Grassroots Culture In Kaunas

Agnė Smolienė & Sigita Strazdė, Lithuania

Agnė Smolienė and Sigita Strazdė play for amateur women’s football team FC Kiemas in the city of Kaunas in Lithuania. The team was co-founded by Agnė for women working in arts and culture. Agnė is a journalist, currently working as a PR manager at a cultural centre in Kaunas. She is a mother of two daughters aged 8 and 4. Sigita is a 33-year-old historian, born and raised in Kaunas, currently working as a curator in Kaunas city museum.

Can you tell us about your football life?

I started playing street football with my friends during my studies at university. I was new to football but loved it from first sight. It was such a big deal for the community and punk scene I belonged to at the time – gigs, cooking, arts and graffiti, festivals and football were always together. I was inspired to play football as it was a big part of the movement. Mostly we played together with the guys, but we also had this unofficial female team. We even had uniforms – but skirts instead of shorts (I guess they were intended for field hockey!). We were awful, but it was great fun. 

When my daughter turned 5 (more than 10 years later) I started looking for a proper sports activity for her. As all the little girls had to be dancers, gymnasts, skaters or ballerinas, I was striving for a less conventional approach, so I chose football. Unfortunately, there were only boys’ teams at that time, so I contacted different coaches personally and asked them to train my daughter. She tried training with older girls and later with the boys, but it was all too scary for her. But I was so keen with the idea that I contacted the same coach and asked if she could train me. She was reluctant but I promised to collect a team. So, I called all my friends and their friends and invited them. We made up a small team from women mostly working in arts and culture: journalists, architects, designers, humanitarian scientists. The dream came true. 

Unfortunately, in 3 years we changed coaches three times, switched to different training spots and the team members are constantly changing. We are always struggling because if we want to train properly, we have to pay for the coaches and facilities, but we never know if we have enough players to do that. Members working in cultural sector are always overworked and busy, and playing football is just a hobby that you never have time for. Members who come from the sports industry have a motivation to compete, so they don’t really need training sessions, only matches. As a founder I find this situation very stressful, with the constant clash of initial ideas. In my view, the foundation of a team has to be a community, some sort of movement spreading the ideas of equal play and having fun together, but after 3 years it is still a dream. We have a maximum of five core members that will show up no matter what, but it is simply not enough.  

What did you try to show with the photos? Was there any wider meaning with the photos?

The photos were taken during training and matches. They are just a celebration of our daily training and playing. Bonding is an inevitable part of every team. I guess I initially wanted to skip this “bonding” part by creating a team from friends. It would be so much easier! 

There are some photos taken before our first match ever in Prienai. As there is no amateur league and very few grassroots female football teams, we had to play against teams that have been training professionally and the players are very young. The gap was obvious, but we won one match. 

Our coach Ugnė is a professional football player, also a referee. We are grateful to her and the other coach Andželika that they were not afraid to dive into this project. They are also training my daughter who finally found her girls’ team. 

Are there any stories connected with the people or teams you photographed?

I remember the time when I tried to convince Laura to join the team. I had never met her; I only knew her husband. So, I asked him if Laura would like to play football. “Foosball you mean?”, he replied. It was a joke, but knowing the situation of female football in Lithuania, my question to friends and even strangers on the street seemed to appear out of nowhere. 

One photo was taken after a really exhausting match day (we had 3 matches in a row just 15 minutes apart!). The girl with the phone is Sandra. Some years ago, she was playing professional football, but now she joined our team and has big ambitions to win. She was frustrated after the last match (of course, we didn’t win – I was so tired I was almost fainting).

Martyna was my neighbour and I think the first one that I invited to join the team. I must say, half of the main team members were my neighbours! :)  It’s a pity she moved to Vilnius and is now joining another “culturish” female club there.

What are the opportunities for female footballers in Lithuania? What is the future for Lithuanian women's football?

After joining the team, I started following what is happening in Lithuanian professional female football and was surprised how talented the young players of various teams are and how little attention they get. Female players should be treated the same way male players are. The least the federation could do is to organize matches in the same way in male and female football. And I mean not only with the same publicity and broadcasting, but I attended one match where even the scoreboard was not lit up. It’s embarrassing. 

Before meeting the girls from my team, football was only the game I watched and dreamed of. Knowing the situation of football in Lithuania it seemed impossible to find a group of like-minded women interested in this game and devoted to the same values of gender equality and human rights. I believe that step by step the amateur football community in Kaunas will get stronger and bigger. It only needs time.

Why is football so important for Lithuania and its people?

It is not. We have always been a country of basketball and it always will be. They call it a national religion. I played basketball at school, but I never watch it. Maybe because it is so mainstream here. Anyway, the funding for football is nothing compared to basketball in Lithuania. The level of football is very poor, the teams get little fan support, and the power structure is highly corrupt – everyone knows it, but nobody cares, because football doesn’t bring any money or fame. 

What does football mean to you?

Football is a movement, community and manifestation. I never dreamt of professional football – it shouldn’t be about competition, but rather about empowerment. It shouldn’t be about fierce matches, but rather about friendship and sharing a beer with your opponents later at a pub. Football for me is a rather a culture project than a sports activity.