Every Player Counts: Celebrating women in football
- Text by Saoirse O'Leary
- Photography by Flora Maclean
![Every Player Counts: Celebrating women in football](https://images.huckmag.com/tco/images/Huck/Women-Banner_2023-03-27-084235_nneg.jpg?w=1920&q=75&auto=compress&format=jpg)
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.
![Autosave-File vom d-lab2/3 der AgfaPhoto GmbH](https://images.huckmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Flora-Maclean_Huck_11.jpg?w=1920&q=75&auto=compress&format=jpg)
![Autosave-File vom d-lab2/3 der AgfaPhoto GmbH](https://images.huckmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Flora-Maclean_Huck_4.jpeg?w=1920&q=75&auto=compress&format=jpg)
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.”
![Autosave-File vom d-lab2/3 der AgfaPhoto GmbH](https://images.huckmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Flora-Maclean_Huck_10.jpeg?w=1920&q=75&auto=compress&format=jpg)
![Autosave-File vom d-lab2/3 der AgfaPhoto GmbH](https://images.huckmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Flora-Maclean_Huck_3.jpeg?w=1920&q=75&auto=compress&format=jpg)
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.
![Autosave-File vom d-lab2/3 der AgfaPhoto GmbH](https://images.huckmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Flora-Maclean_Huck_9.jpeg?w=1920&q=75&auto=compress&format=jpg)
![Autosave-File vom d-lab2/3 der AgfaPhoto GmbH](https://images.huckmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Flora-Maclean_Huck_7.jpeg?w=1920&q=75&auto=compress&format=jpg)
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.”
![Autosave-File vom d-lab2/3 der AgfaPhoto GmbH](https://images.huckmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Flora-Maclean_Huck_6.jpg?w=1920&q=75&auto=compress&format=jpg)
![Autosave-File vom d-lab2/3 der AgfaPhoto GmbH](https://images.huckmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Flora-Maclean_Huck_5.jpeg?w=1920&q=75&auto=compress&format=jpg)
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 hello@floramaclean.com
Latest on Huck
![Autism cannot be cured — stop trying](https://images.huckmag.com/tco/images/Huck/shutterstock_2322534063.jpg?w=1920&q=75&auto=compress&format=jpg)
Autism cannot be cured — stop trying
A questionable study into the ‘reversal’ of autism does nothing but reinforce damaging stereotypes and harm, argues autistic author Jodie Hare.
Written by: Jodie Hare
![Bristol Photo Festival returns for second edition](https://images.huckmag.com/tco/images/Huck/Hashem-Shakeri-from-the-series-_Staring-into-the-Abyss_.-%C2%A9-Hashem-Shakeri.jpg?w=1920&q=75&auto=compress&format=jpg)
Bristol Photo Festival returns for second edition
After the success of it’s inaugural run, the festival returns this autumn with exhibitions, education and community programmes exploring a world in constant motion through still image.
Written by: Ben Smoke
![Documenting the life of a New York gang leader paralysed by gun violence](https://images.huckmag.com/tco/images/Huck/web-Eyanna-has-always-been-Maliks-primary-caregiver.jpg?w=1920&q=75&auto=compress&format=jpg)
Documenting the life of a New York gang leader paralysed by gun violence
New photobook ‘Say Less’ is a complex yet humanising look into a life wrecked by gun violence and organised crime.
Written by: Isaac Muk
![The woman who defined 80s Hip Hop photography](https://images.huckmag.com/tco/images/Huck/7_ULTRAMAGNETIC-MCS_NYC-1990.jpg?w=1920&q=75&auto=compress&format=jpg)
The woman who defined 80s Hip Hop photography
A new exhibition brings together Janette Beckman’s visionary and boundary pushing images of an era of cultural change and moral panic.
Written by: Miss Rosen
![In photos: the dogs of Dogtown](https://images.huckmag.com/tco/images/Huck/saguy_dogtown_02_RGB.jpg?w=1920&q=75&auto=compress&format=jpg)
In photos: the dogs of Dogtown
A new photobook documents Venice Beach’s four legged friends and their colourful cast of owners.
Written by: Isaac Muk
![Inside the battle to stop coal](https://images.huckmag.com/tco/images/Huck/DSC00173.jpg?w=1920&q=75&auto=compress&format=jpg)
Inside the battle to stop coal
As the legal challenge against Britain’s first deep coal mine in 30 years reaches the High court, we talk to activists at the centre of the fight to stop it.
Written by: Ben Smoke