Luciano Gaucci is at it again.

[johnny]

Anyone remember the president of Italian footballteam Perugia, the man who wanted to sack Korean striker Ahn for scoring against Italy ?

Well, he found another way to get media attention...

"Women," declared Luciano Gaucci, "have the same rights as men."
Not a sentiment likely to provoke much controversy these days - unless, as in this case, the speaker is a top football club chairman who has just announced he intends to put a woman into his side before the end of the coming season.

"Our scouts have already begun scouring teams in Germany, Scandinavia and the countries of the former Yugoslavia," said Mr Gaucci, chairman of the Italian Serie A side, Perugia.

"Within six months, we'll have a woman in the squad. I am convinced Perugia can be the first club in the world to have a woman play in the top division with the men," he said.

Mr Gaucci is known for his attention-grabbing ploys. He recently signed up a son of the Libyan leader, Muammar Gadafy, to be a midfielder for Perugia.

But, as Italy's best-known female footballer, Patrizia Panico, noted yesterday, "he does what he says".

Valentina Belia, captain of Perugia women's team, said it was a "revolutionary idea, but with a good deal of sense".

She said that she would willingly sign up if asked. But Mr Gaucci said he was not looking for an Italian player, "because they are not up to it physically".

Nor was he looking outside Europe, because that would mean having to wait until next season. He said Italian football federation rules banned men from playing in women's teams, but not the reverse.

Ms Panico said: "It could be fascinating. I can imagine that it would elicit vast interest from photographers, journalists and TV. And sponsors would be interested too."

A point which may, of course, have already occurred to Mr Gaucci.


This could get interresting when they swap shirts after the match.

[the new JR Jansen]

Originally posted by johnny: This could get interresting when they swap shirts after the match.

My thoughts exactly . Are they playing some European cup ? Then it might be even more interesting, you know, more exposure so to speak [img]graemlins/hehe.gif[/img] .

Anyway, it might sound nice and all, equality and so on but in sports, i haven't seen too many women that can hold their own when they play in a men's competition. On the lower levels it is very well possible but on the higher levels i have yet to see it happen.

[B_part]

I don't know if a woman can hold her own on the agonistic side against men, but it's also true that soccer isn't really much about who runs faster or who is stronger, but rather about who has good feet to kick the ball. So I guess it could work.

And knowing Gaucci, he will do it. He is going to take an eastern european player, who is said to be good looking and extremely gifted for soccer... we'll see [img]smile.gif[/img]