Girls and football?

[HillmortonBlade]

OK women's football.

Good that its becoming very popular - Bad standard.

I'm going to see Man City v Doncaster Belles on Mayday bank holiday - I'm going with a friend of mine, a lesbian/feminist friend of mine.

Now it'll be a grudge match, if you know the least bit about the unfairness of the women's league manipulation you know THAT. Man City replaced Doncaster a couple of years ago in the first division, the Belles were relegated before the season kicked off - it was pre-ordained, cheers Scudamore.

The other thing is, it'll be the first ever women's game I will have been to, I can't stand to watch it - I watched the world cup 6 years ago? in China but last time round I only bothered watching Japan v England. The standard is too poor for me, thats why I don't watch the Blades much right now, I mean, where's the fun? what's the point?

I watched the 7ish-year-old daughter of a friend of mine play in a mixed sex match, I was there with a load of Scouse Mums on the touchline some years ago, there was one outstanding lad, Holly played OK but the (grown & gobby/politically leftish [Liverpudlian]) women read what was happening completely wrong - they were full of 'well the boys are so much stronger than the girls' type comments but that was far from the case at that age. What they missed was that those lads, like we used to, were practicing football much, much more than they practiced anything else, 3 games per day, 2 in the playtimes am & pm and 1 at Dinner time in the playground with a tennis ball, every weekday and then a match or two at weekends, EVERY DAY. - that's why the boys were better. - I submit, thats probably why that goalkeeper fcuked up so royally, she looked like she'd never practiced kicking with her wrong foot......

BUT - and here's my dilemma and what I shall broach very carefully (if at all) with my friend Kat at the match in Manchester on May 2nd. I also think that for most women players - who now, fully grown are no longer as big or as strong as adult men - either the ball, or the pitch is too big for most women players.

Discuss........and if you do discuss it please keep to the point.

I managed a junior football for some years and when it got to Under 10's/11's the girls in the teams were often amongst the stronger. I always thought must have been because they had stuck at it and had that little bit more to prove.

 

[SwissBlade]

I didn't say they were all rubbish. There's many very skilled players. I've been to watch MENS Luxembourg vs Belarus... Womens was infinitely higher quality. Also a sport will improve with better funding, recruitment and support which is gained by OCCASIONALLY putting some womens football on. It's not like they cancelled Match of the Day!!!

My point is explained in my post above, but is it better to show case a sport that is a really poor standard or to showcase a sport where women are really excelling?

 

[vorpal blade]

oh and I think its likely that during my lifetime there is quite likely to be a star woman player who is so good she breaks into the men's game and they won't be able to stop her, a bit like Sarah Taylor the wicketkeeper has done....I once bumped into her in a kebab shop on Arundel Gate at 2 in the morning, did I tell you?

 

[PeterNdlovu081]

I managed a junior football for some years and when it got to Under 10's/11's the girls in the teams were often amongst the stronger. I always thought must have been because they had stuck at it and had that little bit more to prove.

Girls develop physically at a younger age than boys.

11/12/13 year old girls can often look laughably huge compared to boys of the same age.

 

[vorpal blade]

I managed a junior football for some years and when it got to Under 10's/11's the girls in the teams were often amongst the stronger. I always thought must have been because they had stuck at it and had that little bit more to prove.

aye at that age girls are starting to mature quicker than the boys too aren't they? (I don't have kids)

ps you beat me to it PeterN

 

[Dnblade]

Of course women should be allowed to be interested in football, just everything has to be in its place that's all

Do you think she would be up for a bit of Gegen Pressing?

 

[katedeluxe91]

My point is explained in my post above, but is it better to show case a sport that is a really poor standard or to showcase a sport where women are really excelling?

I can definitely agree with the point that sports where women excel in should be better promoted as a female who would almost certainly die during a triathlon.

 

[HillmortonBlade]

Girls develop physically at a younger age than boys.

11/12/13 year old girls can often look laughably huge compared to boys of the same age.

aye at that age girls are starting to mature quicker than the boys too aren't they? (I don't have kids)

ps you beat me to it PeterN

I agree, but I am sure they could have walked into a girls team and been the stand out players, a a consequence of having developed in the wider junior game. Which leads me on to a totally different topic of whether streaming junior football teams according ability is a good or a bad thing..

 

[Tyler Durden]

It's just another one of them things that nobody really likes but that the PC world tries forcing on you.

"You will enjoy shit women football. You will promote equality. And if you don't you're a sexist pig."

How is womens football being "forced" on you exactly?

It's always interesting to note that many of those who whine about "the PC brigade" are often the most delicate, most easily offended souls around......

 

[Barney]

How is womens football being "forced" on you exactly?

It's always interesting to note that many of those who whine about "the PC brigade" are often the most delicate, most easily offended souls around......

The media are just trying to bridge the gap between men and women football. I'm sorry It just will not happen no matter how PC you are. It's like trying to get a load of blokes to take up ballet. You just have to accept that some sports suit one gender more than the other.

 

[William Henry Foulkes]

BUT - and here's my dilemma and what I shall broach very carefully (if at all) with my friend Kat at the match in Manchester on May 2nd. I also think that for most women players - who now, fully grown are no longer as big or as strong as adult men - either the ball, or the pitch is too big for most women players.

But then the Americans seem to play so much better than we do, so maybe I'm wrong.
Discuss........and if you do discuss it please keep to the point.

The pitch being too big seemed obvious to me. (Same with cricket fields). Smaller pitch faster (and more commercially viable?) game. And they seem to have the technique for it.

But apparently this idea of a smaller pitch far from being any great insight is what a lot of people say. Saw an interview with some US players recently and it sounded a lot like the women who play are bored of hearing it - and just took the piss out of the idea.

Seems like they just want to play their own game on a standard pitch size.

Maybe it's not that different from men's v women's tennis. Women's tennis would probably speed up with, say, a smaller court and a lower net but that's not the way they've gone - and it'd probably be a bit daft now if they did.

 

[HillmortonBlade]

How is womens football being "forced" on you exactly?

It's always interesting to note that many of those who whine about "the PC brigade" are often the most delicate, most easily offended souls around......

Perhaps because licence fee money is being shelled out to produce live broadcasts on BBC? Now, for all my negativity towards it, I once again gave it a go this evening before switching over to watch something else equally unmemorable.

 

[ShockingBadBuy]

Girls ? Football ?

Yes please

 

[HillmortonBlade]

The media are just trying to bridge the gap between men and women football. I'm sorry It just will not happen no matter how PC you are. It's like trying to get a load of blokes to take up ballet. You just have to accept that some sports suit one gender more than the other.

Not necessarily..

 

[Tyler Durden]

The media are just trying to bridge the gap between men and women football. I'm sorry It just will not happen no matter how PC you are. It's like trying to get a load of blokes to take up ballet. You just have to accept that some sports suit one gender more than the other.

Vaslav Nijinsky and Rudolf Nureyev are commonly acknowledged as the greatest ballet dancers of all time.....and they were men.

But more importantly, nobody was forced to watch ballet, not even in the Soviet Union.

 

[vorpal blade]

But apparently this idea of a smaller pitch far from being any great insight is what a lot of people say. Saw an interview with some US players recently and it sounded a lot like the women who play are bored of hearing it - and just took the piss out of the idea.

Smaller pitches are quite impractical at a park level (though relatively few pitches in parks are full size) u turn up and get what you're given.......I didn't know it was a talking point......

for me the obvious thing is to play with a size 4 ball like we did when we were youths.....?

 

[GreasyChipBeattie]

Sorry if I've offended anyone. It was just a bit of a wind up to get us talking about something other than the usual stuff.
I do agree with Swiss though. There is a disproportionate amount of women's football compared to other women's events.
It's almost like the Beeb are trying to make a point of being seen as a 'hip, with-it corporation appealing to the masses' when a significant proportion of the masses don't really want it.
My main beef with the BBC though, is that they seem to feel the need to shape the morals of our society by pushing issues such as homosexuality in an unbalanced way.
Saying that, my missus watches Neighbours which is becoming increasingly like a soft porn channel!!
And we wonder why much of our beloved UK society is failing.

 

[katedeluxe91]

Not necessarily..

Yes you can certainly have those who excel at ballet/football even if they are considered as going "against their gender" and as people have mentioned...there's some utter dross on TV so I just think...why not.

 

[vorpal blade]

Maybe it's not that different from men's v women's tennis. Women's tennis would probably speed up with, say, a smaller court and a lower net but that's not the way they've gone - and it'd probably be a bit daft now if they did.

But they DO have different balls, did you know that? ---- I didn't until I saw Andy Murray get into an almighty strop about it when he found he'd been given a women's ball to serve with at a tournament last week....

 

[ShockingBadBuy]

Sorry if I've offended anyone. It was just a bit of a wind up to get us talking about something other than the usual stuff.
I do agree with Swiss though. There is a disproportionate amount of women's football compared to other women's events.

Lots of women's cricket on the Beeb too, at least on the radio. Anything that gets cricket of whatever kind more exposure is just fine by me.

 

[Tyler Durden]

Perhaps because licence fee money is being shelled out to produce live broadcasts on BBC? Now, for all my negativity towards it, I once again gave it a go this evening before switching over to watch something else equally unmemorable.

Fair point, but it's also being shelled out to produce Songs of Praise and The Antiques Roadshow, both of which I'd rather stab my eyes out with a toothpick than watch. That's the consequence of having a publicly funded broadcasting service, and despite the fact that I hate most things about the BBC, I wouldn't change that format.

 

[vorpal blade]

Its all about drawing the pitches on the grass, it would start looking stupid & confusing a bit like all the different colloured lines on a school gym floor, if they shortened tennis courts and as for football, you'd have to move the goal posts in too, which is well nigh impossible.

 

[HillmortonBlade]

Fair point, but it's also being shelled out to produce Songs of Praise and The Antiques Roadshow, both of which I'd rather stab my eyes out with a toothpick than watch. That's the consequence of having a publicly funded broadcasting service, and despite the fact that I hate most things about the BBC, I wouldn't change that format.

Yes, I'll concede that point.

 

[GreasyChipBeattie]

Its all about drawing the pitches on the grass, it would start looking stupid & confusing a bit like all the different colloured lines on a school gym floor, if they shortened tennis courts and as for football, you'd have to move the goal posts in too, which is well nigh impossible.

I don't know Vorps, it's been happening down at BDTBL for a few years now....moving the goalposts and all that

 

[JohnDenver]

My main beef with the BBC though, is that they seem to feel the need to shape the morals of our society by pushing issues such as homosexuality in an unbalanced way.
And we wonder why much of our beloved UK society is failing.

Wowzers.

 

[Barney]

What about womens rugby? That doesn't seem to get as much coverage.

I'd prefer womens rugby over football, if you know what I mean.

On the bandwagon everybody...

 

[vorpal blade]

Going off-piste and at risk of causing offence (though none is meant), I can't watch the paralympics because of the low standard and the basic unfairness of having differently 'damaged' people competing against each other. Witness the South African murderer's running prowess,it was easy for him when he has to run against one legged athletes...... Pistorius being balanced. (well physically, I mean)

But it was hugely promoted by the BBC and probably rightly so, it seemed very popular...is it just me?

 

[JohnDenver]

What about womens rugby? That doesn't seem to get as much coverage.

I'd prefer womens rugby over football, if you know what I mean.

On the bandwagon everybody...

Rugby? Now you've gone too far...

 

[Barney]

Rugby? Now you've gone too far...

Women play rugby, don't they?

 

[JohnDenver]

Women play rugby, don't they?

I'm equally prejudiced against any form of rugger. Men's, women's, gay, trans.

It's wrong and our children should be protected from such moral turpitude.