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Post by allezlesrouges on Aug 1, 2022 17:04:16 GMT
I didn't support England yesterday, and the fact they won doesn't change much beyond what was already evident. Attendances, positivity & interest in the women's game are at an all time high - which is a great thing. That being said, they are far less insufferable than the men's teams & the media vitriol around it is nowhere near as bad
I think we'll also see a spike in attendance for our women's team & the tournament as a whole will be a big cause of that - ultimately that is a great thing
Hearing about all the women that represented England whilst working a 2nd job & not getting paid, not having any assurances - you have to admit that is inspirational. I know it's the same for all women's teams, but these facts are now more clearly in the public's conscience, again that will benefit women in Wales - which is great
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Post by welshwhite on Aug 1, 2022 17:45:56 GMT
Whole heartedly Agree with that last paragraph. Watched most of the tournament and enjoyed it as much as any tournament where Wales were not involved. Remained neutral and impartial but did root for England in the final (waits to be flamed !). They just seemed like a fantastic, hard working, and likeable group of girls. If anything I felt the German ladies exuded an almost English like sense of Entitlement. I think as Welsh we always unconsciously root for the underdog. The only downside is that there will be a documentary/movie made by English men that will totally misrepresent what this means for the global Women's game and concentrate on parochial little England nationalism.
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Post by hooky on Aug 1, 2022 18:48:00 GMT
So happy for women and the women's game.
Especially nice as I have a daughter.
The media has helped. Putting women's football on tv so regularly (coinciding a bit with the me too movement) helps get money in the game and garner interest. The product is improving, bigger crowds, more attention, more investment, more money, more commitment from the players, better product and so the virtuous cycle continues. Women's football has massive potential
Could not root for England .... but nevertheless am happy for them. No point in being jealous - they delivered and inspired people. Growth and more investment in the English women's game can only be good for Wales. We see how we benefit from being so close to big brother in terms of the men's game. Hopefully, we can capitalise on it.
When I look at our women's team they just don't seem to have enough to qualify for the World Cup on paper do they? They have a great chance to get to a play off but I presume it is highly unlikely we will be as lucky as Northern Ireland - who drew someone really weak for their Euros play off (and were fortunate our goalkeeper dropped a clanger in injury time against them - still gets me that they got massacred by Norway twice, we were competitive against them and yet they got through). However, even if we don't qualify I assume its about the next World Cup cycle that we may start seeing the rising popularity and greater investment pay off in terms of more depth and quality in our squad .... I hope!
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Post by cynonvalley on Aug 1, 2022 18:54:41 GMT
There is a huge gap between women's national teams. Even in the Euros.
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Post by 1gwaunview on Aug 1, 2022 19:02:41 GMT
Let's hope its another 50+ years before they win anything else.
There is a huge disparity in women's national teams as cynonvalley highlighted.
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Post by hooky on Aug 1, 2022 19:05:44 GMT
Of course but there is scope for the game to improve across the board and when that process matures, then just as with the men's game, the difference in quality between teams will narrow, even if it is with better quality coaching masking differences in quality at times.
Women's rugby is the game where its not so good. England seem to love smashing teams as they were the only one's fully professional over the last couple of years. They don't seem to realise how boring a product they are making that game - who is gonna be that interested when you know they are gonna beat the other British and Irish teams by at least 40pts before the match starts. Thankfully, other nations are now moving towards professionalism.
Football is far bigger of course. Rugby is a minority sport. The quality at the top end of the women's game is now pretty attractive. If it were note then there is now way we would have seen the crowds we have, regardless of how much tickets are subsidised. The women's game has a great growth trajectory over the next decade in my opinion.
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Post by mrpicton79 on Aug 1, 2022 21:36:57 GMT
I see a lot of people getting fooled by the "look at the attendances!" mantra. Yes in isolation it might look impressive, but as insert pointed out many tickets were given away to school children to beef up numbers. Even the "full-price" tickets cost a fraction of what you have to fork out to follow the men's game. The figures are as manufactured as they could be. In contrast the average attendances for women's super league games is around 1000-2000. Also from streaming a few international games for betting purposes during the last few years it's fair to say the attendances on display painted a very different picture of the popularity of the women's game. And that's not even touching on the nauseating way the whole thing has been covered and presented by the mainstream media. I was going to say I'm glad it's all over, but it isn't. Even today it's been dominating the headlines of every single news bulletin. Please make it stop now  |
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Post by hooky on Aug 1, 2022 21:47:08 GMT
and how many people watched the England women's games on TV?
Seriously - I do not understand the resistance to the idea women's football could be on the up! What is the problem. The quality has massively improved over the last 5 years and it is now getting investment and TV exposure. It is pretty obvious it will remain on an upward curve but how high it reaches is anyone's guess
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Post by mrpicton79 on Aug 1, 2022 22:00:24 GMT
and how many people watched the England women's games on TV? Seriously - I do not understand the resistance to the idea women's football could be on the up! What is the problem. The quality has massively improved over the last 5 years and it is now getting investment and TV exposure. It is pretty obvious it will remain on an upward curve but how high it reaches is anyone's guess I'm glad it's on the up and there's nothing wrong with that. I just sometimes object to how it's being pushed with an agenda behind it. It doesn't generate anything like the same interest, excitement, or revenue as the men's game....and likely never will do. But it's being presented as if it already does. I wish the coverage represented where it's really at and let it grow naturally. But it's 2022 so no chance of that happening I suppose. |
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Post by insertname on Aug 1, 2022 23:28:32 GMT
and how many people watched the England women's games on TV? Seriously - I do not understand the resistance to the idea women's football could be on the up! What is the problem. The quality has massively improved over the last 5 years and it is now getting investment and TV exposure. It is pretty obvious it will remain on an upward curve but how high it reaches is anyone's guess I'm glad it's on the up and there's nothing wrong with that. I just sometimes object to how it's being pushed with an agenda behind it. It doesn't generate anything like the same interest, excitement, or revenue as the men's game....and likely never will do. But it's being presented as if it already does. I wish the coverage represented where it's really at and let it grow naturally. But it's 2022 so no chance of that happening I suppose. Exactly my thoughts. I don’t object to women’s football as a product, I just hate the dishonesty that goes into promoting it. Like you say the media (particularly the BBC) are making out that it’s already the finished article when it’s nothing of the sort. They put out an article today explaining why women aren’t being paid as much as the men and its patently obvious that they sub-text of the article was that women should be paid as much as the men. The tone was that Leah Williamson was “only” earning 200k a year whereas that awful rotter Harry Kane earns that in a week and what has he ever won? This is the same bbc by the way who have got their knives out for Mick Lynch because he wants to get a fair pay rise for low paid RMT workers! The truth behind all the flowery attendance figures at the euros is that Man City, one of the biggest clubs in the womens game, are spending over 100% of their income on player wages. You don’t need me to tell you that that suggests womens club football is unsustainable and if you don’t have club football you don’t have international football. Simple as that. |
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Post by 1gwaunview on Aug 2, 2022 11:37:14 GMT
Who was that awful commentator of the final. Biased isn't the word, blinkered perhaps, and the summarisers. Worse than watching England men on tv (I try not to).
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Post by insertname on Aug 2, 2022 12:44:58 GMT
Who was that awful commentator of the final. Biased isn't the word, blinkered perhaps, and the summarisers. Worse than watching England men on tv (I try not to). I’m glad it wasn’t just me who noticed that! Normally it’s “problematic” when it’s England men (particularly Matterface and Dixon on itV) but the woman on the bbc made those two look impartial! I have to say I’ve never before heard a commentator pretty much accuse a ref of being bent - and this was in the first couple of minutes! Disgraceful commentary and that alone does the women’s game a di-service never mind the tone of the rest of the BBC’s coverage. The sooner the BBC lose the rights the more I’ll have more time for women’s football I feel. |
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Post by CrackityJones on Aug 3, 2022 11:37:28 GMT
Record crowd guaranteed with many more expected. Cmon Cymru:
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Post by iantov on Aug 6, 2022 4:54:29 GMT
Wales Women up one place to 30th in the FIFA rankings.
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Post by mikejones on Aug 6, 2022 23:25:24 GMT
That being said, they are far less insufferable than the men's teams Give the women's game a couple of decades of this level of attention and that will change. |
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Post by hooky on Aug 7, 2022 7:21:19 GMT
I did not realise they needed to get through 2 playoffs, even if they get the better of Slovenia, to qualify!
Looks a bit like mission impossible - just don't think we have enough dynamism moving forward and we don't have an up and coming star player coming through right now, certainly no one of the quality of Fishlock, Ludlow or even Ingle, which is a shame, but it will nevertheless be a great achievement if we get to the play off and then lets hope they get a good slice of luck and play to the best of their abilities and let's see where that takes us.
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Post by underwood on Sept 2, 2022 15:31:07 GMT
Don’t forget, 6pm kick off tonight away to Greece, live on BBC2 Wales & Online.
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Post by welwyn on Sept 2, 2022 15:35:35 GMT
don't know why I thought it was 5pm!!
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Post by welshwhite on Sept 2, 2022 19:01:52 GMT
Well done girls, all to play for still, keep believing. Really enjoyed this. Excited for Tuesday !
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Post by CrackityJones on Sept 2, 2022 19:25:13 GMT
Job done!
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Post by insertname on Sept 2, 2022 19:30:57 GMT
A win is a win but a long way to go yet when a play off is involved. WC qualifying is stupidly tough whether it’s men or women
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Post by hooky on Sept 2, 2022 20:34:25 GMT
I hope we qualify for the play offs. Slovenia will not be a walk in the park.
Unfortunately I don't think we have enough quality to get to the WC unless many things go our way. We just don't have that explosiveness or athleticism in attacking or midfield positions do we? Don't we still have to play 2 or 3 teams in the play offs to qualify? Hard to see us beating someone like Austria and I would assume RoI and Scotland are that bit better than us at full throttle? Hope I am wrong!
If we achieve the play offs then that will be a decent achievement and a huge step in the right direction. Its all about inspiring the next generation and investing in the girls' game, so we get a much richer seam of talent coming through in 5-10 years time. The great thing is the WFA are investing more and Welsh footballers will benefit from the larger sums going into the English league/system too. Its great that we now have so many people interested in the womens' game - as a father of a daughter its wonderful to see things moving in the right direction across both society and sport.
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Post by welshrover on Sept 2, 2022 21:14:48 GMT
Looking at the "crowd" it doesn't like there is much appetite for women's football in Greece!
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Post by mrpicton79 on Sept 2, 2022 23:16:12 GMT
Looking at the "crowd" it doesn't like there is much appetite for women's football in Greece! Just saw the highlights now, was wondering if that was a covid-related thing. There was literally no one in the stadium. |
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Post by cantonkev on Sept 3, 2022 12:00:08 GMT
Looking to be 10k+ in attendance on Tuesday. 10,991 would be over double the previous attendance record.
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Post by allezlesrouges on Sept 3, 2022 18:49:08 GMT
Looking to be 10k+ in attendance on Tuesday. 10,991 would be over double the previous attendance record. Great to hear, I'll be there |
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Post by scoop76 on Sept 5, 2022 11:31:55 GMT
Looking at the "crowd" it doesn't like there is much appetite for women's football in Greece! Just saw the highlights now, was wondering if that was a covid-related thing. There was literally no one in the stadium. There was a crowd of around 1,200. Around 25 of us from Wales.Just all behind the cameras. Greece were playing Croatia in the men's European Basketball Championships on Friday evening - that dominated all media and conversations around the country. The women's football got little attention. Add to the fact that much of the country north of Volos was hit by heavy thunderstorms on Friday and you have all the conditions for a small crowd. There were no covid restrictions, except masks are still mandatory on public transport and in taxis. |
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Post by scoop76 on Sept 5, 2022 11:51:32 GMT
I think that we'll have enough to beat Slovenia on Tuesday. And then we can look forward to the play-off draw. But, yes, it's going to be very tough to qualify.
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Post by welshrover on Sept 5, 2022 12:05:24 GMT
Just saw the highlights now, was wondering if that was a covid-related thing. There was literally no one in the stadium. There was a crowd of around 1,200. Around 25 of us from Wales.Just all behind the cameras. Yes, I feel sure I heard the familiar Der Der Der Der of Men of Harlech at one point! |
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Post by CrackityJones on Sept 5, 2022 12:52:24 GMT
I heard plenty of songs over the BBC coverage. Well done to all that attended, bet you had a great time
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