Lost opportunities: Looking at the 1999 World Cup 12 years later

It has been 12 years since Brandi Chastain’s sports bra made headlines.

Coming at the end of a remarkable World Cup that saw the US women capture their second title in front of 90,000 people at the Rose Bowl, to many it suggested a seminal moment in the history of women’s sport.

The generation of American women that grew up post-title IX did not remember a time when there were not opportunities for them in sport. The only threshold left to cross was the professional ranks and, with the attention that the 1999 World Cup received, it seemed to be just a matter of time until someone figured out a way to profit from the millions of screaming teenagers wearing Mia Hamm jerseys.

Certainly that was the position of New York Times reporter Jere Longman in his book The Girls of Summer, which recounted the events of the World Cup and attempted to place them into a larger context.

Longman was at times breathless in his reporting of the possibilities:

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The American soccer team produced old-fashioned nationalism of the unprecedented, of transatlantic flights and moon walks, putting 90,000 spectators in the stands for the championship game and drawing 40 million more on American television, generating a higher rating than for the finals of professional hockey and basketball. Shattered was any lingering belief that no one would pay to watch women play soccer...Some dismissed the attendance as America’s infatuation with the big event, but the glow of the American team would linger long after the tournament. On Labor Day weekend, the women drew 30,000 for a doubleheader match against Ireland in Foxboro, Massachusetts, doubling the usual attendance of the New England Revolution men’s team in Major League Soccer.

That afterglow was still evident a year later when Longman reported on the plans for creating a a women’s pro league.

The language in that Times article is interesting. An excerpt (highlighting is mine):

Bargaining from a position of strength, the Women's United Soccer Association emerged victorious yesterday in its attempt to become the sole operator of a women's professional outdoor league that is to begin play next spring.

Major League Soccer, the struggling men's professional league, announced that it would not apply to the United States Soccer Federation, the sport's national governing body, to start a women's league...

Yesterday's announcement represented a watershed moment in the history of women's sports in the United States, given that the men's soccer league essentially acceded to the terms demanded by the upstart women's league. Women's soccer on the national team level has been more successful on the field than men's soccer in this country, and more visible, too, since the victorious run by the United States national team in 1999 Women's World Cup.

It seems particularly tragic that MLS’ efforts at creating a women’s league were thwarted back in 2000. Although you can never be sure what might have been, it does seem more likely that women’s pro soccer would be on a stronger footing if that partnership had been formed.

The language Longman uses, as well as the resistance of those in the women’s game back in 2000 to work with MLS, illustrates a problem that has hurt both the men’s and women’s game over the years – namely a resistance to working together.

Far too often those in the men’s game are resistant to the ways that the women could help them expand their reach. Anyone that has ever been to a women’s game knows that, with exceptions, it’s a different audience than you see at a men’s game. If the men could reach a portion of those fans they would be stronger.

On the women’s side of the equation the reaction to outreaches by those in the men’s game is far too often one of defensiveness. There is an us versus them mentality that prevents worthwhile partnerships.

So it was in 2000. Rather than thinking about how the women’s success in 1999 could have helped the sport , too many people felt compelled to use it as an opportunity to rub it in the face of those in the men’s game. They were blinded by a 6-week party and were unable to see the true position of the game in American society.

Here in Canada we’ve seen similar battles, albeit on a smaller scale. Many in the men’s game refuse to acknowledge the 2003 u19 World Cup as a turning point for the sport and the Canadian women’s program is famously an island alone within the CSA family.

In 2008, Christine Sinclair felt compelled to insult the men’s program during a post game interview from Beijing. Asked what she thought about about former Canadian international Jason de Vos’ criticism of the team’s tactics she lashed out, saying that the Canadian men “were nowhere.”

It’s toxic and counterproductive. The truth is the sport is not strong enough in North America for either gender to be taking potshots at each other. Landon Donovan’s goal against Algeria last year has the potential to do good for the women’s game, just as the 1999 women could have helped the men’s (while helping themselves) a decade ago.

Now 12 years on from that summer the tables have turned in the US. The American men are likely as popular as ever, while the women’s program has stagnated in recent times. It’s clear that the summer of 1999 didn’t represent a changing of attitudes about women’s sport, but was rather a perfect storm, unique to that time and place.

The lesson that should have been learned is that if it ever happens again those involved in the game need to work together to take full advantage.

It’s also something Canadians should consider in the build up to the 2015 World Cup here. There is a chance there could be a Brandi Chastain moment for Canucks in four years time. Let’s hope that if there is we know what to do about it.

Join CSN over the next month as we provide comprehensive coverage of the Women’s World Cup. Not only will we provide all the news that is relevant to Canadian fans, but we also hope to remain focused on the broader issues that face women’s soccer in 2011.

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