[Archived] Womens Football

[roversWASmylife]

No they weren't all Blackburn fans.

We were in Darwen End, car park full of coaches. Little kids on day trips with schools I guess etc.

All with their horns, I didn't enjoy it to be honest. The game was really poor, hardly made decent passes and the atmosphere did my head in.

Horn noise all the time, not sure I could put up with that for 19 league games and a the cup games at home if you get me.

[bellamy11]

Is this the way to Amarillo? bopped the Blackburn End tonight at half time.

It isn't the way to Amarillo but it might be the way to fill Ewood Park. Not a whiff of testosterone, no stench of beer and fags in the concourse, 3 blokes in the male toilet and an huge queue for the ladies.  Met a couple of young women going into the gents as they were fed up with queing for the ladies. Thousands and thousands of women and children in Ewood having a great time and not the slightest hint of tension....and the noise!!!!!!!!!!! 90 minutes of nonstop cheering put our efforst on the BBE to shame.

30 or so Swedes stood behind us cheering their team on; to be met with no more than "Sit down, shut up!" Now if that had been a PL game?

I learnt tonight why we can't fill the ground, why you see very few women and children at PL games (proportionately) and so few ethnic people. It's simple, we, the fans, are too agressive. 26954 this game, a crowd Rovers would kill for. If we want more people in Ewood it's in our own hands....change the atmosphere, remove the tension and the maleness, make it a party. It isn't life or death,the fans just think it is.

We watched some pure sport tonight, a good game, enthusiasm, sporting behaviour, committment. It was brilliant entertainment.

322971[/snapback]

I didn't go today so I can't really comment on the atmosphere, but I've been to events that probably have had a similar atmosphere to the one Paul describes, and frankly I've been bored off my tits.

The thing that makes football so great is the tension, the passion, the emotional attachment and intensity, the gut-wrenching swings of mood. Even the aggression. Take those away and yes, there may be more women and children in the ground, but football wouldn't be the same for me and thousands of others.

I watched most of the match on TV and, while the crowd were clearly noisy and partisan towards England, were they really "into it"? Did they go home in a mood, almost unable to talk rationally for the next hour or so? Did the result spoil their whole weekend? I doubt it.

If you don't like that sort of passion Paul then I suggest you're watching the wrong sport. There are plenty of other sports where the atmosphere is friendly, where opposition fans mix, where women and children attend in numbers. They're all boring compared to football.

I'm not saying that over-aggressive fans is a good thing - of course it isn't. But without passion and aggression then football wouldn't be football and it wouldn't be the great game it is. Don't get me wrong, there's lots wrong with footy at the moment, but diluting the atmosphere into family-friendly, horn blowing love-ins isn't going to help.

322980[/snapback]

I was considering posting a response to Paul along the same lines but you've just said it far better than I ever could.

[cn174]

The girls typically string together four or five decent passes and then lose the ball needlessly - there's a lack of consistency and imagination to their passing.

322983[/snapback]

Sounds a bit like Rovers if you ask me

I watched my first game of Euro 2005 today at work, mostly because any kind of football is better than horse racing. But I just cant be interested in it! Its just not the same.

I know I play footy quite a lot, but when I play for uni I cant take playing for girls footy team seriously either - I just play for something to do! But if Im not playing I cant watch it - I watched a uni game once and it was comparable to Coppull Utd v Euxton Villa under 5's or something. It was painful to watch!

I'll stick to watching proper football I think!

[Alan75]

The girls typically string together four or five decent passes and then lose the ball needlessly - there's a lack of consistency and imagination to their passing.

322983[/snapback]

Sounds a bit like Rovers if you ask me

323000[/snapback]

My thoughts as well, quite fitting that the game was played at Ewood, with the Mark Hughes single striker formation.

However it isnt fair to compare ladies football to mens football. Most of these lasses are semi pro or amature who train once or twice a week. They play for the love of the sport and they showed full committment for the full 90 minutes.

The only comparrison that should be made is between the skills of individual female players or ladies team. Dont knock it, give these lasses the respect they deserve for being top in their chosen sport.

[roversmum]

No problem AESF . In fact I agree with much of what you say.

However, apart from one or two of the Swedish/Danish players , women are generally physically not as strong as men - and who would have it any other way? So the game isn't going to be the same.

I think Alan75's comment puts it into perspective:

However it isnt fair to compare ladies football to mens football. Most of these lasses are semi pro or amateur who train once or twice a week. They play for the love of the sport and they showed full committment for the full 90 minutes.

Having said that there was a lot that reminded me of our beloved Rovers squad and one young lady must certainly have been watching our Brett!

In any case, we're used to going home from Ewood after a loss so that bit wasn't so different.

Enjoyed the atmosphere, great to see so many at Ewood having fun - must get Lee to sit behind the aforementioned commentators and spill his tea over them!

At least there was some good news yesterday! Miss Roversmum ran for Chorley in the Lancashire Schools Sports (100metres) and came a close second! As she has been fighting injury for 18 months now and had little training it was a brilliant result and she now goes to represent Lancashire in the England Sports! (apologies for being off topic )

[Laurence]

I've watched a couple of the England games on TV and have been a little disappointed by the poorish technique on display altho' its clear that the better teams (e.g. Germany/Sweden) are significantly better than the rest.

However it seems very odd to me that so many people have commented that women's football is a waste of time just because they're not as good as the men. Well there are a lot of reasons for this, which have already been touched upon, history (the FA banned women's football for years because its popularity was threatening the mens game!), culture, lack of infrastructure, physical differences etc etc blah blah.

But lets put it this way, if you play amateur football, sunday morning pub leagues etc you turn up each week and play and the standard isn't great but you wouldn't say "hey- we're not very good, this is a waste of time lets pack it in", you play because you like it and its fun.

So lets imagine that someone comes along to your sunday game and wants to put together a representative England sunday league team, (you might send them off to Turd Moor) if you were selected you'd play, you wouldnt decline on the grounds that it was a waste of time because the standard wasn't as good as the pros.

I'm not likely to be an avid follower of women's football in future, but it seems strange to me that they get stick for not being very good. Just let them get on with it and in a few years time this debate will go away, just as it has with with women's athletics, tennis, golf, skiing, cycling, swimming......etc etc

Edited June 12, 2005 by Laurence

[PMT]

This might be one of those rare occasions where Scotty agrees with one of my posts... 

I'm certainly firmly in the category of "women's football sceptic".

If others like Paul have enjoyed the spectacle today, then I'm pleased for them.

But I'm afraid I can't join in myself with the gentle "touchy-feely party atmosphere" at women's games - I can't take the women's game seriously. The standard of fitness and speed of passing simply can't be compared to the men's game.

The girls typically string together four or five decent passes and then lose the ball needlessly - there's a lack of consistency and imagination to their passing.

Many of the goals come from horrendously bad defending, poor clearances and dreadful defensive positioning that would make Alan Hansen fume.

The standard of women's goalkeeping is also woefully poor. I'd suggest that most decent under-16 schoolboy teams would have better keepers than the women on show in this tournament. Indeed I'd back the old school team I used to play for - to beat most of the women's teams on show.

The women's marking at the back is often atrocious. I'd imagine that my old school team would have too much pace, speed of thought and aggression in the tackle for the women to be able to cope with. Our "shoot on sight" policy would have severely tested some of the weak female keepers.

Another point worth making is that in terms of national TV viewing figures, the Euro 2004 match between England and Portugal attracted over 17 million more viewers than the England ladies 3-2 win over Finland in Manchester - which peaked at 2.9 million viewers.  (2.5 million saw Arsenal play Charlton in the Women's FA Cup final.)

Whereas 20.7m viewers watched the England/Portugal quarter-final at Euro 2004, and if you go back to England's group matches in Euro 2004, the England/Croatia match attracted 18.1 million viewers and the France/England match had 17.8 million viewers. This is a vastly bigger difference than the gap between men's and women's tennis.

(The Wimbledon men's final had 7.7 million viewers last year, the women's final peaked at 6.3 million viewers.)

Given the huge gap that exists in terms of national TV viewing figures between men's and women's football - this suggests to me that despite the gentle party atmosphere Paul enjoyed so much at Ewood today - women's football still has rather a long way to go to catch up with the men.

Apologies to Roversmum....

I hope you'll be able to forgive me Mum and not send me to bed early tomorrow night without my cup of cocoa and motherly hug.... 

322983[/snapback]

I agree with Alan75, Roversmum and Laurence - what's the point of using statistics to compare the differences to the women's and men's games - they're never going to be the same!

Plus - the stringing together four or five decent passes and losing the ball needlessly - sounds like a team I know!

[Ozz]

Keep women out of football. Or at least out of my football. If god had intended women to play football, he wouldn`t have given them breasts.

[seahawkdad]

Keep women out of football. Or at least out of my football. If god had intended women to play football, he wouldn`t have given them breasts.

323035[/snapback]

Oh, I don't know. It's much more pleasant watching women protecting their breasts in a wall than men grabbing their crotches

And I am so sorry to hear that those damned plastic horns have made their way to England. They are here in the US and the constant, mindless droneing that has nothing to do with what is happening on the pitch drives me to wanting to do un-natural things with the horn to the person using it.

[colin]

Just out of interest, if you are from the school of thought that women's football is no good because women are not as physically well developed as men, can you give your opions on (say) the athletic abilities of Paula Radcliffe and Kelly Holmes. Paying special attention to the fact that neither of them are as good as their male counterparts.

As a sporting event watching England v Finland women at the COMS should not be compared to watching City v Rovers at the COMS. I enjoyed both.

Different atmosphere, different audience, different social event. It's a bit like saying "this is not a very good apple." then, learning that you're eating an orange, saying "well I still don't think it's a very good apple"

I suppose someone would have to engineer Rovers women v Burnley women* to really get some interesting outcomes.

*insert obligatory gratuitous insult here

[bellamy11]

Just out of interest, if you are from the school of thought that women's football is no good because women are not as physically well developed as men, can you give your opions on (say) the athletic abilities of Paula Radcliffe and Kelly Holmes. Paying special attention to the fact that neither of them are as good as their male counterparts.

As a sporting event watching England v Finland women at the COMS should not be compared to watching City v Rovers at the COMS. I enjoyed both.

Different atmosphere, different audience, different social event. It's a bit like saying "this is not a very good apple." then, learning that you're eating an orange, saying "well I still don't think it's a very good apple"

I suppose someone would have to engineer Rovers women v Burnley women* to really get some interesting outcomes.

*insert obligatory gratuitous insult here

323079[/snapback]

Some good points raised. I don't think it's a physical issue so much as it is an intensity issue. No, the women aren't as big or strong as the males but that's par for the course. But the pace of the womens game is radically different and a strong, hard tackle is a treat rather than something that Andy Todd and Ryan Nelsen feed off.

There are other subtle differences. Corners are bizarre. Very few defenders command the box when the corner is coming across and the keepers never claimed balls that weren't in their six yard boxes when crosses were coming in. To deal with this, the penalty areas were totally packed and a short ball pulled back to the D could have been met by any player totally unmarked. I suspect this never happens though because nobody shoots with any real venom. In a Premier League game, this wouldn't be the case and we'd berate anybody who failed to cover this.

I think the difference between the two which undermines them is that the women don't do anything that the men can't. Contrast this with womens tennis, a sport which is mar more equal between genders to the point where mixed doubles are allowed and similar TV audiences watch their respective finals. Yes, the women don't generally hit the ball as hard but they still posses weapons in their repetoire that would hurt men. For example, nobody in the world has a backhand as good as Justine Henin-Hardenne.

The tennis matches aren't different social events so why are football matches? It was great to see so many people there making noises but I'm certain not many of them are having a ###### Sunday now purely because of the result. How many of the women with England flags knew the full names and clubs of the England squad before all the TV coverage? How many were there because they wanted to see women play the sport rather than because they were football fans?

They were decent enough players (on the whole - Rachel Unitt was attrocious, and my Swedish friend cannot believe Larsson is an international), for example I thought Katie Chapman played the holding role very well. She used the ball decently and turned away from trouble when receiving the ball with her back to the opposition. How many people there even noticed how good that was? There was a lot of screaming when the ball was hoofed towards the penalty area but not a lot of applause for any good touches in the midfield.

Womens football shouldn't be an orange because they are playing exactly the same sport. It isn't baseball vs cricket. It isn't even Rugby Union vs League. It's exactly the same. The physical capabilities are always going to differ but this doesn't affect the excitement of a womens tennis match or a womens 100m. With womens football, the sluggish nature of the play and lack of bite can make it hard to watch, and I would imagine even harder to attract genuine fans when it isn't even treated as the same sport by the people who defend it.

Edited June 12, 2005 by bellamy11

[USRoverME]

Just to cause problems, I have a question to ask....

Many of the "anti-women's football" posters on here have said that they don't like watching women's football because the quality is poor compared to men's football. And because the quality is poor, the game is unwatchable.

So if Rovers were relegated to the championship would you still watch? Its not the premier league, and Rovers would liekly have to sell off most of their high-priced talent, so the brand of football would be much less in terms of quality. The intensity is still there, but I think the intensity is there in the women's game too (thinking especially of the tackle at the begining of the second half that #5 for England, White I think, put on one sweede, I think #16, that sent the sweede head flying). If you'd still watch Rovers in the Championship, what about second division?

Edited June 12, 2005 by USRoverME

[Hasta]

I went as a last minute decision yesterday and, for a fiver, it was good. It also helped that I wan't down at all despite the fact we got beat. It was better than sitting in doing bugger all anyway.

However the reason so many were at Ewood is probably down to the weather. If it had been a bleak Saturday in November with the rain bucketing down there'd have been nowhere near that many. It's the same logic that saw Rovers take 4000+ to Deepdale last year for a friendly in July but then take 500 or so to Everton in February.

[modes98]

FA praises Ewood!

FA officials have poured praise on Ewood Park for the "fabulous atmosphere" generated during the staging of two England group games in the Women's Euro 2005 Championships.

"Ewood has proved a great venue and the way the local people have supported the event is a credit to the club and to Blackburn and district."

"Some of the players say the atmosphere generated during Saturday's England-Sweden fixture was the best they had ever experienced and we are now hoping that the the fans come out again for the final; to have a major European final is a showpiece event and we know that Ewood Park will do us proud."

I spose short of the citeh of manc stadium it's one of the biggest grounds they play in! Hopefully the profile will continue to grow and the skills aswell!

Edited June 13, 2005 by modes98

[caithnessman]

I only went to the game to see if the players were going to throw their shirts into the crowd at the end of the match, and to see if any of them would do a Dyer and Boywer by having a cat fight! Loads of scratching, pulling each others hair, and grabbing each others private parts would have been better than the game which was crap!

[roversmum]

Could someone change that sign to say 'I am stupid?

[Paul]

[ABBEY]

Could someone change that sign to say 'I am stupid? 

323410[/snapback]

goes without saying ma ....YOUR FEMALE

[colin]

I only went to the game to see if the players were going to throw their shirts into the crowd at the end of the match, and to see if any of them would do a Dyer and Boywer by having a cat fight! Loads of scratching, pulling each others hair, and grabbing each others private parts would have been better than the game which was crap!

323358[/snapback]

Bet you would have liked that, straight back home to Mum's catalogue for a damn good Sherman.

There's a very good comment on women's football

here courtesty of the usually excellent John Nicholson.

Got me tickets for the final at Ewood on Sunday, and really looking forward to it. And sorry, got no freebies to hand out this time.

[krislu]

Norway 3 - Sweden 2

We are playing 2.half extra time as we speak! Come on you, girls..

[Claytons Left Boot]

Norway 3 - Sweden 2

We are playing 2.half extra time as we speak! Come on you, girls..

324499[/snapback]

They managed to hold on to take the win 3-2

What a cracking game!

Anyone know the time the final kicks off on Sunday?

[Lee]

3.15pm

[ABBEY]

@#/? grrrrrrrrrrrrrr.....thought it was 6 grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr i cant make it now grrr

[Claytons Left Boot]

Damn, me too! Up in the Lakes for the day.

[eddiecolne]

Well I'm definitely going, and when the winning team run up to the Blackburn End, rip off their shirts and throw them into the crowd, ( Chelsea style, with shaved chests ) I'm going to take lots of photos. Which I will distribute to all you interested lads that can't make it.

Think about it lads.

Topless women footballers.

All sweaty and excited after their efforts.

We might even see a ' Colin Hendry'

And I will be dishing out photos.

For just a £1.