England

[Mike E]

Personally believe Rovers should seize the chance here and offer the women's games free as part of a ST. And get the games played at Ewood.

We do great things at our club in the name of equality, and we should keep pushing especially while the Stanway/Walsh/Toone spotlight is on us!

[SBlue]

1 hour ago, Colt Seavers said:

I admire your optimism, but on checking, I found that the current average attendance in the WSL is around 2,200. In the Championship, the average attendance is 410.

I'm sure there will be an improvement following the tremendous success this weekend but the game as it stands has been funded massively over recent years but they are some way off stadiums for club matches.

A lot of them play in the arse end of nowhere and are poorly marketed.

Sharing the “identity” of the men’s side, where the clubs fans are used to going, could really boost the profile and eventually become a decent revenue stream. 

[Oldgregg86]

8 hours ago, RoverDom said:

C'mon it's jokes from both sides. 3 irons on the shirt - women doing what men can't. Or does banter stop cos it's womens football? 

I love banter but they have just won the tournament and now is the time to show unity and support and all the above kind of undermines what’s been achieved and are trying to achieve as a whole. Just my opinion

Edited August 2, 2022 by Oldgregg86

[Oldgregg86]

7 hours ago, S8 & Blue said:

A lot of them play in the arse end of nowhere and are poorly marketed.

Sharing the “identity” of the men’s side, where the clubs fans are used to going, could really boost the profile and eventually become a decent revenue stream. 

I’ve been watching city’s women and was at a couple of there trophy parades where the men and women celebrate there achievements together: it’s all under one umbrella and seen as another trophy for the club regardless of which sex won it. It was great to see. They have the added advantage of having the academy stadium next to the main one which makes it easy to go to but it would be nice if one day every other clubs had the same attitude towards the womens teams. 

[Colt Seavers]

8 hours ago, Mike E said:

Personally believe Rovers should seize the chance here and offer the women's games free as part of a ST. And get the games played at Ewood.

We do great things at our club in the name of equality, and we should keep pushing especially while the Stanway/Walsh/Toone spotlight is on us!

Personally speaking, if I was a woman playing for Rovers I might feel a little patronised at the thought that a section of the support from the men's game was offered the chance to watch free of charge. I'm not sure that equality is well served there. 

England have done brilliantly; if folk want to watch their local team on the back of that support then great but the game shouldn't be propped up.

I am a supporter of Rovers ladies and enjoyed watching England. There has been so much support, financial and otherwise recently,  the women's game should stand or fall on its own merits and, ultimately, it will.

Edited August 2, 2022 by Colt Seavers

[Mattyblue]

If Man Utd Women have been having c2-4k watching them at Leigh, but on the back of this they will now have 7-8k surely that’s better in a now busy stadium than rattling around in a 10% full Old Trafford?

Edited August 2, 2022 by Mattyblue

[Colt Seavers]

20 minutes ago, Mattyblue said:

If Man Utd Women have been having c2-4k watching them at Leigh, but on the back of this they will now have 7-8k surely that’s better in a now busy stadium than rattling around in a 10% full Old Trafford?

Totally agree.

It will be interesting to see if attendances achieve sustainable growth or just a temporary spike over the coming season. As all of us know, physically attending football matches requires a real commitment, and whilst the interest of the nation has been piqued, its another thing entirely to turn these casual observers into actual boots on the ground attendees.

[matt83]

40 minutes ago, Colt Seavers said:

Totally agree.

It will be interesting to see if attendances achieve sustainable growth or just a temporary spike over the coming season. As all of us know, physically attending football matches requires a real commitment, and whilst the interest of the nation has been piqued, its another thing entirely to turn these casual observers into actual boots on the ground attendees.

In my opinion it’ll be a temporary spike it always is. When England won the ashes in 2005 there was loads of interest in cricket from the non cricket public which largely tailed off. Same when England won the rugby World Cup in 2003 was it.

Id wager the vast majority of new fans who watched the England women will already support the club equivalent of their men and so if people want to watch both 2 games a week is going to prove too much of a faff after the spike. Then for those clubs who don’t have women's teams I can’t see them getting their fix at another club. For eg, if bonleh don’t have a women’s team they’re not heading over to brig to watch rovers same for nob end.

[Mattyblue]

The ECB taking all cricket off free to air TV immediately after didn’t help on that score! Ask someone in their 50s/60s to name England cricketers from the 1980s and 90s and plenty will reel them off. Then ask the man on the street about who’s in the current side. No exposure, no profile.

As for Rugby Union, of course it will never have the national profile of football, but I’d say the 2003 spike has been sustained - helped by the Six Nations being on prime time BBC/ITV year in year out. The World Cup is a big event. In the 90s who was interested in RU up here? It’s a far bigger sport outside its Home Counties heartlands than it used to be.

Edited August 2, 2022 by Mattyblue

[RoverDom]

Free to air sports is key. If I can pick the remote up and flick to a sport I'll watch it. I'll only go hunting down streams for footy matches. 

If they put womens football on BBC and one Sunday afternoon I flick over to Blackburn Ladies playing, I'll watch it. If its entertaining I might make a conscious effort to watch who ever is playing the next week if im free and it grows from there. Then all of a sudden you've got an afternoon earmarked for a big derby game.

 

More sports should be shown on accessible TV. It not only promotes that sport but would encourage youngsters to give different sports a try if the traditional sports don't spoke your interest. I'm thinking some of the more niche Olympic sports for example.

Edited August 2, 2022 by RoverDom

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

5 hours ago, Mattyblue said:

The ECB taking all cricket off free to air TV immediately after didn’t help on that score! Ask someone in their 50s/60s to name England cricketers from the 1980s and 90s and plenty will reel them off. Then ask the man on the street about who’s in the current side. No exposure, no profile.

As for Rugby Union, of course it will never have the national profile of football, but I’d say the 2003 spike has been sustained - helped by the Six Nations being on prime time BBC/ITV year in year out. The World Cup is a big event. In the 90s who was interested in RU up here? It’s a far bigger sport outside its Home Counties heartlands than it used to be.

The ECB showed exactly what not to do when they took the cricket off free to air. It’s been down hill ever since.

[Atko's Engine]

On 01/08/2022 at 18:09, S8 & Blue said:

Bigging us up again on the BBC 6 o clock news, reporting from the training centre etc

Great publicity for our fantastic youth setup

Well worth watching on the iplayer, great little piece and definitely something the club should be crowing about loud & proud.

I really enjoyed what I watched of the Euros, inc the whole of the final. I felt the quality on show was really good, & the goal made at Rovers was top drawer.

Women's football really is going places, we should get right to the forefront of it & this is a great springboard.

 

[SBlue]

BRFCS training gear anyone? 🤣🤐

[Atko's Engine]

Accy Stanley have something decent brewing in the women's game too. My 17y/o niece plays for their open age women's side, about 4 divs below Rovers Ladies but seem to be investing a lot of time & effort into them.

I've seen a few games these last 12 months  and there no shortage of ability on show. My niece would run rings around me if I gave her the chance (I wont!).

[Mike E]

My niece is 11 and has rejected a training contract at Man Utd to sign a proper playing contract at Burnley 🤢

Tell you what though, I played for the school team and was pretty good, but she absolutely has me on toast when play 1-1, she's fantastic.

[speeeeeeedie]

The last international break before Qatar is upon us. 

Southgate announced his squad last week; ESPNFC - England Squad Sept 2022

Using the Euro squad as a guide most who were in that one keep their place. Pickford and Calvert-Lewin are injured so miss out. Rashford and Sancho are dropped again, as is Tyrone Mings. Eric Dier and Tammy Abraham are recalled. Ivan Toney gets his first call up.

Since the initial squad was named Phillips did his shoulder in so Henderson has replaced him. 

Again looking at Southgate's preferred Euro's team he has a lot of thinking to do. Will he go 3-4-3 or 4-2-3-1? Will he pick based on form, or go with what he knows?

Stalwarts Maguire and Shaw are out of favour at Man U Does he drop them too? I don't think that he will.

I wouldn't put my house on it but I reckon, barring injuries, Pickford, Walker, Stones, Shaw, Rice, Mount, Sterling, and Kane will be in the starting 11 against Iran no matter the formation but gets a bit foggy after that as there are too many permutations to work out.

[Ianrally]

How Maguire is any where near that squad beggars belief. As far as international matches are concerned I feel he’s a red card waiting to happen, some of the late challenges he gets away with in the Premier League won’t be the case in the World Cup. 

[roverandout]

Hes never played badly for England 

[Gav]

Is it just me or do Scotland seem to play Ukraine most international breaks these days 🤔

[roverandout]

Ukraine are trying to play technical tippy tappy tika taka which they aren't capable of. They aren't technical enough.  They're losing the ball in dangerous areas. A bit like rovers. Scotland are just steamrollering them

[SBlue]

Interested to see how Abraham and Toney get on. I rate both and think they offer something a bit different to Kane, who we've needed an alternative/backup to for a while.

Obviously come the World Cup both will be left at home so we can take 6 right backs.

[roversfan99]

Toney and Abraham are both decent strikers but are a level or two away from top level, so they like everyone will fall into an abyss. Kane is so good that no matter what they do, they will never seriously challenge him, and even if say we was chasing a game, would it really work to have one on aswell as Kane? It would potentially reduce the latter's ability to poach a goal, and our attacking players tend to want to come inside and get involved.

[joey_big_nose]

I like Toney a lot. A real all-rounder.

Will watch the game tonight with interest. Nations League splits opinions but for  me I'd take it over a friendly any time. England now have a very good squad who should be showing why they are contenders for the world cup. Only thing that worries me is the central defence. Still up in the air and unconvincing.

Kane, Bellingham, Rice, James, Saka, Foden, Grealish all super players. Just need to get it all clicking. Will get a real sense playing Italy away in a competitive game where we are at.

[Mattyblue]

The Nations League has been a failure, pretty clear that players, managers and most fans don’t give a shite about it. It’s still all about the two tournaments.

But I suppose at least this round doubles up as World Cup warm-ups, so not totally pointless.

[chaddyrovers]

Toney is very different striker to Kane. I think Chelsea should have sign him as their main striker.