Former footballer Joey Barton is no stranger to controversies, and he’s views on women’s football is another debatable one.
Speaking to podcast Football, Feminism & Everything in Between, Barton who is now a manager of Fleetwood believes women’s football should be adjusted for women physiologically and biologically.
‘The goal sizes and the weight of the ball should be changed.
“If we’re going to make women’s football better, as a spectator sport, to stand on its own in the marketplace, if you keep playing on the same size of pitches as men with the same size of football as men and men’s rules, you’re always going to have an inferior product, because men are bigger, stronger and faster than women.
“If you tailor it, women’s football could take a lot of strides tactically and technically, way beyond its current limitations.
“Let’s be realistic about it. The size of a football for men’s a size five, say we moved the size of a women’s football down to a size four, would anybody really notice the difference?
“No, but I guarantee you in terms of the physicality and the output, level of passes and the range of passes players some of the women players would then be able to do because the ball’s a bit smaller and the ball’s more suited to their physiological state.”
Barton however, is not the only who supported the idea.
Earlier this year, Chelsea women’s manager, Emma Hayes also suggested that the size of the goals should be reduced to help make up for the ‘physical differences’ between men and women.
She were criticised by England goalkeeper Karen Bardsley, who argued that the move would harm the fight for equality.
To change or not to change, it might not make a difference to the game at all. Or it’s what Barton said, we might not notice at all.