to the amount of publications there are on men’s sport. There are a lot of great writers who are changing that, including Carrie Dunn, author of a number of books on women’s football and the Lionesses. Carrie has a new book out called Woman Up: Pitches, Pay and Periods - The Progress and Potential of Women's Football. I spoke to Carrie to find out more.

Hi Carrie! Tell us about your new book.

WOMAN UP is the story of women's football and how far we've come - and how much more we still have to do, exploring the challenges of being a female football player from elite down to grassroots. I think it's really important to acknowledge the massive journey our sport has been on, and to also acknowledge that journey has by no means finished. 

When writing the book, did you discover anything new or something you hadn’t realised about life as a women’s football player?

I honestly hadn't realised that football socks can be such a problem! Socks, you might think, are unisex. No. They're usually designed for men's feet, and men's feet tend to have slight structural differences to women's. Women's heels tend to be narrower, the widest point of the foot is in a slightly different place, women's arches are higher...so female players in these "unisex" socks might find that the material is bunching, or rubbing, or stretched, and so their feet are uncomfortable. That's annoying enough, but if your feet aren't happy, maybe your balance isn't either, maybe your legs are getting fatigued, maybe your foot isn't planting properly, and maybe you're going to get injured. It seems such a small thing but it can have a huge impact.

What does the future of women’s football look like to you?

The sky is the limit. We've seen so much change so rapidly it would be hard to make any firm predictions, but I hope we'll continue to see broadening participation, continuing investment, and respect for female players, coaches and officials globally. 

How important do you think it is to write books about women’s sport?

Really important. So much of women's history has not been recorded because it's been a man's hand holding the pen. We have lost generations of women's football history already so it's a true honour to be able to tell some of the stories of pioneers and trailblazers that are still with us and deserve their plaudits. 

What advice would you give to any aspiring writers?

Keep writing! Just put your head down and do it; you can always edit something that's been written and make it better, but you can't edit a blank page. And keep reading - that's what will improve your style.  

Winning Women

Celebrating the impressive achievements of female athletes across the world

• Tennis star Iga Swiatek has returned to the world number one spot after winning the WTA Finals. She cruised past Jessica Pegula 6-1 6-0 in the final to overtake Aryna Sabalenka in the world rankings. Swiatek won six WTA titles this season, including the French Open and US Open.
  
  

• England became the inaugural WXV 1 champions after defeating rivals New Zealand 33-12 to win the tournament. Scotland finished as champions of WXV 2, while Ireland triumphed in WXV 3. 
  

• Another achievement for a female referee in men’s football. Rebecca Welch became the first woman to act as a fourth official during a Premier League match, doing so during Manchester United’s 1-0 victory against Fulham. 

Bits and Bobs

Women’s sport news and content that you may have missed

• I imagine you were all as shocked as I was to hear that Emma Hayes would be leaving her role as Chelsea manager at the end of the Women’s Super League season. I was with friends who don’t really watch women’s football at the time of the announcement, so I had no one to process it with. It took me a few days, and was helped by a number of podcasts, including this insightful episode from The Athletic. 

• It’s been reported that Emma Hayes would receive an annual salary of £1.3 million if she is indeed heading off to take up the USWNT job. In addition, the NWSL has just announced a four-year broadcast deal worth $240m. These are pretty unprecedented figures in women’s football, and I’m interested to see if it starts driving up investment in other areas of the world.

• Speaking of investment in women’s football, the prize money for the Women’s FA Cup this season is set to double. But… as pointed out by Lewes FC, the financial boost only comes in from the third round onwards. Read the club’s statement on this.

• I’ve seen this video doing the rounds a lot at the moment, but in case you’ve missed it, take a look at this 100-year-old woman receiving her first ever football shirt. It’s impossible not to shed a tear.

• The Women’s Sport Trust has released new research on the visibility of women’s sport, finding this year’s major international women’s sporting events have driven record-breaking audience figures in the UK. Find the full report here. 

• Great news for rugby fans! TNT Sports will show at least 21 Premiership Women’s Rugby matches this season. The new campaign gets underway on November 18. 

• Finally, I loved this BBC Sport interview with British gymnast Laura Gallagher, particularly the bit where she reveals that she’s in a WhatsApp chat with other athletes who have given birth in recent years. I wrote in the last edition of the newsletter about how much I admire the solidarity often on display in women’s sport, and this seems like a perfect, and very wholesome, example.

That’s all for today’s newsletter. If you enjoyed it, please share with your networks and anyone else you think may be interested. Thank you!