wot no women? (pt2)

I like Ben Moseley's art but wonder why no women are represented in his work - neither players nor supporters.

All over Oakwell there are photographs/posters of players and supporters but not a single woman to be seen.
Women don't appear in the Hall of Fame - was there a woman on the selecting panel?

There has been a Barnsley F C Women's team for decades, there are hundreds of women/girls at each match -

Why are women 'hidden' and never included ?

 

1. The ladies team wasnt part of Barnsley fc until very recently, prior to that they were simply a ladies team using the name Barnsley ladies.

2. Which of the blocky abstract figures in the crowds are male and female? I can barely tell theyre human.

3. Do you get paid to be offended on other people's behalf? You have made posts slamming Barnsley because they were offend you with their treatment of women, of people with disabilities, of the elderly, of people from ethnic backgrounds, of homosexuals. I honestly can't think what there is left for you to slag them off about on somebody else's behalf.

 

I also want to permenantly offended to be represented. We clearly have a few who follow the reds.

 

I don't mind that there's no women represented in the art work or the Hall of Fame as it's a male team (of course women could/should be represented as fans in the art work but as SuperTyke says, I can't tell whether they are or not. If it is possible to tell then, yes, I would be offended if all fans were portrayed as male). As I have mentioned before though, I do seriously hope that the club steps up their advertising to women and comes up with a way to specifically target them. Over half the population are women, we should be doing everything we can to attract them to Oakwell on match days.

 

What could be done to entice more women to football? Its football so you either like it or you don't and attend on that basis regardless of gender.

 

That's a good question. I can see how age can come into it, I.e. the club can focus more on getting more kids interested but I don't see how gender can be a factor

 

Theyve done ads aimed at young lads and at dad's so it wouldn't be a bad idea to do one aimed at girls or women. You might say why do they need to but then why do they need to advertise to anyone?

To encourage them they could and should do a much better range of clothing for females. Women like to look good, if we do classy women's clothing they will buy it.

I've always said that for many people the issue of childcare is a problem for many and in particular women. If we offered some kind of child minding service I think we could see our attendances increase. Always wondered why more clubs haven't done this.

 

Well, it's a nice change of pace from your usual accusations of homophobia.

 

I'm not sure I'd be in favour of a child minding service but we could do a lot more to make oakwell a family day out for mum dad and kids.

All the space at the back of the East stand Could be used more with a couple of face painters for the kids and some better food and drink outlets showing the lunchtime kick off.

 

I think it just doesn't occur to a lot of women or a lot are intimidated about going because they think it's just sitting surrounded by a load of rowdy, drunk men. I know that's how a lot of women I've spoken to feel about it and they look at me in horror when I say I go alone and ask if I'm not scared. Advertising could portray a whole family going for the day, it could show a dad and daughter going or even better a mum and daughter. I think there's a huge amount of women who stay away because of their perception of the environment and that how much they like football has very little to do with it. Think of how many women talk about and follow England during the World Cup, it's still football but you can watch it from an environment you know and feel comfortable in such as at home or in a pub. Lots of women don't care about football rather than actually dislike it and I believe their apathy is probably based on the fact that they were never allowed to play it and wouldn't have felt safe back in the days of football hooliganism going to watch it. However, all that has changed now, there are women's teams and it's much, much safer than it was. The rare women I know who proclaim to hate it seem to hate how much it steals their male partners away from them rather than the game itself which they know very little about. It's a huge untapped market out there and with the greater focus on women's teams lately, it seems the perfect time to start getting little girls interested in attending matches.

 

Agree with that, also going back to i think what supertyke said couple of days ago regarding the cost of a childs ticket at the turnstile is not the same as it is at the box office... For what reason? That has put me off a few times when i could have gone at the last minute with the kids.

 

I hadn't thought of that but it is true. My friend, who I've posted about before, attended Bradford's matches for 2 seasons with her partner because of the cheap season ticket prices but stopped going in the middle of last year when they had their first daughter. She hasn't bought a season ticket for this year as she will be at home looking after her for the forseeable future. The dad obviously loves the daughter to bits and would never in a million years change her now but he spent quite a while before she was born saying he wanted a son to take to the football. I hope he takes her when she is old enough (I think he might as he has bought her the full kit!)

 

Are there any depictions of fat, ugly, bald ********? If not then I'm also offended.

 

+ male.

 

I totally agree with JamDrop - many women who are interested in football are put off from going to Oakwell because they feel uncomfortable there. Not because there may be 'rowdy men' there but because it's not a welcoming place for women.

Two of my daughters were regulars at Oakwell - they said that at times they felt as if they were interlopers in a Men's Club.

There is nothing at Oakwell indicating that women supporters are welcome. Some prominent art work/displays/murals showing women footballers/supporters would be a start.

 

This is the sort of post I hope the club is listening to. In the 70's my Mum & Dad used to take me & my much younger brother to the match. What my mum put up with was unreal. We are in the dark ages still really. Rugby League, a game I don't care for, but living in Headingley I can't avoid. Leeds Rhinos are one of the biggest teams in the game & the number of women attending is way above any football match. Proper nice atmosphere. If we could change things in that direction, we could gain a lot & move into the 21st century.

 

https://www.fan-tastic-females.org/index.php/en/

Do something about it then.

 

I live just over the railway track from the rugby ground and as you say, the number of women who attend their matches far eclipses the number of women who go to football ones. A few of my friends go to the Bradford Bulls rugby matches (as I work in Bradford that's where all my friends are based) and they don't actually care about or understand the game but they go for the day out. They really like the atmosphere and just the spectacle of the whole day. I know people like to scoff at the idea of 'the matchday experience' but that's what they go for, they're certainly not there for the rubgy!

 

Half of the male posters on this site, know f-all about football.

Seriously though, there is a massive potential for a full stadium, if we embraced this. It really is a no brainer.

 

Statistically women spend more on merchandise than men do. This is largely because they feel the need to prove their loyalty and believe that by wearing branded club gear they are proving that they are a real fan.

Women also tend to be more conscious of the price than men and if the price is too high they are more likely to say no. It has also been shown that women are more likely to think about the whole price if they have children as opposed to men who are more likely to only look at their price. For that reason things such as a family ticket should be looked at.

Women don't want to feel like they are on the outside looking in. An idea to make them feel like they are a part of the club is to have a female reporter or commentator. In America many sports have done this by hiring a woman to do their player interviews and 'backstage' reporting.

Toilets are an issue for women. They use the toilet more often and for longer and yet many grounds (ours included) include only the bare minimum female toilet facilities which leads to queues at the door, a site seen regularly at oakwell. This will put women off attending as they want to be afforded at least the lowest levels of comfort and convenience that men enjoy.

Women also want to feel represented, not deliberately but naturally. At Barnsley we have a great chance of capitalising on this as we have a female board member and two female physios visible in the dugout every week. Hearing from them more often would give women something to relate to.