# Female athletes don't list weight **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [July 25, 2022, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-athletes-dont-list-weight/968527 "2022-07-25T15:08:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2022, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-athletes-dont-list-weight/968527/61 "2022-07-30T20:15:15Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > For soccer, yes. You want your centre backs and defensive midfielders to be bigger so they can dominate the opposition forwars physically and win challengers in the air. Your playmakers, especially on the wing are ideally, smaller and more nimble, with lots of stamina, your forwards need to be speedy guys with enough of a physical presence to at least be able to stand up to the defenders. Sure; certain positions in many sports are advantageous to players of different sizes. That was acknowledged by several replies upthread. But, does it really **matter** to someone who’s wagering on a soccer match to know the **exact** weights of the players? ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2022, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-athletes-dont-list-weight/968527/62 "2022-07-30T20:30:58Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > But, does it really **matter** to someone who’s wagering on a soccer match to know the **exact** weights of the players? It doesn’t matter much. If I see Lionel Messi playing against Zlatan Ibrahimovic, I can easily see that the latter probaly weighs 30 kg more than the former and is 30 cm taller, but that won’t tell me who’s the greater player. They’re both great, but physically different with different skills. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2022, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-athletes-dont-list-weight/968527/63 "2022-07-30T20:32:55Z")
Well, yes. If one side is filled to the brim with small, technically gifted playmakers, then a backline of big dudes is going to attempt to dominate them physically, man to man. OTH, if said side has large strapping forwards, then its likely that the defence is going use positioning to deny space. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2022, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-athletes-dont-list-weight/968527/64 "2022-07-30T20:33:55Z")
Yes, but an observer could describe or evaluate the sizes of those teams, in the way you just described, from observation alone, or qualitative descriptions from other observers. Knowing the **exact** weights wouldn’t be necessary. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2022, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-athletes-dont-list-weight/968527/65 "2022-07-30T20:38:10Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > It doesn’t matter much. If I see Lionel Messi playing against Zlatan Ibrahimovic, I can easily see that the latter probaly weighs 30 kg more than the former and is 30 cm taller, but that won’t tell me who’s the greater player. They’re both great, but physically different with different skills. In the WC QF between Brazil and Belgium, seeing Fellaini being used to man mark Neymar was a good illustration of how knowing height and weight can be useful. His theatrics aside, Neymar is bigger than he looks, so dominating him physically is harder than doing it with say Messi or Xavi. Putting such a physical mismatch on the other hand means he spend sthe night getting beaten like a red headed stepchild. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2022, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-athletes-dont-list-weight/968527/66 "2022-07-30T20:52:12Z")
It used to be more common to mark a crucial player in the past by robust defenders (Maradona _always_ had to fight them), but I’ve seen physically weaker players play rings around their marks, so that doesn’t always work out. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-athletes-dont-list-weight/968527.md?page=3)