LEGS like Nobby Stiles, hair like Bobby Charlton, a thirst like George Best and a temperament like Paul Gascoigne - my 14-week-old daughter has got the makings of a great footballer. Which is a good job really, because in our house everybody has to play: boy, girl, grandma or one-legged uncle, no one escapes our daily garden kickabouts.

At the moment the littlest Munchkin has to make do with zooming around the pitch tucked firmly under her dad's arm or refereeing from the sidelines in the comfort of her bouncy chair. But, come the start of next season, I reckon she should be match fit and ready to take her turn in goal like the rest of us against her footie-mad older brother and his demon right foot.

You never know, if she plays her cards right (and doesn't get too many of the red variety) she could be leading the charge for glory at York City one day. And before some of you start gibbering on about how women and football don't mix and how the sexes can't compete on a level playing field - wherever the Minstermen's playing field ends up - let me turn your attention to Italy, where the revolution is already underway.

Luciano Gaucci, the attention-grabbing chairman of the Italian Serie A side Perugia, has announced he intends to put a woman in his side before the end of the coming season, making his club the first in the world to field a female player in top flight football.

It could be argued that this is just a non-too-subtle way of gaining publicity for Perugia. After all, Gaucci is the man who recently signed Saadi Gadafy, son of the Libyan leader, to play in midfield. But so what if it is a stunt? It will still give a woman the chance to prove one way or the other whether she can cut it at the highest level.

Some of you might perhaps argue that she (whoever she turns out to be) is doomed to failure because women are simply not as strong as men. But strength is not necessarily the deal breaker it is made out to be. Not all male footballers are built like brick outdoor conveniences, but what they lack in bulk and power they make up for in skill and speed.

In the same way, women may have less muscle power pound-for-pound, but they can still be as fit, as fast and as skilful as their male counterparts. More skilful in some cases. The world record holder at "keepieuppie", for instance, is female footballer Milene Domingues, who even managed to beat her estranged husband, Real Madrid superstar Ronaldo.

And it is not just in football that women are keepieuppie-ing with the lads. Just last week, English free-diver Tanya Streeter broke her sport's world record, diving deeper and for longer than anyone - man or woman - had done before.

Two months ago, Emma Richards joined Ellen MacArthur as one of the greatest sailors in the world by becoming the youngest and fastest ever to complete the Around Alone solo circumnavigation of the globe race.

And in April, Paula Radcliffe ran the London marathon in a staggering two hours 15 minutes, beating every other Briton, men included, by some distance and clocking up a time that would easily qualify her for a place in the British men's marathon team for the Athens Olympics next year.

And on that high note for the sporting sisterhood, I will have to run too. I have been reliably informed (by someone yelling at the top of their voice from the garden below my window) that there's been an incident on the pitch and I have to go and kiss the centre forward's knee better.

He may be 34, but he still bruises easily.

Updated: 09:20 Tuesday, July 29, 2003