The Heroic Transformation of an Entire Team: How the Swedish Women’S National Soccer Team Became Heroes

University of Richmond

From the SelectedWorks of Scott .T Allison

2020

The eH roic Transformation of an Entire Team: How the Swedish Women’s National Soccer Team Became Heroes Olivia Sjoedin, University of Richmond

Available at: https://works.bepress.com/scott_allison/105/ 21

The Heroic Transformation of an Entire Team: How the Swedish Women’s National Soccer Team Became Heroes

Olivia Sjoedin

The atmosphere is heavy with chagrin and the grass field is damp with blood, sweat, and tears. There they stood – the Swedish Women’s National Soccer Team had played the final in the Olympic Games of 2016 and it was one of the greatest achievements from the ladies’ team in a long time. Nevertheless, history had repeated itself. Sweden had once again suffered a loss against mighty Germany, for the tenth time in a row. They had fought, struggled and yearned for the equalizer; they had climbed a mountain, only to be pushed back down again by the Hector of the soccer world. They said they lost a gold medal, but was that really everything that happened that night?

304 During the Summer Olympics of 2016, the SWNST (the Swedish Women’s National Soccer Team) was considered to be one of the teams with an advantage. They were expected to play well and win games because of previous achievements and the level of skill their team possessed. In the final against Germany, the tables had turned and they were now the underdogs in the game. Despite losing in the finals, many people identified with them because in the SWNST’s struggles they could see their own suffering, which is at the core of Vandello, Goldschmied, and Michniewicz’s (2017) thesis about how underdogs emerge as heroic entities.

In this case, the reasons why people related to the underdog status of the SWNST probably resides within the thrill of the unexpected. The Swedish team scoring an equalizer would have been against the odds, but it is probable that most people would have cheered for them to score for the game to continue, prolong the experience, and make it more exciting. If they were to have scored an equalizer, they would have been praised for making a heroic effort in keeping the game alive despite the odds being deeply against them. Moreover, if they would have won, they would without hesitation have been considered a team of heroines by the entire Swedish population. The main purpose of this chapter is to analyze, define, and demonstrate what actually makes the Swedish Women’s National Soccer Team a group of heroines.

Overview of the SWNST

The first official women’s soccer games were played in Sweden, most of which were exhibition games, in the early 1900s (Riksidrottsmuséet, The Swedish Athletic Museum, 2016). However, at that time, women's soccer was denounced and their matches were considered to be ridiculous and petty. These exhibition games they played often had the character of being jesting events where "lads" were posed against "slim girls". In 1973, the SWNST played their first international game in history, and interest would come to increase drastically in 1984 when Sweden won gold medal in the European Championship (Swedish Football Association, 2018).

In 2014, about 150,000 of Sweden's total of 500,000 active soccer players were women, accounting for 30% of Sweden’s total of active players. Consequently,

305 soccer was the second most popular sport for women in Sweden, after track and field, which then had about 225,000 active women (The Swedish Sports Confederation, 2018).

Hedvig Lindahl: The Key Hero

One of the key players of the current team is both famed and criticized goalkeeper Hedvig Lindahl. Born in 1983, she is old enough to have spent her entire life following the SWNST’s journey from the beginning of their recog- nition to the present day (Union of European Football Associations [UEFA], 2017). Lindahl appeared in a few matches with the national youth teams, but she made her big breakthrough in the women’s national team, which is where she has contributed to the heroine’s path to success and heroism (The Swedish Football Association, 2018).

Lindahl wasn’t necessarily part of the team’s heroic departure, but she has unquestionably been a part of the initiation. She has endured their trials of being under-resourced, as well as being criticized by the media and the fans and being publicly ridiculed. She has had a mentor in the form of legend- ary Swedish female goalkeeper Elisabeth Leidinge, who took Lindahl under her wings and coached her through her experience with the Swedish youth national team. She has also been a mentor to up-and-coming goalkeeper prodigy Hilda Carlén in the SWNST who is poised to be the one to continue Lindahl’s legacy as her successor. Moreover, she has acquired knowledge, wisdom, and new skills with this team throughout these challenges they have faced together (Allison, Goethals & Kramer, 2017).

Experiences with Criticism

In an interview with a respected Swedish sports-site, Lindahl revealed her struggles and the challenges she has faced: “It really was like that [headlines about the smallest things] for a while. People around me would come up and tell me that how I was being treated [by the media] wasn’t acceptable. How they are treating you in comparison to your competitors. You can’t do anything without having them criticizing you” (Football Channel, 2016). The

306 same interview tells us how during the World Cup 2007 and the World Cup 2011, there was a great deal of criticism aimed at Lindahl.

This difficult time can be recognized as the second phase of initiation in Campbell’s (1949) monomyth of the hero. During this initiation stage, Lindahl faced challenges and obstacles that she was compelled to overcome to further advance in her journey toward transforming into a heroine (Allison, Goethals & Kramer, 2017). These trials were at their worst fall in 2012 after the Olympics in London; she considered quitting because of the stress and criticism from others. “It was tough. 2012 was really tough. This led to an injury in my cruciate liga- ment that same fall. I played very stressed throughout the Olympics and played very stressed in qualifying matches with the national team. [I] felt the compe- tition, and everyone wanted others to play so I became ill when I got back to the club team because I had pushed myself so much. I did not take good care of myself. It was not a good time" (Lindahl, 2016).

Lindahl also explained how close she was to quitting the sport altogether because of the lack of income and lengthy commuting in combination with all the criticism she was receiving. In response to that, she went to see a sports psychologist and then realized that she only played soccer because she thinks it is fun, and not for the fame, fortune, or money. Ultimately, Lindahl went on to participate as a third goalkeeper in the European Championship in Sweden 2013 and then reclaimed her place as first goalkeeper in the World Cup in Canada.

The SWNST’s heroic journey has been an involuntary one and they may not follow the monomyth of Campbell’s hero (1949) to perfection, but their story is an important one because it is actively changing both Sweden and the world of soccer. The heroic transformation they are undergoing is advancing society by inspiring and guiding us all through our own transformations. Lindahl is a strong, enlightened leader on the team and has helped transform others. A prominent example of Lindahl’s impact is seen in the positive influence that she has on the people around her, such as young goalkeeper and SWNST col- league Hilda Carlén. Lindahl has also been an inspiring source for even younger, mainly female but also male goalkeepers, and others who have struggled with public criticism (The Swedish Football Association, 2018).

307 The Monomyth of the Hero

Consistent with Campbell’s (1949) description of the hero’s journey in his groundbreaking book, “The Hero with a Thousand Faces”, the SWNST’s journey was centered on the players’ willingness to make sacrifices and commit to something larger than themselves. The players might not have realized it at first, but that is what was required of them and they stepped up to the challenge. They have committed not only to the team of the greatest female soccer players in Sweden, which itself is a challenge, but they have also committed to developing something greater, which in this case is the battle for equality in a patriarchal society.

Recently, Denmark’s Women’s National Soccer Team protested against the salary differences between the men’s and women’s team in order for them to get their compensation demands heard from the federation. The did not have any success, However, the Norwegian Soccer Women’s Nation Soccer Team took the initiative and fought for equal pay with the men’s team. In an act of self-sacrifice, the Norwegian Men’s National Soccer Team rejected a portion of their pay so that by 2018 both Norwegian national teams enjoyed equal wages (Svenska Dagbladet [SvD, The Swedish Daily Newspaper], 2017).

Motivation

As mentioned earlier, the SWNST’s journey involving the fight for equal sala- ries was involuntary and perhaps not intended to become what it has become. The team suffered, fought, and endured their challenges; but most importantly, throughout all of this they had love – that is, love for one another and love for their sport. Every person on their roster has followed their bliss (Campbell, 1988), and their love for soccer rose above almost any other source of motivation. Unlike the Swedish Men’s National Team, the women’s salary is so small that it could not truly serve as much source of motivation. All they have was their love for the sport, which itself can be inspirational to many, and they are the underdogs in this unfair and unequal position (Vandello et al., 2017). Even though succumbing to this unfairness seems like an easy way out, they have chosen to feed from it and fight it, which is an important heroic quality.

Most players on the SWNST probably do not even consider themselves heroines, making their motivations purely genuine heroically humble (Worthington

308 & Allison, 2018). Soccer players generally have both inner and outer motivations; inner motivations could consist of the will to perform well and to prove something to yourself, while outer motivations could be invisible, such as wanting to make your family proud and wanting to win a tournament. The heroic traits in these players shine through when needed, and their motivations will not change until gender equality is established. Types of heroic transformation

The main type of transformation that the SWNST has gone through is a suffering transformation (Allison & Setterberg, 2016). Historically, women have been the underdogs in most societies around the world. When the very first women’s soccer games were played in Sweden, they were at first considered petty and timid because they were compared to how men’s soccer was played. They had to endure these exhibition games where no one took them seriously; they were considered to be these “slim girls” who would play against the big guys, and no one expected them to enjoy success because to the public it was just condescending entertainment. Furthermore, since women soccer players have suffered and through love and compassion for the sport, they have changed the way society views them and gained their respect because today, soccer is the biggest sport for both sexes in Sweden (The Swedish Sports Confederation, 2016).

The Great Eight Hero Attributes

What the SWNST has gained from this type of heroic transformation is a few of the Great Eight hero attributes; they have at least five of the eight charac- teristics of a great hero (Allison & Goethals, 2017; Allison, Goethals, & Kramer, 2017):

- Strength; they are strong, leading, dominating and courageous while on the field, as well as being courageous and strong when being faced with the inequalities of being female soccer players.

- Selflessness; to become a unified team, they need to be moral, humble, altruis- tic, and sociocentric, which are qualities they have acquired during their hero’s journey.

309 - Caring; they are caring and compassionate towards one another, and they are also kind, humble, and empathetic. These traits help them be open and straightforward when communicating because they expect each other to be caring and empathetic.

- Resilience; while competing on the field, they are mentally determined to achieve their goals and perform well, and they are as persevering and as accomplished as they can possibly be (Davis et al. 2011)..

- Inspiration; they are inspiring, admirable, and a motivation to not only each other but also to many young soccer players who might already perceive them as their heroes.

Pathway to Transformation

The SWNST’s primary pathway to transformation has been the arc from ego- centricity to sociocentricity. When a member of a high quality soccer team, players need to develop a consciousness of the self in combination with a selfless, heroic mindset in order to work for the good of the team (Allison & Goethals, 2017). Sociocentricity is a quality that players partly evolve as they are being socialized at a young age, but it can continue to be developed to the point where you see yourself, the people around you, and the world itself as one great unit (p. 392). In this case, every player in the SWNST must become self-aware as well as aware their own tendencies to unify the team as one. Unity is key when playing soccer, both in a sense of team spirit but it also encourages effective communication on and off the field.

EMP Model of Hero Functions

Referring back to the monomyth of the hero, the return of our heroines leaves them with a function to fill with regarding to helping, inspiring, and guiding the rest of society. The EMP model has been proposed to explain the functions of heroism, with EMP referring to enhancing, moral modeling, and protection (Kinsella et al., 2017). The SWNST best embodies the enhancing aspect of this model.

310 The players on the SWNST fulfill the enhancing function because they are a source of motivation to many young, aspiring soccer players. They are role models to them, they inspire them, and some players on the team instill hope because of their unique backgrounds and their own personal journeys. In their role as heroines, they have guided other people into believing in something bigger than themselves, which is exactly what the SWNST did when faced with a challenge or a struggle. When they win a game, people experience positive feelings because they feel as if they are a part of the accomplishment since it is the national team of Sweden. They might even be a source of motivation to someone, preferably a soccer player, to become the best version of themselves that they could possibly be.

Conclusion

Ths chapter has reviewed the causes, explanations, and motivations of the Swedish Women’s National Soccer Team on their journey toward becoming inspiring heroines. The thesis of this chapter is supported because their journey was involuntary; they became part of something bigger than themselves; they suffered significantly; and they fought and endured their challenges as a team. Throughout their journey they demonstrated the admirable trait of love -- love for one another, and love for their sport. They also inspired many people because the team has been seen as the underdogs, as they have been less resourced than men’s soccer teams who are essentially performing the same tasks. Although succumbing to this unfairness would be an easy way out, they have chosen to feed from it and do what it takes to make much-needed changes. Doing the right thing no matter the costs is an important, heroic quality.

The heroic journey of the SWSNT started almost a century ago, and the team that represents Sweden’s women’s soccer today were not there from the beginning of that journey. In fact, they were not even yet born. They are benefiting from the fruits of the labors that their preceding female soccer players reaped for them – although the fruit might not be enough for now, we can be sure that bigger harvests will come in the future assuming the course of female soccer in Sweden continues to progress in the way it is going.

311 The day will come when an Olympic silver medal in soccer is something to be proud of, but it was difficult for the SWNST to believe that as they stood on the damp grass field with blood, sweat and tears. It hurts when tears fall from the eyes of the fighters – you identify with their struggle and loss. Their fingers trembled as they felt a silver medal hanging wistfully around their throats, glittering more in the eyes than the medals. Their souls burned with disap- pointment, bitterness, anger, and sorrow – but they were far from losers. They may have lost a gold medal, but to the Swedish public, they were brave fighters who had won a silver because beaten heroes are also heroes. Certainly, it can be debated whether silver medalists are heroines, and this chapter has argued that there are many reasons why they are heroic. After all, the opinion of heroism always lies in the eye of the beholder.

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