69-663: The Arnold Clark Cup is an invitational women's association football tournament hosted by The Football Association in England, starting in 2022. It is named after car retailer Arnold Clark , who signed a multi-year sponsorship deal. ITV acts as the competition's domestic broadcast partner. Played during the February/March international break, the Arnold Clark Cup takes place at the same time as other notable international women's invitational tournaments such as
138-838: A Paralympic event. The CONCACAF W Championship is a women's football competition organized by CONCACAF that often serves as the qualifying competition to the Women's World Cup and the Olympics. The CONCACAF W Gold Cup had its inaugural edition in 2024 . It featured 12 national teams (8 from the CONCACAF region, and 4 invited from the CONMEBOL region) and was won by the United States . European women's tournaments featuring national teams were held in Italy in 1969 and in 1979 as
207-699: A 5–1 scoreline. The 1939 competition was a more organised affair and the Edinburgh City Girls beat Dick, Kerr 5–2 in Edinburgh , following this up with a 7–1 demolition of Glasgow Ladies in Falkirk to take the title. The English Women's FA was formed in 1969 as a result of the increased interest generated by the 1966 World Cup . The ban in England was maintained by the FA for nearly fifty years, until January 1970. The next year, UEFA recommended that
276-474: A certificate from their previous employer stating that they had left with their employer's consent. Arbitration to enforce the Fair Wages Clause was too slow to solve the problem of women munition workers' wages. The Munitions of War Act of July 1915 declared that the admission of 'semi-skilled or female labour shall not affect adversely the rates customarily paid for the job' or reduce the rates
345-712: A final total attendance of 312,199. The first known World Cup tournaments for women's teams are the 1970 Women's World Cup in Italy and the 1971 Women's World Cup in Mexico, both of which hold attendance records and were organised by the international women's association FIEFF . Some other major tournaments were the Women's World Invitational Tournament in Taiwan (1978–1987) and the Women's Mundialito in Japan and Italy (1981–1988). FIFA effectively ignored women's football prior to
414-448: A life so parallel to that of the regular army. The girls who take up this work sacrifice almost as much as the men who enlist...it is a barrack life." Munitionettes worked with hazardous chemicals on a daily basis without adequate protection. Many women worked with trinitrotoluene (TNT). Prolonged exposure to the nitric acid used in the process turned worker's skin yellow, prompting the popular name canary girls . Exposure to chemicals
483-624: A man could be expected to pay. There was not an official statement as to what constituted "men's" work versus "women's" but in October, suggestions were made as to what women doing "men's" work should be paid. An amendment in January 1916 stated that the Minister of Munitions had the power to give directions as to the rate of wages of female workers, and introduced compulsory arbitration for disagreements between women workers and their employers. In
552-512: A man so were reluctant to provide equal pay for time work. Unions also demanded equal war advances and bonuses for women on men's work. This demand was refused by the Ministry of Munitions on the principle that it would have been very expensive for the State and also that it would have been "unfair" to women working in new industries that men had not previously worked in and set expectations. At
621-416: A penalty shoot-out and winning its fourth title in the competition. While a number of features continue to improve, this is not the case for female coaches. They continue to be under-represented in a number of European women's leagues. However, the popularity and participation in women's football continues to grow. In 2022, FC Barcelona had the two largest reported attendances for women's football since
690-427: A weekly wage, whereas other volunteers were unpaid. Activities such as social clubs, theatrical societies, bands and debating groups were formed in munitions factories, and piano music and singing were especially popular. Such activities were often formed by workers and encouraged by welfare supervisors looking to increase morale and productivity. During the war, women's football was popular with munitionettes and
759-497: Is a competition for women's national football teams governed by the South Asian Football Federation (SAFF). India won the first 5 editions, beating Nepal four times and Bangladesh once in the final. Bangladesh is the current champion having defeated Nepal by 3–1 goals on 19 September 2022 in the final. The OFC Women's Nations Cup is a women's football tournament for national teams who belong to
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#1732780107722828-491: Is an international women's football competition held every two years and sanctioned by the Confederation of African Football (CAF). It was first contested in 1991, but was not held biennially until 1998. Nigeria is the most successful nation in the tournament's history with 11 titles. The CAF Women's Champions League is an international competition that involves the top women's club teams from countries affiliated with
897-563: Is with Paris Saint-Germain , with matches between the two teams sometimes referred as the "Classique féminin". Paris is OL's main contender for national titles, as they finished in second place of D1 Féminine seven times. Lyon had never lost the D1 title to PSG until 2021 when PSG finished ahead of Lyon, and won five Coupe de France finals against Paris. In 2017 both teams reached the Champions League final, with Lyon beating Paris after
966-532: The 1970 Women's World Cup in Italy, supported by the Martini & Rossi strong wine manufacturers, and entirely without the involvement of FIFA . This event was at least partly played by clubs and won by Denmark. A second edition, the 1971 Women's World Cup , was hosted by Mexico the following year. The final, also won by Denmark, was played at Estadio Azteca , the largest stadium in North America at
1035-590: The 1971 Women's World Cup final between Mexico and Denmark (110,000) at the Azteca Stadium , when they played Real Madrid (91,553) and Wolfsburg (91,648) at Camp Nou for the 2021–22 UEFA Women's Champions League . In April 2024, the 2023–24 A-League Women season set the record for the most attended season of any women's sport in Australian history, with the season recording a total attendance of 284,551 on 15 April 2024, and finishing with
1104-467: The 1999 final on penalties against China (with a competition-record crowd of over 90,000 in Pasadena ). Germany won consecutive world titles in 2003 and 2007, winning finals against Sweden and Brazil respectively. Japan became champions in 2011 , the country's first senior football world championship. The United States won the tournament again in 2015 and 2019 . Spain won the tournament for
1173-879: The Algarve Cup , the Cup of Nations , the Cyprus Women's Cup , the Istria Cup , the Pinatar Cup , the SheBelieves Cup , the Tournoi de France , the Turkish Women's Cup and the Women's Revelations Cup . England have won both editions of the tournament, back-to-back in 2022 and 2023. The four invited teams play each other once in a round-robin tournament . Points awarded in the group stage follow
1242-636: The Five Sisters window at York Minster was rededicated to the 1,513 women who died in the line of service during WWI, including the munitionettes. There were no standard rates of pay for women when the war began, and food prices rose by a third in the year to July 1915, leaving women munitions workers that were on minimum rates earning below the level of a living wage . Rates of pay varied significantly at different factories and, until 1917, women were prevented from leaving one firm to move to another that would pay them better because they had to obtain
1311-655: The Laws of the Game , are used for both women's and men's football. After the "first golden age" of women's football occurred in the United Kingdom in the 1920s, with one match attracting over 50,000 spectators, The Football Association instituted a ban from 1921 to 1970 in England that disallowed women's football on the grounds used by its member clubs. In many other nations, female footballers faced similarly hostile treatment and bans by male-dominated organisations. In
1380-777: The National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) was launched with initial support from the soccer federations of the United States, Canada, and Mexico. In 2017, Liga MX Femenil was launched in Mexico and broke several attendance records. The league is composed of women's teams of the men's counterpart teams in Liga MX . On 20 March 2024, the league in collaboration with the NWSL , announced a new international competition named Summer Cup . This competition will feature six teams from Liga MX Femenil that will compete against teams from
1449-692: The Oceania Football Confederation (OFC). The competition has served as a qualifying tournament for the FIFA Women's World Cup since 1991. After the lifting of the FA ban, the Women's Football Association held its first national knockout tournament , the 1970–71 WFA Cup . Southampton Women's F.C. was the inaugural winner and became the Cup-winner eight times. From 1983 to 1994, Doncaster Belles reached ten out of eleven finals, winning six of them. As of 2023, Chelsea are
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#17327801077221518-572: The Shell Crisis of 1915 , the British government passed the Munitions of War Act 1915 to increase government oversight and regulation of the industry. The newly created Ministry of Munitions regulated wages, hours and employment conditions in munitions factories. It also forced the factories to admit more women as employees, because so many of the nation's men were engaged in fighting in
1587-520: The UEFA Women's Championship was then dominated by Germany , who won eight titles, including six in a row from 1995 to 2013. The only other teams to win, as of 2022, are Norway in 1993 , the Netherlands at home in 2017 , and England at home in 2022 . The UEFA Women's Champions League is an international competition that involves the top women's club teams from countries affiliated with
1656-608: The 1970s, international women's football tournaments were extremely popular, and the oldest surviving continental championship was founded, the AFC Women's Asian Cup . However, a woman did not speak at the FIFA Congress until 1986 ( Ellen Wille ). The FIFA Women's World Cup was first held in China in 1991 and has since become a major television event in many countries. Women may have been playing football for as long as
1725-535: The 1988 FIFA Women's Invitation Tournament in China. FIFA's first officially-recognised women's international match is France–Netherlands (1971), albeit a retroactive recognition decided in 2003 . The first FIFA Women's World Cup was held in China in November 1991 and won by the United States . The runners-up, Norway , became the 1995 champions, beating Germany in that final, in Sweden. The United States won
1794-706: The African governing body CAF . The AFC Women's Asian Cup is a quadrennial competition in women's football for national teams which belong to the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). It is the oldest women's international football competition and premier women's football competition in the AFC region for national teams. The SAFF Women's Championship , also called the South Asian Football Federation Women's Cup ,
1863-453: The August 1917 Act, the certificate regulations preventing women from leaving factories without their employers' permission to earn higher wages elsewhere were repealed. Munitions workers presented an unusual case in the history of equal employment. The Ministry of Munitions approach to the principle "equal pay for equal work" was that: Equality of pay for equal work is normally established by
1932-549: The European Competition for Women's Football . They were not recognized as "official" by UEFA, which opposed women's football until the 1970s. The UEFA championship began in 1984 under the name European Competition For Representative Women's Teams . Now, it is also commonly referred to as the UEFA Women's Euro. The 1984 tournament was won by Sweden . Norway won the 1987 edition. Between 1987 and 2013,
2001-611: The European governing body UEFA . The Copa América Femenina is the main competition in women's football between national teams that are affiliated with CONMEBOL . The Copa Libertadores Femenina , formally the CONMEBOL Libertadores Femenina , is the international club competition for women's teams that play in the CONMEBOL region. The competition started in 2009 in response to the increased interest in women's football. The Women's Africa Cup of Nations
2070-422: The FA stating that "the game of football is quite unsuitable for females and ought not to be encouraged." Players and football writers have argued that this ban was due to envy of the large crowds that women's matches attracted, and because the FA had no control over the money made from the women's game. Dick, Kerr Ladies player Alice Barlow said, "we could only put it down to jealousy. We were more popular than
2139-404: The Ministry argued that "it was not considered that one woman was the equivalent of one man", and that women needed more supervision and required new amenities. They also argued for differences between piece work and work paid based on time, suggesting that it was acceptable to pay equally per piece produced, but that they assumed that a woman might accomplish less in the same amount of time than
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2208-583: The NWSL. The inaugural edition is scheduled to kick-off in July 2024. A 2014 FIFA report stated that at the beginning of the 21st century, women's football was growing in both popularity and participation, and more professional leagues were being launched worldwide. From the inaugural FIFA Women's World Cup tournament held in 1991 to the 1,194,221 tickets sold for the 1999 Women's World Cup , visibility and support of women's professional football had increased around
2277-483: The Women's National Football League. The Indian Women's League was launched in 2016. The country has held the top-tier tournament, Indian Women's Football Championship , since 1991. In 1985, the United States women's national soccer team was formed. Following the 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup , the first professional women's soccer league in the United States, the WUSA , was launched and lasted three years. The league
2346-477: The end of the war, "out of work" payments were only given to women who could prove that they had worked before the war. Others were expected to return to their homes or to domestic service. In Birmingham, there were accusations of drunkenness and poor morality caused by the perceived high wages. The Central Control Board, with the agreement of the Minister of Munitions , appointed a committee of enquiry. A report
2415-509: The first competition in the spring of 1922. The winners were Stoke Ladies who beat Doncaster and Bentley Ladies 3–1 on 24 June 1922. In 1937, the Dick, Kerr Ladies F.C. , who had lost to Scotland's Rutherglen Ladies in 1923 but continued to be proclaimed as "world champions", played the Edinburgh City Girls in the "Championship of Great Britain and the World". Dick, Kerr won the competition with
2484-427: The first recorded "national" women's football event, known as the "Kartini Cup", took place in 1981. The competition was held on an amateur level. Later competitions were also held in an amateur and semi-professional level, including the 1982 appearance of the first women's league, Galanita. The Pertiwi Cup , which drew contestants from throughout all of Indonesia, was first played in 2006. The first professional league
2553-541: The first round proper getting more than the women's winners. Munitionettes Munitionettes were British women employed in munitions factories during the time of the First World War . Early in the war, the United Kingdom 's munitions industry found itself having difficulty producing the amount of weapons and ammunition needed by the country's armed forces . In response to the crisis, known as
2622-521: The first time in 2023 . Since Football at the 1996 Summer Olympics – Women's tournament , a Women's Football Tournament has been staged at the Olympic Games . Unlike in the men's Olympic Football tournament (based on teams of mostly under-23 players), the Olympic women's teams do not have restrictions on professionalism or age. The participation of Great Britain at the 2012 Olympic tournament
2691-492: The first women's international matches against a French XI team in 1920, and also made up most of the England team against a Scottish Ladies XI in the same year, winning 22–0. Despite being more popular than some men's football events (one match saw a 53,000 strong crowd), women's football in England was halted in December 1921 when The Football Association outlawed the playing of the game on association members' pitches,
2760-525: The fixing of new rates after the introduction of women, which are either so high as to make the continued employment of women at them uneconomical to the employer, or so low as to render the occupation unattractive to men. In other words, employers chose not to employ women and pay them equally because they could employ men instead, or they employed so many women that men did not want the occupation and therefore there were no high men's wages to benchmark against, enabling employers to pay women relatively little for
2829-491: The formula of three points for a win, one point for a draw, and zero points for a loss. A tie in points would be decided by goal difference . Women%27s association football Women's association football , more commonly known as women's football or women's soccer , is the team sport of association football played by women . It is played at the professional level in multiple countries , and 187 national teams participate internationally . The same rules, known as
Arnold Clark Cup - Misplaced Pages Continue
2898-516: The game has existed. Evidence shows that a similar game ( cuju , also known as tsu chu ) was played by women during the Han dynasty (25–220 CE), as female figures are depicted in frescoes of the period playing tsu chu . Annual matches being played in Midlothian , Scotland, are reported as early as the 1790s. In 1863, football governing bodies introduced standardized rules to prohibit violence on
2967-581: The general public. The Munitionettes' Cup was a famous competition in north east England in 1917–18 held between women's football teams from various munitions and other factories. Matches attracted thousands of spectators and the leading players, such as Bella Raey , became famous. Some factories' managements appear to have considered their staff participating in football a "necessary evil" that contributed to productivity and discipline amongst women 'displaced from their traditional gender roles'. Because large numbers of women were employed in munitions work during
3036-509: The globe. However, as in some other sports, women's pay and opportunities are lower in comparison with professional male football players. Both national and international women's football have far less television and media coverage than the men's equivalent, but also generally have far lower average attendances. This discrepancy is on-going, while research indicates some viewers are not even able to distinguish between professional women's and men's football. Olympique Lyonnais main rivalry
3105-541: The making, and when so much control is vested in the organisation of the Ministry of Munitions... Now is the time during the Great War for us to perceive, discover and proclaim the principles which should regulate, for perhaps the lifetime of a whole generation and perhaps for longer, the lines of advance on which women's industrial work should proceed. The precedent set was that women could be paid less than men and that they should resume their domestic roles to make way for
3174-544: The materials they handled. On several occasions, the explosives the women were working with ignited and injured or killed the workers. Explosions at British munitions factories during World War I included the 1916 Barnbow explosion in which 35 women died, the 1917 Silvertown explosion , in which 73 people were killed and over 400 injured, and a 1918 explosion at the National Shell Filling Factory, Chilwell , which killed over 130 workers. In 1925
3243-566: The men and our bigger gates were for charity". Despite the ban, some women's teams continued to play. The Northern Rugby Union did not follow the FA ban, so the short-lived English Ladies Football Association (1921–1922) played some of its matches at rugby grounds. In other countries, women's football was further debilitated by nationwide bans which often resembled the English FA's measures. The German Football Association banned women's football from 1955 until 1970. Women's football
3312-404: The men returning from the front line. In the 1922 official history of women in munitions work and their wages, the government justified this by claiming that whereas "the man's wage is a "family" wage, the woman's is an "individual" wage" and by arguing that women did not unionise and fight for their rights and were therefore responsible for establishing the two standards. Women's contribution to
3381-637: The national associations in each country should manage the women's game. In 2002, Lily Parr of Dick Kerr's Ladies was the first woman to be inducted into the National Football Museum Hall of Fame. She was later honoured with a statue in front of the museum. It was not until 2008 (87 years later), that the FA issued an apology for banning women from the game of football. In 1970, the Torino-based Federation of Independent European Female Football (FIEFF) ran
3450-424: The pitch, making it more socially acceptable for women to play. The first match of an international character took place in 1881 at Hibernian Park in Edinburgh , part of a tour by Scotland and England teams. The Scottish Football Association recorded a women's match in 1892. The British Ladies' Football Club was founded by activist Nettie Honeyball in England in 1894. Honeyball and those like her paved
3519-952: The specific type of the work was considered different: historian Patrica Fara notes that 90% of women who went into engineering trades entered domains not previously regarded as suitable for women, and most of these were employed in munitions works manufacturing cordite and TNT . Some large firms greatly increased their workforce during the war: the number of employees at Birmingham Small Arms ' (BSA) increased from 3,500 to 13,000 and at Austin in Longbridge from 2,800 in 1914 to 20,000 in 1918, many of these extra workers were women. Some women entering munitions work did so seeking better pay and fewer working hours than were customary in domestic service, pubs and laundries. Employers in these industries complained about losing their staff to munitions factories. The national munitions factory in Gretna , which
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#17327801077223588-474: The staff was mostly women, who worked in 12-hour shifts and lived in huts with their beds shared with someone on the opposite shift to minimise accommodation costs. The Health of Munitions Workers Committee reported that "women have accepted conditions of work which if continued must ultimately be disastrous to health". In an article written in 1916 after a visit to HM Factory Gretna, Rebecca West wrote "Surely, never before in modern history can women have lived
3657-406: The time of the First World War , female employment in heavy industry spurred the growth of the game, much as it had done for men fifty years earlier. A team from England played a team from Ireland on Boxing Day 1917 in front of a crowd of 20,000 spectators. The Irish side of this match was dramatised in the play Rough Girls in 2021. Dick, Kerr Ladies F.C. of Preston, England played in one of
3726-510: The time, in front of crowds estimated at 110,000 or 112,500 attendees. During the 1970s, Italy became the first country to have professional women's football players on a part-time basis. Italy was also the first country to import foreign footballers from other European countries, which raised the profile of the league. Players during that era included Susanne Augustesen (Denmark), Rose Reilly and Edna Neillis (Scotland), Anne O'Brien (Ireland) and Concepcion Sánchez Freire (Spain). Sweden
3795-482: The title holders and Arsenal are the club with a record 14 wins. Despite tournament sponsorship by some companies, entering the cup actually costs clubs more than they get in prize money. In 2015, it was reported that even if Notts County were to win the tournament, the £8,600 winnings would leave them out of pocket. The winners of the Men's FA Cup in the same year received £1.8 million, with teams that did not even reach
3864-544: The war and male labour was in short supply. Historian Angela Woollacott has estimated that approximately one million women were working in munitions industries by mid 1918. She suggests that a greater number of women worked in munitions than in the Voluntary Aid Detachment , the Women's Land Army or other such organisations. Historian Deborah Thom suggests that many workers had previous experience of factory work, though few had made munitions. But
3933-422: The war, the conditions of their employment had an impact on women after the war ended. Thom notes that the history of women's work in munitions factories is 'influentially mythical in creating a story of women's work which has emphasised women's secondary wage earning, vulnerability to male hostility and reliance upon government rather than their own organisations for improvement.' In November 1917, Churchill, who
4002-435: The way for women's football. However, the women's game was frowned upon by the British football associations, and continued without their support. It has been suggested that this was motivated by a perceived threat to the "masculinity" of the game. In August 1917, a tournament was launched for female munition workers' teams in north-east England. Officially titled the "Tyne Wear & Tees Alfred Wood Munition Girls Cup", it
4071-575: The work. However, munitions factories were in the position of having mostly women workers, but still enough men and recent memories of their wages against which to benchmark. Moreover, the Ministry of Munitions had pledged not to devalue men's work by paying lower rates whilst they were temporarily away at war in the 1915 Act. Men's unions had an interest in holding the Ministry to its promise, and unions that represented women campaigned for equality. Unions demanded "equal pay at men's rates " specifically rather than "equal pay for equal work". Employers and
4140-420: Was a bone of contention because England and other British Home Nations are not eligible to compete as separate entities. Eventually, both the women's and men's Great Britain teams fielded some players from the other home nations, but without their associations' active support. Although there are women's teams of blind football (5-a-side) and cerebral palsy football (7-a-side), women's football has never been
4209-402: Was also a serious health risk for the munitionettes. Prolonged exposure to chemicals such as TNT can cause severe harm to the immune system. People exposed to TNT can experience liver failure, anemia, and spleen enlargement, and TNT can affect women’s fertility. Some side effects commonly included breast and lower region enlargement. Munitions workers faced risk of explosion due to the nature of
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#17327801077224278-607: Was also banned in France from 1941 to 1970. In Brazil, the Vargas regime and the military dictatorship legally prohibited women and girls from playing football from 1941 to 1979. Following the FA ban on women's teams on 5 December 1921, the English Ladies' Football Association was formed, with 58 affiliated clubs. A silver cup was donated by the first president of the association, Len Bridgett. A total of 23 teams entered
4347-563: Was also known as "The Munitionettes' Cup". The first winners of the trophy were Blyth Spartans , who defeated Bolckow Vaughan 5–0 in a replayed final tie at Middlesbrough on 18 May 1918 in front of a crowd of 22,000. The tournament ran for a second year in season 1918–19, the winners being the ladies of Palmer's shipyard in Jarrow , who defeated Christopher Brown's of Hartlepool 1–0 at St James' Park in Newcastle on 22 March 1919. At
4416-524: Was held in 2019 under the name Liga 1 Putri . In Australia, the W-League, now known as A-League Women , was formed in 2008. In 2015, the Chinese Women's Super League (CWSL) was launched with an affiliated second division, CWFL. Previously, The Chinese Women's Premier Football League was initiated in 1997 and evolved to the Women's Super League in 2004. From 2011 to 2014, the league was named
4485-593: Was published in June 1916, which concluded that "the majority of working women are making good use of their incomes" and "were doing well by their children, their homes, and their absent husbands". A suggested remedy was to have shorter opening hours for public-houses, women police, regulation of night working and regulation of the hours worked by girls under 18. Ninety percent of the approximately 1000 Women's Police Volunteers trained from 1914 were employed in munitions factories as supervisors to women workers. They were paid
4554-405: Was spearheaded by members of the World Cup-winning American team and featured players like Mia Hamm , Julie Foudy and Brandi Chastain , as well as top-tier international players like Germany's Birgit Prinz and China's Sun Wen . A second attempt towards a sustainable professional league, the Women's Professional Soccer (WPS), was launched in 2009 and folded in late 2011. The following year,
4623-437: Was the Minister of Munitions at the time, announced to women trade unionists that: We are incomparably the greatest employers of women there has ever been in the world, we are the pioneers of women's employment in the industrial and even the military field. Whatever may be the future position which women's labour will take after the war, it will be enormously influenced by the actual practice which has been followed when so much in
4692-417: Was the first to introduce a professional women's domestic league in 1988, the Damallsvenskan . In 1989, Japan became the first country to have a semi-professional women's football league, the L. League – still in existence today as Division 1 of the Nadeshiko League . In 2020, Japan established the first-ever women's professional league in Asia, the WE League , which started on fall 2021. In Indonesia,
4761-446: Was the largest industrial site in the world at the time, recorded that 36% of its workers had previously been in domestic service. The Gretna Girls was a collective nickname given to women munition workers at HM Factory Gretna in World War One . By June 1917, roughly 80% of the weaponry and ammunition used by the British army during World War I was being made by munitionettes. Conditions varied from factory to factory. At Gretna,
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