Women's Football Symposium
Women's football goes from strength to strength
Prominent speakers at the Women's Football Symposium: the Canadian referee Sonia Denoncourt Photo Brett Whitesell
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It was an opportunity too good to miss: the confluence in Los Angeles of delegates from the whole world of football for the FIFA Extraordinary Congress and the finals of the Women's World Cup. The synergy between the two events produced a two-day symposium on women's football, the second of its kind after that held in Zurich in 1992, involving specialists from virtually all the FIFA member associations as well as the confederations, the media, and interested observers.
In its own way, the line-up for the symposium matched that for the finals at the Rose Bowl two or three days later. The opening speech by US Secretary of Health and Human Services Donna Shalala set the tone for an enlightening couple of days of debate combining the central notions of women's rights, women's sport in general, and women's football in particular.
The quality of subsequent speakers was no less impressive, featuring the Chair of the Women's World Cup USA 99, former Olympic gold medallist Donna de Varona; French Sports Minister Marie-George Buffet; Canadian referee Sonia Denoncourt; and the captain of the US World Champions in 1991, April Heinrichs, amongst many others. Surprise appearances from players such as Americans Tiffeny Milbrett and Cindy Parlow gave the proceedings an important topical edge, ensuring that they did not become too philosophical or lose touch with practical reality.
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