What is the biggest issue in Women&#x27;s Football?

Original post by mikeyd85

Where? Have you evidence for this?

Admittedly there is no call for the sport to improve from women outside of the sport, but thats because the sport is not encouraged as much for women. Boys are playing in leagues at the age of 7 and girls around the same age are encouraged to not be sporty. Why arent we supporting women the same way we support guys? do that and the interest from women will definitely increase in sports like football.

Reply 44

username234673

Original post by DIN-NARYU-FARORE

Admittedly there is no call for the sport to improve from women outside of the sport, but thats because the sport is not encouraged as much for women. Boys are playing in leagues at the age of 7 and girls around the same age are encouraged to not be sporty. Why arent we supporting women the same way we support guys? do that and the interest from women will definitely increase in sports like football.

What are you talking about? My 2 youngest sisters have been massively encouraged to get in to sport through school, be it dance, swimming, athletics and probably others that I'm not aware of. The next sister up also played football at school.

I don't have the answer as to why women's football isn't popular and there isn't a demand for it, but you seem to be be hell bent on proving that some sort of inequality is the reason. I don't think that is the entire reason at all, especially not since the turn of the millennium.

Reply 45

TheShep

1

Original post by DIN-NARYU-FARORE

2nd Paragraph: No way of verifying that

Well yes, there is. It is a scientific fact that men generally have better spatial awareness than women. Speed, distance, etc all roll into spatial awareness.

Reply 46

Huskaris

16

Original post by Armin.

Lol dat baitin' :wink:

Dam right!

Every single notification I receive on TSR makes me feel warm inside.

Reply 47

its an interesting point.. but not as simple as half of the replys on here would have you believe..

Its most defiantly not largely due to physicality..

I mean, just looking at tenis, we can see a sport where although women may never perform to the level of men, they do have a serrious proffesional league, which draws in big crowds and good amounts of revenue..

So why not in football?

I mean, if you go back in history it may explain why..

Between the invention of the professional football, and the first world war.. womens football drew huge crowds.. some games up to 50,000 fans..

But then women were banned from playing football within FA grounds, in 1921, and things start to go wrong.. that ban lasted 50 years, up until 1971..

So whilst in sports like tennis women were still competing in similar competitions to men, throughout the whole century.. in football, they were banned from playing by the governing body of UK football..

Ofcourse in that time the mens game developed beyond anything, and now its just to late to catch up..

So, for me I would put the lack of sucess of womens football down largely to this ban, rather then their differences physically..

Sure they would never play the same level as men, but that is not the reason they do not have an entertaining and well funded system..

Reply 48

You get women's games now with 50k fans so that is air tbh.

Reply 49

Original post by Wilfred Little

You get women's games now with 50k fans so that is air tbh.

were talking about domestic football.. and not even a final, back then..

Compare that to now:

FA Cup finals:

2013-4: 15k
2012-3: 5k
2011-2: 8k

Highest was mid 20s.. Which is not bad, but not what it should be for the largest final in the womens game (in the uk)

-- I dont think a 50 year ban on womens football by the FA, should be overlooked as a factor towards the relative lack of success in the womens game..

For league games the average attendance was around 800 people per match in 2014..

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 50

Original post by fallen_acorns

were talking about domestic football.. and not even a final, back then..

Compare that to now:

FA Cup finals:

2013-4: 15k
2012-3: 5k
2011-2: 8k

Highest was mid 20s.. Which is not bad, but not what it should be for the largest final in the womens game (in the uk)

-- I dont think a 50 year ban on womens football by the FA, should be overlooked as a factor towards the relative lack of success in the womens game..

If you're comparing women's attendances in domestic football prior to the 1920s then it's only fair you compare the men's too.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1913_FA_Cup_Final

Because the standard is appalling. The best womens teams would probably struggle in the Blue Square North.

Reply 52

Original post by Wilfred Little

If you're comparing women's attendances in domestic football prior to the 1920s then it's only fair you compare the men's too.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1913_FA_Cup_Final

so mens have reduced by around half, whilst womens have been decimated to a mere fraction? except in the final of the largest finals, and international games..

the comparison still drops the womens game far bellow the mens in terms of regressed attendances.

--

I was thinking about this more whilst walking home from work..

Comparing football to sports where women have been more sucessful provides another angle to look at this:

Location, and time of performance.

In the most watched female sports in this country (tennis and athletics/swimming) the womens competitions are always interwoven with the mens.. and there is very rarely, at the highest level, a reason to pick between the two. e.g. you go for a day at wimbledon and you will see both mens/womens.

I would suggest that one of the reasons the womens game in football fails is due to the nature of only attending one game at a time, and not a selection.

When you put this into historical context, and include that during the formative years of mens football (after it was banned in the war) that women were not allowed to play in the same stadium.. not only is the womens game at a different time(unlike tennis) but now its also at a different venue.

I would say then, that one of the biggest reasons womens sports fail in some team sports, is due to it forcing a choice on the spectator, between mens + womens, rather then presenting both. The catalyst of the choice to watch mens football over womens, would ofcourse be the greater athletic ability of men.. but this is not the defining factor that makes womens sport fail (as its present in all female sports), but rather what makes womens football fail is that due to the format of the game it has to compete with mens football, rather then existing alongside it, as in tennis/athletics.

Reply 53

all in all, to sum up the post above, and my last few..

Its far far to simplistic and narrow to entirely put it down to level of skill.

Level of skill is always just a single factor in the popularity of the sport, and is rarely ever the sole reason people engage with it.

All of women's sports have to face this barrier of never performing to the level of men, and yet some sports succeed and others fail, so this cannot be the defining reason. That must fall to something more specific to football.

I would conclude that the reason football fails, whilst other female sports suceed is due to a range of reasons including:

- the historical ban on womens football
- the nature of a 1 match per attendance sport
- the nature of a 1 club per fan allegiance

And many other reasons..

Reply 54

You mention Tennis, Athletics and Swimming but those sports can all be played in the same venue with several events taking place at once. Wimbledon has more than one court for example. It would be impossible to do the same in football unless you had one match on after the other at the same venue. And if there was an 'FA Cup final day' that had the women playing first then the men at Wembley, I think most people would just turn up late.

I know I would.

Reply 55

Original post by Wilfred Little

You mention Tennis, Athletics and Swimming but those sports can all be played in the same venue with several events taking place at once. Wimbledon has more than one court for example. It would be impossible to do the same in football unless you had one match on after the other at the same venue. And if there was an 'FA Cup final day' that had the women playing first then the men at Wembley, I think most people would just turn up late.

I know I would.

I mentioned that above :smile:

Reply 56

manchesterunited15

Original post by fallen_acorns

I mean, just looking at tenis, we can see a sport where although women may never perform to the level of men, they do have a serrious proffesional league, which draws in big crowds and good amounts of revenue..

Because the tournaments are played at the same time in the same location as the men's. If the tournaments were held separately you'd see a big drop in interest in the women's.

Reply 57

SarcasticMel

2

Original post by Huskaris

The quality of football is so unbelievably low. Your average first XI from a school could probably beat most womens team.

Women just are not built the same physical way as men, and men therefore have a huge advantage.

It's like putting a team of fit, athletic 25 year olds against a team of fit, athletic 15 year olds, the older guys will always win, even if both sets are at the peak fitness, because they are more physically developed.

Hahahahaah

Yea right.

Reply 58

Original post by manchesterunited15

Because the tournaments are played at the same time in the same location as the men's. If the tournaments were held separately you'd see a big drop in interest in the women's.

which is exactly what I said above..

"In the most watched female sports in this country (tennis and athletics/swimming) the womens competitions are always interwoven with the mens.. and there is very rarely, at the highest level, a reason to pick between the two. e.g. you go for a day at wimbledon and you will see both mens/womens.

I would suggest that one of the reasons the womens game in football fails is due to the nature of only attending one game at a time, and not a selection.

When you put this into historical context, and include that during the formative years of mens football (after it was banned in the war) that women were not allowed to play in the same stadium.. not only is the womens game at a different time(unlike tennis) but now its also at a different venue.

I would say then, that one of the biggest reasons womens sports fail in some team sports, is due to it forcing a choice on the spectator, between mens + womens, rather then presenting both. The catalyst of the choice to watch mens football over womens, would ofcourse be the greater athletic ability of men.. but this is not the defining factor that makes womens sport fail (as its present in all female sports), but rather what makes womens football fail is that due to the format of the game it has to compete with mens football, rather then existing alongside it, as in tennis/athletics."

Reply 59