On Monday we had the pleasure to hear Stacey Copeland speak to us. What a breath of fresh air she was. As a child she has no interest in playing with “that thing with elastic bands” and loved to play football. Her first experience on the pitch was in primary school playing in a mixed team. She even had her hair cut short but was humiliated by a parent pointing her out as a girl and saying that she shouldn’t be allowed to play. At the time she wasn’t able to articulate how she was feeling. Although women’s football was at its height in the Second World War it was banned until 1971 with full recognition in 1993.
Her first passion had been boxing. She wanted to follow in her father and grandfathers footsteps but at the time it was illegal for females to compete. Stacey faced Mapule Ngubane for the inaugural Commonwealth female super-welter weight title in 2018 in Zimbabwe and defeated her opponent with an unanimous decision. This was live streamed to 100 million viewers. On winning her title some of the pleasure was lost to learn there was no winner’s belt for women. She has made sure that future winners will get their belt on the day of their win and eventually received hers. As an amateur, Stacey won a European silver medal, multi nations gold medal and three national titles.
However, her sporting career did start in football in the domestic league reaching the FA cup final, playing for her country and gaining a football scholarship in America. She spent five years in America and further years in Brazil and Sweden. She has suffered 12 broken bones with nine surgeries although not all sports related they are primarily through football. Her last broken leg finished her football career.
She talked frankly about the challenges for women not just in sports but in other areas. She told the story of Katherine Switzer who was the first women to run the Boston Marathon in 1967. Women were from competing in races against men as a result of her run, and it was not until 1972 that the Boston Marathon established an official women’s race. At the time it was thought that by running women would ‘develop big legs, hairy chest and their uterus would fall out’!
Stacey is deeply passionate about making a difference to others and uses her love of sport to have a positive impact wherever she can. She set up ‘Pave the Way’ in 2017 which has just recently achieved official charitable status. She believes that gender should never be a barrier to human potential. The charity wants to challenge gender stereotypes for boys, girls, men and women and works to spark a social change in attitudes so that everyone can be free to pursue their passions regardless of gender not just in sport.
Stacey’s approach has been to ‘question, challenge and change’. Stacey talked of filling up your “positive petrol tank” to help deal with any negative stresses. A Q&A session resulted in many questions. What a night.
If you missed her you may be interested in a shorter TEDx talk at the Bridgewater Hall recently.