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Girls eye the gridiron |
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By Tom E. Currant, Sports Writer |
| So 35 girls at Framingham (MA) High School have signed a piece of paper
that basically says, " Yeah, I’m interested in playing high school football. " Not the least bit surprised? Kind of admire their pluck? Good. Then you’ll also admire the response of the school’s head football coach, Gary Doherty, and its athletic director, Jim O’Connor. While it’s way too early to tell if the proposal will ever come to pass, both men are on record as saying they’ll support the effort and do what they can to help get it started. " I give the kids credit, " said O’Connor, who hasn’t yet seen a formal proposal. " This is how women’s hockey started at our school. " Doherty, who last fall led Framingham to its first-ever Super Bowl title, said, " If that’s what they want, that’s great. I think kids playing any sport is a good thing. " The movement is under way thanks to sophomore Monique Webber, a junior varsity basketball player who’s got it in her mind that she wants to knock heads. " I’ve always wanted to play football, " said Webber, who moved to Framingham from Brooklyn, N.Y. a year ago. " My cousins Matthew and Michael play college football in New York and my little brother plays Pee Wee football. I learned how to play from playing with them and I just want to get this started. " Can it work? Well, it’s going to be kind of an uphill battle. No school system in New England offers girls football, which means — even if Framingham could form a team — it will be a bit difficult to find opponents. Beyond that, it remains to be seen how committed the 35 girls Webber says have signed her petition really are. " I can see a lot of parents saying they don’t want their daughter doing it, " she admitted. But Webber thrives on the skepticism. " A lot of guys around school have been saying, ‘Oh, girls can’t play football,’ but we can do it, we know we can do it. We want to show we can. I want to play football and also I want to prove a point. " Webber can take solace in the fact that two of the guys that matter most at Framingham — at least in matters of football — aren’t snickering. " Monique really loves football and she came to me and asked me what to do, " said Doherty. " I said, ‘If you’re interested, you need to find other people that are interested in playing. If you need help, I’d love to help you. Let me know when you can get some people and you have a meeting and I’d love to be there.’ " O’Connor, meanwhile, hasn’t been approached by Webber but has heard about the effort. " It’s in it’s infancy right now so I don’t know if we did have a program who we’d play or even if they want to play flag or tackle or in the spring or fall, " he said. " But women’s ice hockey started the same way. There was interest, people signed a petition, they went to the school committee and we started ice hockey and we now have one of the most successful programs around. There were kids who could barely skate five years ago and now they go very well. " The big obstacle looming, of course, is competition. If the girls can’t find any, they’d have to try out for the boys team. Girls playing high school football isn’t unheard of — a girl played for Hudson Catholic last year and nationwide, there are usually at least a handful playing every fall, but Framingham is a Division 1 program and there are some fairly large kids at a school of this size. Webber has thought of that. " I just want to play, and it would be good to have our own team, " she said. " I’m a little scared (of playing on the boys team), but there’s enough interest I think. A lot of girls have asked me about it. " She said she’d be willing to start off playing flag football if that’s what it takes, adding, " As long as I’m playing football, I’m happy. I want to play on a football team and I haven’t had that chance. " Certainly, the odds are stacked against her, but Webber has already shown she has one quality that will serve her well if this ever does take off. Grit. " I’m just like one of the guys when I play with my cousins, " she said. " I can take the hits. It doesn’t bother me. " |