Every Player Counts: Celebrating women in football
As women continue to experience discrimination and prejudice on and off the sports pitch, ‘Every Player Counts’ offers a refreshing and intimate perspective of women in sport.
Flora explains that being a footballer herself has given her work a personal and unique insight into the game. “I can get into the whole experience of it, knowing these girls and that we face the same problems,” she tells me.
“It helps that I’m a female – if a guy came at this, it wouldn’t work. And knowing football helps. If I didn’t play, I couldn’t speak a similar language, I couldn’t communicate the way I do.”
Flora has trained as a fashion and documentary photography, but this project was born entirely from her deep-rooted passion for football. In a sporting world so often dominated by men, her pictures offer a refreshing antidote to the prevailing boys-club culture in the game.
For Maclean, the strength of the images offer the women a chance to express themselves in a way that separates them from their gender. “That’s the side I like to push, to make them look strong,” Maclean emphasises. “There’s nothing frilly about my photographs, freeing the girls from gender to be who they want to be.”
However, Maclean still feels that being female can limit women on the pitch. “The other day I was photographing this girl and she was 16,” Flora explains. “[Male players] were wolf whistling, and that’s not why we’re there. She should be part of them… I’m constantly reminded it’s not usual for women to play, but it should be.” Rather than limiting women to their gender, the exhibition is a reclamation of the subculture that surrounds the women’s sport.
Enjoyed this article? Like Huck on Facebook or follow us on Twitter.
Every Player Counts is open Monday 20 June 6-9 pm at the 71a Gallery. A live screening of the Euro England v. Slovakia match will be shown from 8pm, with beer provided by Five Points Brewing. RSVP to [email protected]
You might like
Halloween in Brooklyn, photographed over 50 years
Spirits and soul — Larry Racioppo’s new book documents half a century of the October festivities in New York, while tracing the city’s ever-changing character.
Cruising on the West Side Piers, New York’s wild side
West Side Highway — In the late 20th century, the area was an if-you-know-you-know hotspot for the city’s gay scene. William Howell’s new photobook immortalises it.
Ahilya Bamroo is Gen Z India’s authentic ambassador
Reel relatable — The influencer turned actor speaks about trolls, beauty standards and youth activism.
The femme bikepacking group making meaningful adventures
Sisters in the Wild — With expeditions across Wales, Slovenia, Mongolia, Vietnam and beyond, the group are providing space for FLINTA cyclists to ride and connect with nature.
What went down at Huck’s 20th birthday party
84 issues and counting — We took over east London’s Jaguar Shoes with friends old and new to celebrate two decades and our new issue, with Tony Bontana taking the decks for a special set.
Photos of friends, lovers and afters in Berlin’s party scene
Dreams and How to Keep Them – Vincent Wechselberger’s new monograph documents a decade of hedonism in the German capital, and the people he met along the way.
