"You only like him because he's handsome."

I have never liked Cristiano Ronaldo. When he played in the Barclays Premier League, he was in Manchester United during my time. Of course I didn't like him. And he is actually one of the rare players from a rival club I absolutely refused to acknowledge as 'good' during his time in ManU. ManU plays beautiful football most of the time, I admit that. Hazard and Costa from Chelsea are freaking amazing, I admit that too. And as much as I HATE IT when Lampard is compared to Gerrard (and said to be better sometimes), I still recognise that he has been really influential at Chelsea and is possibly a better player than Gerrard. But Ronaldo? No I REFUSED to acknowledge his brilliance, despite all the praise from qualified judges. He was even nominated for the Ballon d'Or and won several times but I just didn't get what all the attention was for because since he was from ManU, I naturally classified him as was pompous and whiny and a diver (basically someone who falls really easily). At that age, I really stereotyped ManU players really badly because to me, their rivalry with Liverpool was just THAT huge. It didn't even match the Merseyside derby. I just HATED ManU sosososo much.

Today I watched Ronaldo play in the Madrid derby (Real Madrid vs Atletico Madrid) for RM with a completely new perspective of things. I was kind of swayed towards Atletico because Fernando Torres, my ex flame, and Antoine Griezmann, my new crush, are from Atleti. But as I watched the match, I found myself rooting for Real and the very shocking reason was: Ronaldo. Today, I realised that he is actually an amazing player with both speed and skill who is also able to inspire his teammates. A real team player and basically, everything I refused to believe he was. The way he controlled the ball and the way he twisted and turned his body to get into a favourable position to shoot, I was truly in awe, and I don't even play football. Even though he didn't score the only goal that Real had, he definitely created the most chances for himself and for his teammates. And for that, I really salute him and regret my past childishness.

But what do I know? I'm only a girl right?

Because of Ronaldo, I realised that people very often stereotype others in the same way. I am no exception, as narrated earlier. But to narrow the scope of stereotyping down, it happens to me when I tell other people, males especially, that I support Liverpool/watch football.

90% of the time, the first thing they say to me is something along the lines of, "Do you REALLY like them? You only like them because there's someone handsome.". Or if I tell someone that I like say, Fernando Torres, likewise, all they have to say is, "You only like him because he's handsome."

When school started last August, I had a conversation with two boys I just met.

I can't rmb how it started exactly but it went something like:

Shu Ern: I support Liverpool.
Me: I support Liverpool too!
Jensen (a ManU fan): I bet you support them because got some handsome guy, CONFIRM.
Me: No?!?!?!?!
Jensen: OK u name me their squad. If you name me their squad, I'll believe.
Me: OK fine. Their goalkeeper is currently Mignolet. It was supposed to be Karius but he broke his arm–
Jensen: OK I think if she knows the guy broke his arm, she's legit. 

Like that is really the CLASSIC case of people, ESPECIALLY BOYS, doubting my 'legitimacy' as a football fan JUST BECAUSE I AM A GIRL. And I am really tired of it. Girls can play football too. We can watch football too. Just because you've never met a girl who understands football doesn't mean they don't exist. Did you know that the Singapore women's football national team is even better than the men??? Did you know that the LFC Ladies are doing better than LFC in the BPL????? Did you know that the American women's football team do better than the men but still earn significantly lesser?????

Sometimes, I even sense the same judgement from girls when I tell them I watch football and when I start talking about football to my friends. There is a hint of "yeah IDK if u know what ur talking about but I'll just nod my head and humour you while giving you the weird face". It may be because THEY don't watch football but that's the underlying tone I get.

Because of the stereotyping, I was, for a little while, afraid to publicise my opinions because they didn't matter and were incorrect anyway. I thought that boys were superior because they all sounded so knowledgeable like they knew what they were talking about and I definitely didn't. Now, I realise how stupid I was because MY opinion matters. And so does yours!!!!!

Because of MY stereotyping of other club players, I missed out on the beauty that Ronaldo brought to the game and I sincerely regret missing out on appreciating him during the time he was at ManU because I don't watch Spanish football frequently. Now ManU is no longer what they were before and I will never be able to see Ronaldo play with THAT ManU team that beat Liverpool's BPL title record. That team was phenomenal btw. There was Rooney and Beckham and Vidic and many more great players that I failed to appreciate just because I was being a childish fan. But no more!!!! A few seasons ago, I made it a point to watch all of ManU's matches because they really play such a beautiful game of football that it really brings me joy watching them even though they are not my team. Liverpool only does it occasionally.

In other words, don't stereotype people. Stereotyping causes you to miss out on the how fantastic people actually are and how much joy they can bring to your life. When you stop stereotyping, you get to see the true beauty of humanity and if that is not the most comforting thing today, then IDK what is.

I have a friend who is a footballer and supports Liverpool too and shares the same sentiments as me and I'm really happy that someone can relate to me and she is also a beautiful individual with her own thoughts and opinions about football and she's no longer afraid to talk about them. And I hope that every girl in our situation will do the same as well. No more being afraid of voicing out our opinions because it is OUR sport as much as it is the other gender's.

(If anything sounds incoherent, it's because it's 3 in the morning and I'm like WAY past my bedtime. But the fact that I'm writing this despite it being 3am shows how passionate I am about this and how I feel about it so pls don't ever discount my opinions, or anyone else's for that matter, becoz I hold this really close to my heart, and they do too.)