Silviana Burtini
Written by Erin Hall
Women in the sports industry do not have equal access to sports among most other male-dominated industries. A large inequality that I wanted to address was the unfair lack of attention to female sports players and how many women, like Silvana Burtini, are very successful without as much attention as their male counterparts.
Silvana Burtini was born in the small town of Williams Lake, British Columbia and grew up playing on boy’s soccer teams in her community because there were no girl’s teams. She started playing around the age of six, working her way up to the national level, where she joined the Canadian Women’s National Team around the age of 17 (OSATv, 2010). She played nationally between the 1990s and early 2000s, scoring 38 goals throughout her career and won numerous awards and medals for her hard work and determination on the field (Canada Soccer, 2010). Silvana’s achievements throughout her career demonstrate that women are just as capable on the playing field as men, that although sports are a male-dominated industry, women are just as successful and deserve the credit they work for.
Despite being heavily credited for her time spent playing soccer through awards and titles, there is little information available about Burtnini outside of interviews. Burtini is a successful woman who spent almost twenty years of her life on the field for Canada; who inspired and influenced other young women to be part of the sports world. Yet the record of successes is lost.
In one of the interviews, Burtini herself said: “It’s been an honour to represent Canada… add dimension to my game and take on more of a leadership role on the team” (Canada Soccer, 2010). She goes further to mention how fortunate she has been, coming in as a small-town girl, playing with the boys on their teams. Her growth through the sport landed her to be a FIFA Women’s Ambassador, named Canada’s most valuable female player in 1998, be the eighth female inducted into the Wall of Fame and set numerous national soccer records (Canada Soccer, 2010). These few titles that Burtini worked so hard to receive are just a small segment from her long list of achievements.
I feel as though it is important to have such deep recognitions of women in sports and that women like Silvana Burtini represent more than just Canada when playing on the field. Seeing as Burtini was able to achieve her dreams, work hard and represent Canada in such a great light, other women deserve the same credit and the same respect or admiration for their participation in sports. In a male-dominated industry, it’s important to share these ideas and stories of successful women and further provide them with the credit they deserve.
December 2020
Bibliography
British Columbia Soccer Association. “Introducing Silvana Burtini Gerela.” Soccer Hall of Fame & Heritage Archive. https://heritage.bcsoccer.net/entries/silvana-burtini-gerela/.
Canada Soccer. “Class of 2010: Silvana Burtini.” 5 June 2010. https://canadasoccer.com/news/class-of-2010-silvana-burtini/.
OSATv Touchline. “Interview with Silvana Burtini.” Youtube. 7 June 2010. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZB5lEnR3bA.
The Soccer Hall of Fame & Museum. “1998 Canadian Women’s National Team CONCACAF Champions.” Youtube. 4 November 2015. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Hn3hjjAhWY.
“The Soccer Hall of Fame & Museum Induction Banquet 2010.” Youtube 2 December 2011. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRvePPRIArA.
How to cite this page:
MLA STYLE: Author. “Title.” Title of container, Other contributors, Number (vol. and/or no.), Publisher, Publication Date, Location (pages, paragraphs and/or URL, DOI or permalink). 2nd container’s title, Other contributors.
Hall, Erin. ”Silviana Burtini.” In Archival Research of Italian-Canadian Immigration and Culture, supvr. T. Russo, issue 4: Italian-Canadians as Athletes and Community Builders: Contributions in the Sports Industry, Brock University, December 2020, St. Catherines (Sports in Italian-Canadian Communities – Italian-Canadian Narratives Showcase (italianheritage.ca)). Italian-Canadian Narratives Showcase (ICNS), Sandra Parmegiani and Nivashinee Ponambalum.