Thank you, Megan
It would be disingenuous to start a sport-centered feminist site without acknowledging that we follow behind giants who have strode through the world leaving a clear trail that we can use. This year Megan Rapinoe decided to hang up her boots and step away from the role of competing footballer. As a member of the soccer community in the Seattle area, I was one of those holding up signs, bawling, screaming, and sharing a moment of gratitude at Megan’s last regular season home game, the highest attended NWSL match to date. This was my first season watching and cheering for the OL Reign, and this team has firmly stolen my heart, but Megan has been making waves long before this.
I won’t go through her long, long, long, long, long list of on-field achievements. As thrilling as she is to watch and study from a football-wonk point of view, her off-the-pitch activism is what truly sets her apart. Megan’s energy and passion set her apart early as a natural team leader. And that same passion and energy translated into using her platform as a high profile female footballer to advocate for equality in sport. While she stands firmly as the figurehead for gender equality, our fight for equality must include racial equality and Megan has been an outspoken advocate and ally at every turn.
My gentleman and I took our kiddos to Australia and New Zealand to watch the FIFA Women’s World Cup this summer. The first game we watched was in Melbourne, and all jet-lagged that first morning we found our way to the Hardware Society for breakfast. (Amazing. Absolutely recommend. No mistakes ordering anything off the menu.) We climbed into our booth next to another group clearly here to watch Team USA in our first game out of group play. I started taking pictures of my kiddos and this incredible hot-chocolate experience they were going through when I realized that the woman sitting behind them in the bright pink hat looked incredibly familiar.
I wish I could say I got a selfie and an autograph, but it felt selfish to impose on a lovely family brunch the morning before Megan was going to represent our country on the field for possibly the last time. (Hello, foreshadowing.) So I snuck up to the cash register and paid for their breakfast anonymously. It was the least I could do. This woman shouldn’t have to pay for a drink or a meal for the rest of her life.
It’s Megan’s fault, really. She’s the reason I’m here. At the same time Megan was being celebrated and feted across the country for her seemingly tireless leadership on and off the field, my home football club struggles against allegations of sexual harassment and willful blindness to the toxic culture that allowed it to continue for so long. I had just been approached to help, but part of me resisted because I felt like I didn’t know enough. I wasn’t authoritative enough. I wasn’t enough.
But that’s the point, isn’t it? None of us are enough by ourselves. Megan didn’t jump out by herself, she stood in a community. She stood among athletes and activists and pushed alongside others. But she didn’t wait until she was perfect, either. Heaven knows that toxic men don’t wait. And I trust that all my acknowledged gaps in my knowledge will keep me from the arrogance of assuming I have the only right answer. It will ensure that I stand with my community around me as I listen and continue to fight.
So, thank you, Megan. From the OL Reign family. From us football moms. From the whole soccer community. From everyone who loves sport and wants us to do better. Thank you for being loud. Thank you for being proud. And thanks for the trail-blazing.