At 75, former footballer Baerbel Wohlleben still clearly remembers the moment in 1974 when a journalist asked, "but when you head the ball, doesn't it mess up your hair?" At that time, Wohlleben had already turned 30, but was only officially three years into her career as a footballer, because until 1971 the German Football Association (DFB) banned women from playing in competitions.
Moreover, any clubs allowing women to train or play at their facilities was liable to be sanctioned.
"...this aggressive sport is essentially alien to the nature of woman," decreed the DFB in 1955.
"In the fight for the ball, the feminine grace vanishes, body and soul will inevitably suffer harm."
"We never had any training sessions together, but played a few games against Denmark and Italy. The DFB knew it, they allowed us to play, but still told us 'you do not have the right to form a national team'."
"I didn't believe it - I thought it was nonsense."
"What does your husband think about it? Does he agree with it? Who looks after the home when you're playing? "I told them, 'my husband can also cook, why shouldn't he?' "It was a different time, you have to remembered that until 1977, German women were not allowed to work without the written consent of their husbands."
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