[Archived] Womens Football

[Derbyshire Blue]

Off over to Blackburn this afternoon, really looking forward to the game. I wish people would stop trying to compare men’s football with women’s. and accept it for what it is. Same people probably don’t bother watchin the women at Wimbledon or Olympics at Track and Field, Swimming etc, cause the Men do it better!!

Come on England!

[Mike Graham]

Just off to the States in an hour. I wanted to go to Ewood but sometimes the choice is too difficult. I'll be looking out on the web tonight and wish the England women well.

[caithnessman]

Monkey tennis

[Manchester Blue]

Numpty

[Paul]

Down at Ewood this morning and quite a few people buying 5-6 tickets at a time. Looks as though this will be a very good gate - 20,000 at least. I wanted JW upper and could only get the back row so we settled for the JW side of the BBE were we could only get seats 5 and 6. Only singles available in the CIS and when I asked if the FS was open the girl replied "not yet".

It's a lovely day, get to Ewood and support the ladies.

[DanLad]

Down at Ewood this morning and quite a few people buying 5-6 tickets at a time. Looks as though this will be a very good gate - 20,000 at least. I wanted JW upper and could only get the back row so we settled for the JW side of the BBE were we could only get seats 5 and 6. Only singles available in the CIS and when I asked if the FS was open the girl replied "not yet".

It's a lovely day, get to Ewood and support the ladies.

322901[/snapback]

A friend got my fiancee and my tickets yesterday and we're on the fifth row of the lower tier of the Jack Walker. I was worried that the little lady might not be able to see the game properly and was hoping to switch to tickets in the Riverside. I presume that there's no chance of that in light of the above comments on the CIS?

[caithnessman]

Down at Ewood this morning and quite a few people buying 5-6 tickets at a time. Looks as though this will be a very good gate - 20,000 at least. I wanted JW upper and could only get the back row so we settled for the JW side of the BBE were we could only get seats 5 and 6. Only singles available in the CIS and when I asked if the FS was open the girl replied "not yet".

It's a lovely day, get to Ewood and support the ladies.

322901[/snapback]

I'd rather watch paint dry than watch womens football!

[modes98]

I'd rather watch paint dry than watch womens football!

322906[/snapback]

Go to the garage or B&Q and get a pot of paint and a brush.

Paint your wall and watch it, then when its dry come back and we'll see who's had the better time!!!

[cletus]

Two of my mates are going to the game tonight, & guess what?? they got me a ticket! after i said i wasn`t interested in going.

Fair doo`s......i`m gonna go down & give womens football a look.

You never know, i might enjoy it!

Edited June 11, 2005 by cletus

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

25,600 .....unlucky England lasses but you just weren't good enough and it showed today

Edited June 11, 2005 by SIMON GARNERS 194

[des]

good game and my 3and a half daughter loved it, she was good all the time, shamed we lost . the gate was quite high which was good indeed

[ABBEY]

the swedes were a lot fitter and bigger overall,their number 5 i swear was a bloke and we kept singing ohhhh colin hendry .....there were folk from all over the country today cabridge bath to name two and to say 26500 on traffic was non existant hee hee they dont how to get thru mill hill.

[grizfoot]

The BBC couldn't resist could they, the attendance of the match was only bettered 4 times by Rovers this season ( against Burnley. ManUre, City are three of them i think).

Saying that the tickets where cheap though.

Edited June 11, 2005 by grizfoot

[brfcshabba]

Rachel Unitt, what she has in looks makes up for her footballing talent - she was awful.

Not a bad view from the very back row of the family stand

Edited June 11, 2005 by Cookiemonster

[grizfoot]

Rachel Unitt, what she has in looks makes up for her footballing talent - she was awful.

Not a bad view from the very back row of the family stand

322950[/snapback]

Probably still better than any of our leftbacks

[brfcshabba]

I suppose you're right there grizfoot.

[Paul]

I'd rather watch paint dry than watch womens football!

322906[/snapback]

Go to the garage or B&Q and get a pot of paint and a brush.

Paint your wall and watch it, then when its dry come back and we'll see who's had the better time!!!

322917[/snapback]

We did!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

The BBC couldn't resist could they, the attendance of the match was only bettered 4 times by Rovers this season ( against Burnley. ManUre, City are three of them i think). 

Saying that the tickets where cheap though.

322949[/snapback]

My first reaction to that comment from the match commentator was you complete and utter ChUNT

.

.

.

.

.

.

. Then again it was some 5,000 higher than Bumleys best attendance last season.

[bellamy11]

Whilst it must have been thrilling for the players to play in front of a crowd that big and noisy, I felt so preoccupied thinking how few of those people would be there during the Rovers season.

The standard was much better in an international match than the domestic ones, but sometimes the intensity was toned down and the passing was unpredictable to say the least.

I thought Sweden had neat passes but little else. The players played hard but fair, but I don't agree with the whole "and they never go down with injuries either, unlike the girly men of the Premiership". There was somebody down every 3 minutes.

[Paul]

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.

[BRFC4EVA]

.

. 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.

Not saying that it wasnt noisy when your at the game, but i went today and also recorded to game to see the atmosphere and when i was in the bbe in sounded quite loud. However when i watched it on video it was actually pretty quiet, punctuated by lots and lots of high pitched screaming.

However i do agree that we need to get much more of these women and kids to Ewood during our season and it was an excellent crowd!

[Scotty]

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.

Edited June 11, 2005 by Scotty

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

Nice post Scotty,agree entirely.

[Anti Euro Smiths Fan]

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....

[greggyk]

I somehow doubt all 25k fans were all Blackburn fans