Our thanks to Nigel for this piece on the BBC, which inevitably invites the retort, “No shit, Sherlock!!!” It was written by two female ‘journalists’ because, as we know, it takes two women to do a job that (a) doesn’t need to be done in the first place, and (b) could be done by one man in his sleep. Nigel writes:

Eric Anderson made me reflect on this. It appears that after all the hundreds of millions of pounds poured into girls’ sports and getting more girls to be sporty, there has in fact been a drop in girls; enthusiasm for PE. Of course no one countenances the idea that maybe forcing girls to be sporty has backfired and they like it even less as a result. And in amongst all the guff about “systemic” and “gender” and “funding” one girl is quoted with some predictable and understandable reasons why she’s not a fan of PE. “I really didn’t like it. It was all of it – getting on the bus, [J4MB: Exhausting for an unfit girl, presumably], getting changed, [ditto], getting really sweaty, the competitive people shouting at you for not doing the right thing.” The same reasons given decades ago when I was at school and there was concern about girls not engaging in PE. The report ends with a moderately sensible suggestion, which flies in the face of the current obsession with women’s football. “The choice of activities in high school is also important. There has been too much emphasis on organised sport. It might be more appropriate to look at what activities girls are likely to engage with when they leave school.” Which of course are things such as Zumba, Pilates, Dancercise, Badminton. Things not requiring a team  Coach, not competitive team sports, generally indoors and though you’ll get sweaty, not dirty or rough. Perhaps ignoring the feminists and encouraging activities most girls would choose over football, rugby, cricket might stop the declining interest in PE. Well they could try seeing the current campaigns have had the reverse effect.

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