Women's Football (World Cups, WSL, Villa, the lot) | Page 38 | Vital Football

Women's Football (World Cups, WSL, Villa, the lot)

JuanPabloAngel said:
She had a very good game in my opinion, apart from the penalty decision, where she was badly let down by the VAR officials.
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I havent criticised her performance at all, nor that of the two other officials. My point was and is that I didnt think she mertited getting the game.
 
Think the article JPA posted clearly shows she has "time served" and as a pioneer, well someone has to be. I think that we can all agree that we want the best refs officiating games. If women are the future (or robots) and the standard of officiating is improved, I don't care particularly about gender, sexuality or colour - I'm there to watch the match.

This will be old news within a couple of years as we all get used to seeing a female referee. There will be good ones and bad ones, c'est la vie. I don't get the female pundit argument either, a woman's opinion of a match is just as valid as yours or mine :yes:
 
So, the attempt to capitalise on the interest generated by the Women's World Cup and continue the growth of the game begins in earnest this weekend.

Sensibly scheduled on an international break for the men, the WSL kicks off with two big games;

Man City v Man Utd @ The Eitihad and Chelsea v Arsenal @ Stamford Bridge. I believe the entry costs are minimal for both games.

In the Championship, Villa are also looking to promote interest in the women's game by playing a fixture at Villa Park.

Aston Villa Women v Blackburn Rovers Women kicks off at 12pm on Sunday 8th Sept 2019. Season ticket holders for the men's game can secure free tickets online, whereas casual fans can purchase tickets for £5.

https://www.avfc.co.uk/News/2019/09/02/match-pack-aston-villa-women-blackburn-rovers

A sensible strategy from the FA I think. It will be interesting to see what interest in terms of attendances this generates. And yes, I do realise that many of you would rather watch paint dry and that women should be at home, cooking the Sunday dinner. :tophat: It is 1950 after all.

Have been threatening to watch a live women's game for the last couple of years so might take the opportunity. We'll see.
 
Interesting piece in the Guardian ref the objective of growing the game.

https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...football-fans-pitch-booking#comment-132646788

Thought this response in the comments section was astute, although the comments about sport being removed from the school curriculum are inaccurate. Many schools have a healthy attitude towards promoting sport.



"As club and registration secretary of a grassroots football club with a number of girls teams and a Ladies team, I respectfully suggest that this article would have been better written in a few weeks time after the kids have gone back to school and grassroots football has started up again.

Right now I would say I have seen no evidence of an increase in girls wanting to play football at our club, but the next couple of weeks will perhaps see a surge of new players wanting to join.

The two major obstacles to growing girls football in my opinion are cultural attitudes / social media peer pressure on girls around the 14 - 16 age range that playing football (or any sport) is not 'cool' or means they are less attractive (including assertions about sexual orientation); and the incredibly harmful and short-sighted removal of sport from the school curriculum.

Schools have become more and more 'exam machines' and at the same time recent changes in the school curriculum have made GCSE and A level exams significantly harder as well as abolishing assessment of course work as a component in achieving grades in many subjects.

Parents should be told that the mental and physical well-being of their children is massively improved by participation in sport and outdoor activities and the FA should be seeking to get this message across to politicians and education ministers in particular.

At our club we are used to girls teams folding at U16 as parents tell their daughters they don't have time to 'waste' playing football when they need to be revising hard for their GCSEs.

The other main driver that seems to turn girls away from football is peer pressure and often if one of a group of friends suddenly decides she doesn't want to play football anymore we can lose 4 or 5 players at a stroke."
 
Isn't there a Respect initiative in football? I thought there was. Ah, must have dreamt it.

Equality is here to stay PVB, if you don't like it, don't watch it, just don't start another thread of bigotry.
 
According to Eni Aluko in The Guardian, "Stamford Bridge will be a sell out" this weekend. Slightly misleading as entry is free but will show impressive interest if so.

In other good news, she predicts relegation for Small Heath following a summer exodus of players. How fitting it would be if they were replaced by a Villa side captained by a former nose. :grinning: UTV.

Seasons preview here:

https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...eague-high-profile-signings-manchester-united
 
northamptonvillan said:
According to Eni Aluko in The Guardian, "Stamford Bridge will be a sell out" this weekend. Slightly misleading as entry is free but will show impressive interest if so.

In other good news, she predicts relegation for Small Heath following a summer exodus of players. How fitting it would be if they were replaced by a Villa side captained by a former nose. :grinning: UTV.

Seasons preview here:

https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...eague-high-profile-signings-manchester-united
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Top player she is.
 
1,261 at the women’s game today at VP. I’d imagine that’s not quite the turnout they were hoping for on the back of the World Cup.
 
VillaTomB38 said:
1,261 at the women’s game today at VP. I’d imagine that’s not quite the turnout they were hoping for on the back of the World Cup.
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30 000 @ The Eitihad
25 000 @ Stamford Bridge
3 000 @ Ashton Gate

As I've said, the future lies with television and sponsorship money. Hugely disappointing for the Villa hierarchy and the women themselves I expect. The time to play in larger stadiums for Villa would be in tandem with the men's games. One thing to turn on the TV, completely different to physically commit and pay money for the privilege of attending.

Will continue to watch events surrounding the game's development with interest.
 
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