People are expressing a desire to be anti-transphobic and anti-sexist. So they are in fact doing exactly what you want, albeit in relation to a name. However, removing the term women or girls is emotive for many, for lots of reasons. Particularly related to the patriarchal society we still live in. Let’s not forget, we are not equal in gender either. 

We are a women’s football team who are welcoming to our NB friends. We are not a gender neutral team. That’s a whole other discussion to be had perhaps but that would open us up to cis men and I assume we don’t want to do that. 



On Thu, 17 Nov 2022 at 17:51, Sally Wood via football-women <football-women@eastoncowfolk.org.uk> wrote:
Just to add in a bit on the history of the name, as we've just recently written it up for the tourney...

The origin of the Easton Cowboys and Cowgirls Sports and Social Club (ECCSSC), as it is nowadays called, was the Easton Cowboys football team in 1992 - which was a bunch of punky lefty mates who drank together and started playing footy, then affiliated themselves to the Plough. The name came from the fact that a few of them liked westerns, nowt more in-depth than that. The team grew and a few of the players' girlfriends started coming to tours and wanted to give it a go, and so the Cowgirls were born. There wasn't that much thought therefore put into the name.

A few years ago we voted to change the name of our website domain and email addresses, which were still eastoncowboys.org.uk. Rather than eastoncowboysandcowgirls.org.uk we went for the shorter and more inclusive eastoncowfolk.org.uk. So this isn't the official name of the club, although a lot of people use it for simplicity. In fact, there was a significant backlash from some of the older members about any suggestion of changing the clubs name at the time, even though it was just for the website domain. So it is definitely an emotive issue for some people.

In my personal opinion, I think it would be great if people put the same passion into the club living up to its ethos of being "anti-racist, anti-sexist, anti-fascist, anti-homophobic and anti-transphobic" as they do into a name which was decided on a whim 25 years ago in very different times. But I hear both sides of this argument and will remain in my usual place on the fence for now.

To add a couple of alternative points on the issue of staying true to the history of club - that history also includes it being a radical, progressive collective which is not afraid to shake things up in the name of progress. Change is also part of the club - I've been told many times that the original (albeit maybe unofficial) motto of the club was "no cops, no jugglers, no christians" - while some of the members might still hold true to that sentiment, times have changed and it's definitely not bandied around anymore.

Sally Fucking Wood


On Thu, 17 Nov 2022 at 13:36, C M via football-women <football-women@eastoncowfolk.org.uk> wrote:

Hey cow pals,


As a newish member to the club, I’m aware I might not be on the same page re the Cowgirls name and its significance, but I can see the appeal of changing it and would support that move. I think as a club we want to avoid, as best we can, any feeling of exclusion, and trying to show inclusivity in the name would be a small step to show the club’s existing ethos. 


Personally, I quite like the name Cowfolk as a sort of subversion of the cowboy/cowgirl stereotype. Could we use Cowfolk in place of Cowgirls? I also like Jo’s suggestion of Cowgxrls (personally, I don’t think the ‘x’ will cause confusion).


There was also mention above about the history of the Cowgirls name within the club – I’m afraid I’m not familiar with the history, but am keen to learn! 


Cara


On Thu, 17 Nov 2022 at 12:26, Josie Giblin via football-women <football-women@eastoncowfolk.org.uk> wrote:

It’s difficult too, because there may be people who we absolutely would have in the club, but who saw the name and thought “well I’m not a girl...” and were put off. We’re never going to be able to ask their thoughts, only those who weren’t put off, which is a bit of a biased sample.

 

But this is all theoretical... it might be that no one has ever been put off by it.

 

I’m honestly a bit sat on the fence, I don’t feel strongly that we have to change the name, but I am keen to hear if anyone comes up with a bright idea that might work well for everyone!

 

Sent from Mail for Windows

 

From: Rona A
Sent: 17 November 2022 12:04
To: Frances Topham Smallwood
Cc: Josie Giblin; easton cowgirls group
Subject: Re: [Easton-Cowgirls] Feedback from a cowmmittee meeting

 

If we weren’t going to change it, asking might seem tokenistic ? 

 

On Thu, 17 Nov 2022 at 11:55, Frances Topham Smallwood via football-women <football-women@eastoncowfolk.org.uk> wrote:

Totally support earlier comments about trans/nb inclusivity, and I had no idea the fa's rules were so horrible and invasive. 

 

On the name, I'm in favour of keeping the cowgirls name for the same reasons people have mentioned above. We already have cowfolk as the name for the overall club which I think goes some way to signalling it's inclusivity. 

 

Can we ask our trans/non binary players what they think of the name? Or would that be putting them on the spot too much? That way we'd have more info on whether people actually feel excluded by it, or we just worry that they might. 

 

Cheers

Frances

 

 

 

 

On Thu, 17 Nov 2022, 14:44 Josie Giblin via football-women, <football-women@eastoncowfolk.org.uk> wrote:

I agree with comments before – 100% behind inclusivity, and 100% agree with the connection to womens football and our fight to play and be taken seriously as footballers. But I just want to chuck in some thoughts...

 

what’s brought up this discussion was the fact that trans and non-binary folk are still struggling and having to fight to play in our leagues. And although the casual league is miles ahead of the FAs archaic stance, there have still been incidents with trans and NB players facing discrimination from other players. For those reasons, I’m interested to hear suggestions of how we could not so much totally change our name, but maybe adapt it to reflect our inclusivity... while “girls” doesn’t exclusively mean cis women, it might not capture everyone, particularly some NB folk.

 

The only ideas I’ve had so far were Easton Cowgxrls (which was highlighted as maybe losing the language too much, and to be fair is a linguistical mess), and Easton Cowgirls+ (maybe this one is a bit confusing). I’ve got no other ideas yet! I’m curious to hear if anyone has an idea that can still reflect the importance of women’s football, but give an inclusive nod to those who don’t consider themselves a girl

 

Jo x

 

Sent from Mail for Windows

 

From: Turiya Pearce-Smith via football-women
Sent: 17 November 2022 10:51
To: Woo Hall
Cc: easton cowgirls group
Subject: Re: [Easton-Cowgirls] Feedback from a cowmmittee meeting

 

My ten cents - at an amateur level the FA's requirements on trans players are ridiculously insensitive and serve to exclude many people from the grassroots game, aka I definitely agree that we as a club should take a stance against it. I equally strongly feel we should stick to our identity as a diverse, inclusive, trans-inclusive women's football club, because for me the women's game itself and the awesome sisterhood that comes with it is something really special, that's my personal take.

 

 

T x

 

On Wed, 16 Nov 2022 at 22:14, Woo Hall via football-women <football-women@eastoncowfolk.org.uk> wrote:

Re the name change.... noooooo way.

 

 

I fully embrace inclusivity, accessibility and solidarity with trans and non binary players 100%. 

 

Although I do not support ridding ourselves of our 'Cowgirl' name, our very connection to 'women's football' ...on the back of a history of women being banned from playing football, only progressing now in developed countries in the West. 

I am proud as a woman to be part of a generation that see's women/girls/us in sport actually being taken seriously. Why would we change our name???

 

 

Wendle xx

 

 

 

On Wed, 16 Nov 2022, 21:50 Rona A via football-women, <football-women@eastoncowfolk.org.uk> wrote:

I support the stance. 

 

However, I wholeheartedly disagree with changing our name. We should  be inclusive, but we don’t need to eradicate the use of the term ‘girls’ or ‘women’ to do so. Women/ girls is not an excluding term 

 

On Wed, 16 Nov 2022 at 17:28, Lizzie Winter via football-women <football-women@eastoncowfolk.org.uk> wrote:

Hi Cows,

 

We had a cowmittee meeting last night because Manchester Laces have asked for our support in their stance against the current FA policy regarding trans players. We submitted our support and will hopefully be on their website soon.

 

Trans Equality Campaign — Manchester Laces

Charlton invicta fc. Charlton Invicta support trans inclusion in sport aligned with each person’s gender. Additionally, Non-binary folk are either being totally excluded or forced to play as a gender that is illegitimate to them.

manchesterlaces.co.uk

 

I've attached the minutes so have a read and let me know what you think and we can discuss it at our next meeting/after training.

 

X

 

 

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--

Turiya Pearce-Smith

Mobile: +44 777 988 5947

 

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