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Don’t call me “strong” (I’m just a woman who plays football)
14 December 2017
On top of the world - well almost! - at Mount Kilimanjaro.
On 15 June this year a group of intrepid, exceptional women set off to climb Mount Kilimanjaro to try to break a world record for the highest game of competitive football ever to highlight gender inequality in sport.
It took a gruelling seven day hike to reach the top of the mountain before descending 18,979 feet to play a 90 minute, 11-a-side, match.
Flour was used to mark the volcanic ash pitch and trekking poles were used as corner flags.
The two teams, Volcano FC and Glazier FC, fought out a 0-0 draw and this week, six months later, this historic event has been officially recognised as a Guinness World Record.
Maggie Murphy, a driving force behind the initiative, said: "We now have a Guinness World Record as officially the highest altitude football game ever played.
"Football is the most popular sport in the world; there is no game easier to play. Whether in a pristine park in London or dusty street in Tanzania. Now that should be the same if you are a boy or a girl, but it’s not.
"When I was a kid there were no girls’ teams. I had to wait until I was 13 and then played adult football with players two or three times my age.
"My parents paid more and I travelled a lot further than my brothers to play the same game and I’ve been told so many times I’m “good for a girl” by guys who are really pretty average.
“I’ve put up with wolf whistles and harassment from the sidelines.
“We used to be assigned terrible pitches, week in, week out. Often waterlogged, miles from the changing room.
“One week, our game was cancelled so the guys could use our pitch and let theirs rest for the week; we were always an after thought.
“It’s not just me, it’s universal. Our mountain squad was composed of players, referees and coaches from more than 20 countries across the world. From Argentina to Sweden, from Rwanda to Napol. Women who described football as “the glue" that gave them friends and teammates, that taught them about hard work and commitment.
“We were grass roots players and ex Olympians, we were were Christian and Muslim and Buddhist and nothing at all. Petra was 55 and Grace just 15. It didn’t matter who we were or where we came from; each of us had climbed many mountains just to play the game we love."
Watch Maggie’s inspiring video in full here:
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We were grass roots players and ex Olympians, we were were Christian and Muslim and Buddhist and nothing at all."
Maggie Murphy