Section:GDN 1N PaGe:41 Edition Date:190808 Edition:01 Zone: Sent at 7/8/2019 21:15 cYanmaGentaYellowbl
Thursday 8 August 2019 The Guardian •41communities accept them. Eriksson
and Harder grew up in liberal
countries but they had diff erent
experiences of coming out. Ikast,
the Jutland town of 15,000 where
Harder was raised, felt “like there
were so many traditions” and she
did not feel comfortable revealing
her sexuality until after she left to
play in Sweden seven years ago.
“If I came out in my home town
I don’t think anyone would have
hated me or anything, but I would
have felt a bit alone about it,”
Harder says. “It was a bit like being
a homosexual in this small place
was weird and not normal, and no
one was it. When I came into this
new environment in Linköping
it was totally normal and maybe
that helped me to fi nd myself and
really realise that I could fall in love
with a girl. I think it’s important
that environments are open and
people can talk about it more. Then
everyone can just be themselves.”
Eriksson says it was “defi nitely
easier” to come out in cosmopolitan
Stockholm but she still agonised at
length before telling those close to
her. “I came out a lot earlier than
Pernille, but when I think back to it
I still had anxiety,” she says. “When
I told my friends for the fi rst time
I was crying so much, and had so
much pressure building up to it,
even though I was probably in one
of the most accepting environments
in the world. So I can imagine how
tough it is for people who don’t have
the environment I had, because I
struggled even though it was really
acceptable.”T
he time when this kind
of conversation could,
on record at least, be
held with a high-profi le
male player still looks
some way off. An
anonymous Twitter user named
@FootballerGay , claiming to be a
Championship player, stated his
intention to come out last month but
then reversed the decision, saying
he was not strong enough. A handful
of individuals, such as the former
Leeds winger Robbie Rogers, have
done so in the past but the numbers
have never been enough to indicate
a sea change.
“If you look at the photo from theWorld Cup and the support we got,
imagine what a men’s player would
have, it would be massive,” Eriksson
says. “But it feels like we have to
break the norm before that happens,
unfortunately. The men’s game has
taken a diff erent turn and it’s very
diffi cult for players to come out.
Hopefully when youngsters today
grow up, the norm will change.”
Harder thinks male footballers
are still “afraid of how fans and
teammates will react” but the
example of just one courageous
individual could change
perspectives. The women’s game is
setting a standard on this front and
in other areas, too. More than half of
the 107 players to have signed up for
Common Goal so far are women and
it is hardly news that their salaries
are generally far lower. “I feel we
know what it’s like when you’ve
come from a lower point,” Eriksson
says. “You want to help the younger
generation and grassroots build
something because of what we’ve
gone through.”
Yet there must come a point where
the pressures of managing one’s
own top-level playing career, acting
as a social role model and bearing
responsibility for pushing an entire
sport forward appear overwhelming.
“That’s been the life of a female
footballer throughout history,”
Eriksson says. “They’ve always
had to do more than be footballers.
They’ve always had to drive it and
get questions that would never be
asked of a male player. But hopefully
those things will change in time.”
She sensed a shift in the way
Sweden were received after fi nishing
third at the World Cup. They lost
agonisingly to the Netherlands in
their semi-fi nal but beat Germany
and, in the third-place play-off ,
England along the way. Upon
arriving home she felt something
about the sport’s consumption had
fundamentally transformed.
“People were like ‘It was so fun to
watch you guys, so entertaining’,”
she says. “I’d never heard anyone say
they’d genuinely enjoyed watching
us before. Previously it was a bit
‘We support you guys ...’ but kind
of condescending. This time they’d
enjoyed it and I was like ‘Ah, this is
the point I’d been wanting to reach
for so long’. One where people just
respect us and don’t think of us as
women playing football but just
watch the football game.”
Harder’s place among the crowd
came after Denmark’s failure to
make the tournament, a situation
expedited when Eriksson and
Sweden defeated the Euro 2017
runners-up in qualifying. She is
fi rmly among the world’s best
players; a lethal, exhilarating
striker. It was galling to miss out but
certainly not an issue that would
ever cloud their relationship; she
followed Sweden across France,
estimating she stayed in nine
diff erent hotels during the month.
“I kind of got used to it,” she
says of that initially unwanted, but
ultimately fulfi lling, perspective.
“Every time I was at a stadium I was
really thinking ‘Women’s football is
so cool and fun to watch’. And I think
a lot of people who hadn’t seen it
before changed their view of it.”
Without ever expecting to, Harder
and Eriksson may have altered a few
other perspectives too.‘I feel it’s important
that environments
are open and people
can talk about it
more’
Results
Football
UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE
Third qualifying round: First leg
CFR Cluj (1) 1 Celtic (1) 1
Rondón 28 Forrest 37
Basel 1 LASK Linz 2; Istanbul Basaksehir 0 Olympiakos 1;
Krasnodar 0 Porto 1; Maribor L Rosenborg L
UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE
Third qualifying round: First leg
Slovan Bratislava (0) 1 Dundalk (0) 0
Holman 86
LEASING.COM TROPHY
North: Group B Oldham 3 Liverpool U23 2
TUNNOCK’S CARAMEL WAFER SCOTTISH CUP
First round South Hamilton U21 L BSC Glasgow L;
Motherwell U21 L Spartans L
VANARAMA NATIONAL LEAGUE NORTH
Darlington L Gateshead L
Cricket
TOUR MATCH
New Road Worcestershire trail Australians by 235 runs with
seven first-innings wickets remaining.
Australians First innings
CT Bancroft b Tongue.................................................... 33
MS Harris b Finch .......................................................... 14
UT Khawaja c Milton b Tongue ....................................... 57
TM Head not out ......................................................... 109
M Labuschagne c Fell b Morris ....................................... 15
MR Marsh lbw b Morris .................................................. 13MS Wade not out ........................................................... 20
Extras (b1, lb2, nb2) ....................................................... 5
Total (for 5 dec, 75 overs) ............................................ 266
Fall 36, 58, 159, 201, 227.
Did not bat *†TD Paine, MG Neser, MA Starc, JR Hazlewood.
Bowling Leach 15-3-32-0; Tongue 13-2-46-2;
Morris 16-4-57-2; Finch 16-2-75-1; Rhodes 15-0-53-0.
Worcestershire First innings
TC Fell lbw b Starc ........................................................... 0
JJ Dell b Hazlewood......................................................... 0
CJ Ferguson not out ........................................................ 6
JA Haynes lbw b Hazlewood .......................................... 24
MH Wessels not out ........................................................ 0
Extras (nb1) ................................................................... 1
Total (for 3, 9 overs) ...................................................... 31
Fall 0, 0, 29.
To bat GH Rhodes, †AG Milton, *J Leach, JC Tongue,
CAJ Morris, AW Finch.
Bowling Starc 4-1-27-1; Hazlewood 4-2-2-2;
Neser 1-0-2-0.
To s s Worcestershire elected to field.
Umpires Hassan Adnan and NA Mallender.
VITALITY T20 BLAST
North Group
Grace Road Leicestershire 197-6 (HJ SWindells 63,
LJ Hill 58) v Warwickshire.
Northampton Northamptonshire 145-6 v Durham.
South Group
Bristol Kent 125-8 (DJ Bell-Drummond 62) v
Gloucestershire.
Chelmsford Somerset 225-6 (Babar Azam 56) v Essex.
Tennis
ATP/WTA ROGERS CUP (Montreal/Toronto)
Men: First round: J Millman (Aus) bt F López (Sp) 6-7 (4)
7-6 (2) 6-3; H Hurkacz (Pol) bt T Fritz (US) 6-3 7-5;
B Coric (Cro) bt P Gojowczyk (Ger) 2-6 6-1 7-6 (2);
K Edmund (GB) bt N Kyrgios (Aus) 6-3 6-4.
Second round: A Zverev (Ger) bt C Norrie (GB) 7-6 (4) 6-4;
N Basilashvili (Geo) bt J-L Struff (Ger) 2-6 6-2 6-3.
Women: First round: D Vekic (Cro) bt M Keys (US) 3-6 7-6(5) 7-6 (5); B Andreescu (Can) bt E Bouchard (Can) 4-6 6-1
6-4; A Pavlyuchenkova (Rus) bt A Sabalenka (Blr) 3-6 6-3
7-5.
Second round: M Bouzkova (Cz) bt S Stephens (US) 6-2
7-5; S Kenin (US) bt A Barty (Aus) 6-7 (5) 6-3 6-4;
K Bertens (Neth) bt F Di Lorenzo (US) 6-2 6-1.
Snooker
INTERNATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP (Daqing, China)
Third round: J Trump (Eng) bt J Perry (Eng) 6-2; G Wilson
(Eng) bt J Jones (Eng) 6-3; T Ford (Eng) bt A Higginson
(Eng) 6-4; M Selby (Eng) bt D Gilbert (Eng) 6-5; M Allen
(NI) bt A Carter (Eng) 6-2; G Dott (Sco) bt J Higgins (Sco)
6-2; Ding Junhui (Chn) bt Liang Wenbo (Chn) 6-5;
S Murphy (Eng) bt N Robertson (Aus) 6-5.
Baseball
MAJOR LEAGUE
Arizona 8 Philadelphia 4; Baltimore 4 NY Yankees 9; Boston
2 Kansas City 6; Chicago Cubs 4 Oakland 11; Cincinnati 8 LA
Angels 4; Cleveland P Texas P; Detroit 10 Chicago White Sox
6; Houston 11 Colorado 6; LA Dodgers 3 St Louis 1;
Minnesota 7 Atlanta 12; NY Mets 5 Miami 0; Pittsburgh 3
Milwaukee 4; San Francisco 3 Washington 5; Seattle 4 San
Diego 9; Tampa Bay 7 Toronto 6 (10 innings).
Fixtures
Football
Uefa Europa League
Third qualifying round: First leg (selected) Ludogorets v
The New Saints (6.30pm); Midtjylland v Rangers (7pm);
Pyunik v Wolves (5pm); Rijeka v Aberdeen (7pm)
Rugby league
Betfred Super League
Warrington v St Helens (7.45pm)
Cricket
Tour Match (second day of three)
New Road Worcestershire v Australians (11am)
First One-Day International
Providence West Indies v India (2.30pm)
Vitality T20 Blast
South Group Lord’s Middlesex v Surrey (6.15pm)Nick MashiterNuno Espírito Santo has dismissed
fears that Wolves’ latest Europa
League journey will hurt them in the
Premier League.
Wolves face FC Pyunik in Yerevan,
the capital of Armenia, in their
third-round qualifying match today,
and the squad fl ew there yesterday.They plan to come straight back after
the game – a round trip of more than
5,000 miles. The match is 72 hours
before their opening Premier League
game at Leicester on Sunday but Nuno
said: “It’s the reality, it’s very far but
it’s more important to prepare well.
“We’re going to ... try in the fl ight
there and [on] the return to make th e
time useful ... to rush the recovery of
the players. It’s a challenge and we’ll
embrace it. We are proud because
achieving what we did last season
was huge for the club. As a group of
professionals it is a challenge and we
want to embrace it. Pyunik did well
in the previous round and we expect
it to be tough. In football there are no
favourites, we have to play the game.”
The transfer window closes today
while Nuno and the squad are in
eastern Europe, but the manager
refused to rule out any late signings.
“The reality is the market is still open,so let’s see. When it’s closed and
fi nished, let’s talk about it.”
Matt Doherty will travel after
recovering from a knee injury while
Patrick Cutrone, who joined from
Milan last week, and the Real Madrid
loanee Jesús Vallejo could make their
debuts. Morgan Gibbs-White is a
doubt after sus taining minor ligament
damage in the 4-1 second-leg win at
Crusaders last week, but Raúl Jiménez
is fi t after a foot problem. PA MediaEuropa LeagueWolve s put
brave face on
5,000 mile trip
to Armenia
▲ Patrick Cutrone boarding the plane
yesterday as Wolves went to YerevanForrest fi res Celtic scored a precious away goal in the fi rst leg of their
Champions League qualifi er at the Romanian side CFR Cluj last night. James
Forrest (above) scored the equaliser for the Scottish champions in the 37th
MIRCEA ROSCA/AP minute, after Mario Rondón had given the home side the lead. Guardian sportРЕЛИЗ ПОДГОТОВИЛА ГРУППА "What's News" VK.COM/WSNWS