Two steps forward, one step back

Men who can’t appreciate the lionesses success don’t and can’t appreciate women’s success.
Insecure, pathetic creatures who have serious issues and spend their life in the cesspool that is Twitter/X

 

I know we have Beth, but I’d love to see someone from our new Barnsley women’s team make it to be a lioness. Does Stonesy have a sister?

 

Mate - It's not quite that simple. You can't really tar all Blokes with those labels. I love Women - honestly I do. 'Some of my best friends are women'. My Mam is a Woman, so are my three Daughters. All my Wives have been Women. they are truly great! But I just can't get excited when watching Women's football. I just can't; it bores me to tears. I don't carry the English badge so even the patriotism angle doesn't get to me. It's not a gender thing - the Premier League bores me to tears as well - even more so.

I know there is an irony in all this with me being a Reds fan; I've had years of honing what it means to be bored, irritated and frustrated. I'm not for a moment suggesting Barnsley FC are 'better' than Manchester City (or even the Lionesses!) but the fact is I travel thousands of miles to watch that shower from Oakwell and I'd struggle to cross the living room floor to watch this World Cup. But it doesn't make me a bad person

 

" Two steps forward, one step back.. "

For a minute there, I thought Paula Abdul had joined us for a sing song.

 

Absolutely pathetic some folk. An u15 male team beat a women’s team. And? I’m sure they did. I’m sure the England schoolboys would give these girls a game. Why does that matter?

I was so impressed at how they withstood the pressure after the Aussies equalised, got themselves back in front, stood up to more pressure again and went and scored a great third to settle it.

Very un-English to stand up to that, get through it and still go forward and win the game. Sitting back on a lead and allowing the opposition back in by having no attacking outlet - like Barnsley did on Tuesday night - is how the men’s team have gone out of two of the last three tournaments in the latter stages.

The women though, made of stronger stuff. Is the game as fast and physical as the men’s game? No. Doesn’t make it worse.

I would advocate having a slightly smaller pitch and goal dimensions - maybe 7ft x 7yrd rather than 8ft x 8yrd, just to even it out a little. Perhaps just reduce the height by six inches rather than a foot and the width by a foot or two rather than three. Maybe even consider using a size four ball rather than five.

I’m enjoying watching the hundred, the matches are doubled up, the women cricketers play to smaller boundaries and use a slightly smaller ball, with generally slightly lighter bats (that’s a free choice) - it just means the biological/physical differences are accounted for and you can still see the batters whack it out of the park, or skilful bowlers move it off the seam or spin it.

Football could consider these slight alterations to level the playing field - although in all fairness there’s little wrong with the game as it is.

I hope they finish the job on Sunday and that they come home to a heroes welcome, are financially rewarded handsomely both from the sport and future endorsements, that they all get honours from the king - and at some point go on holiday together, and are photographed getting absolutely mullered. All the things the men would get if they had anything like their success.

I suppose being a dad of an eight year old girl who enthusiastically plays rugby union, having seen my son play in a team with girls up to the age where they have to be split (one of these girls was among the best players in the team and has this year captained the Yorkshire development squad u15 girls team and has been re-selected for Yorkshire U16s from September, with England schoolgirl honours on the cards) - and being on the club committee of a junior section who is supporting girls play the game (for free, like the boys teams and mixed sex teams at lower ages) - I might have a different attitude to females in sport.

Maybe it’s that, or maybe it’s that I’m not a rabid misogynist who feels so personally threatened by female success that I have to belittle it and say that men are bigger, faster, stronger and better… Just a thought.

 

Exactly. In no other form of competitive sport do we see so many comparisons between men and women. The lionesses can only be judged on women's football- and judging them by those parameters, they're world class. World class athletes, world class footballers.

Really hope they win it, they deserve it.

 

I thought this was going to be a thread about our summer transfer window.

 

I wondered rather than change the size of the pitch which is impractical whether there should be 12 players instead. And smaller goals
One thing I noticed about this world cup was the number of men of all the countries involved watching in the stands. So obviously a lot of men are changing their opinion of women's football. Positives for me are less time wasting, football flows more freely.
Seeing as a lot of teams won't be anywhere near establishing professional leagues for women then it's going to take time for the technical side to develop But it's good to know that both boys and girls can have the dream of playing for Barnsley FC and international football.
Looking forward to the final but
might miss some of it as my son's playing at the same time!

 

Tennis is discussed all the time TBF but I can’t think of another and that is raised as a result over discussions about equal prize money.

 

Not sure comparison with cricket is accurate to be honest.
The changes is in cricket is to make sure the game is more exciting for the spectators by increasing the possibilities of boundaries etc, reducing football would do the opposite as it would create less space to attack and smaller goals making scoring harder.

 

That’s fine mate, the important thing is you’re not deriding Women’s football, you’re not trying to degrade it or compare it to other forms of the game in a negative way. You choose not to watch it in the same way as I choose not to watch tv soaps

 

I think the standard is very poor, and like others have said I just can’t get interested in women’s football whatsoever. However I’m happy for them, it’s obviously a big achievement. I’d like to see them win it but if they dont I really couldn’t care less.

It’s not just women’s football though, I couldn’t watch non league football, or foreign leagues either. I don’t think there’s anything wrong calling out the standard for what it is, it’s poor. There’s no hiding from that. However I don’t like those who drag it down just because it’s the women, if you’ve not got anything constructive and you don’t care then why comment? (Rich considering I’ve just commented I know)

That’s my take anyway.

 

I think the football has been excellent - especially for a sector of the sport that has basically been held back for 100+ years. The standards are more subtle, and less about speed and power than the mens' game. But the bonus is there is way less cheating and dissent, which is a refreshing change. Even the referees have smaller egos, and have been excellent on the whole. It has certainly made me more receptive to watching higher level womens' football.

 

Look at how proud and passionate the other teams and supporters are,Nigeria as an example were absolutely gutted when they lost. Imo you either watch it or don't ,and if you don't why would you want to tell everyone you don't?

 

Football is football…. I can watch it in any form. Even subuteo. I don’t have to be invested in the team to watch, although I am more interested when it’s the Reds.

That said, the women’s game is a spectacle in itself. Some great passionate play. Skill in abundance, and some brilliant tactical battles.

This World Cup has lost a bit of momentum for the women’s game though in my opinion, due to it being held in Oz and the time differences. Had the games been played in an evening across Europe, I feel the game would have pushed on again. That said, it’s been a decent tournament, and I’ve enjoyed it.

 

I can see the point about the standard relative to the same equivalent of men's football but its completely out of order to criticise based on that. Just accept it for what it is - women's football.
Firstly, its great for women that all these young lasses who liked football and never got the chance and outlet now do get more of a chance.
Second, if you fancy watching a game of football then its worth watching in my opinion.
Thirdly, these lasses are English lasses going out and representing England. Theyre therefore representing me. Why have a pop at women who are doing their best for you?

 

Sam Kerr's goal.

Lauren James's strikes against China.

Lauren Hemp's break and reverse pass to play in Russo.

Ella Toone's strike.

Keira Walsh's through ball in the Euro 22 final.

Poor?

 

It’s definitely not poor. It’s just different. People (men) just can’t get it into their heads that it’s a different way of playing football.

 

This. I wonder if some of the blokes who make the derogatory comments used to watch Manny Pacquiao box and just repeatedly say "Ah but Tyson Fury would smash him."

I doubt they did, and I wonder what the difference is...