Women's World Cup 2023

Quoted from ginnywings

A subject that is discussed in the book The Naked Ape by Desmond Morris, which I read about 40 years ago.

Thanks for the link Ginny 👍.

Quoted from Rick12

Thanks for the link Ginny 👍.

I will say that my memory is not what it was and the reference to football fans could have been in the follow up book The Human Zoo. Can't remember offhand.

He also wrote a book  some years later dedicated to football fans called The Soccer Tribe.

Quoted from IlkleyMariner

I was 19 years old when we won the World Cup.
Being a lazy git i watched it in my Jim jams with my dad.
No idea why but didn’t go out to celebrate the win with several sherberts!

Made up for it since though….

I was just coming up to my 2nd birthday. I didn't go out for a few sherberts either. I might have had a dib dab though.  

Quoted from MarinerWY

Yeah, the things is though, nobody cares if you don't like it - just don't watch it. There's no need to share with us all the fact that you personally don't like it. Every thread we've ever had on the Fishy about Women's football has people that absolutely must tell us that "it's just not the same for them" and "they've no interest".

I've no interest in Eastenders. So if I saw a thread called "Eastenders" I would ignore it and leave it to those who wanted to talk about that programme. I wouldn't go into the thread just to tell everyone that I absolutely do not like Eastenders.

This joke from Ricky Gervais springs to mind...




Are you? I'm not sure this actually happens. Maybe on Twitter, but not on here, and not at my workplace or in any situation I know. Some people watch it, some people don't. I'm genuinely not sure anyone cares that much about whether Bob from accounts has been watching Birmingham City but hasn't tuned into the Women's World Cup.

Going to use another comedian...

You’re missing my point - I don’t watch it.

I’ll remember in future not to comment on this forum if I disagree with the original poster. A great forum that would become if we all did the same.

I am not in any way saying it should be taken off screens. I just think the whole band wagon jumping from all the happy clappers is fake.

Making comparisons between men's and women's football is a ridiculous thing to do. Yes it is the same sport, but the physical differences, the anatomical differences, and the pace of the game are just not comparable to men's football.

It is perfectly acceptable to recognise these differences in the game though, and if this means you have absolutely no interest in watching women's football because the differences doesn't deliver what you see in men's football, then that is fine. But lets make sure we are comparing apples with apples hey.

Someone's lack of interest in women's football does not in any way decry that women's football is still a sport, played by extremely talented professional footballers, and that it still delivers a highly entertaining spectacle for those that appreciate and enjoy it. So it becomes a bit grinding when some people are flippant and dismissive of women's football. It comes across as being a bit rude and disrespectful to those that are fans or players of women's football. Especially since the comparisons aren't being made by fans or players of women's football, and they are not claiming that the game is entirely the same as men's football.

If I was to pinpoint a bit of perspective, I would probably use the analogy of some fans of Premier League football being disrespectful towards the quality of the football being played by teams in lower league or non-league. I've heard it said "How on earth do you watch this football every week?" - Well yes there is a distinct and massive difference in quality between what is played in the Premier League compared to what we see at Blundell Park, but that doesn't mean that our level of football still isn't massively entertaining and enjoyable for those of us that choose to support a lower league club. And it certainly doesn't mean that our professional players are regarded as any less of a professional sports person, just because they play in EFL2.  Well the same goes for the women's teams and their professionals too.

England women are doing incredibly well. They are representing our country and they are doing a fine job of it too.

I have only watched highlights of the England games, but have been impressed at the standard on display.

Some of the goals have been excellent in any standard of football.

From the bits I've seen, the standard is very good. Light years from what was on show from the England Women's team only a decade or so ago. It really shows the difference between the amateur and professional game because the women are now so much more athletic and skilful than they once were. We're only really just catching up with the likes of the US and Germany who have had professional leagues for much longer than us.

In some regards, the fact that the women aren't as big and powerful or as quick as the men leads to more open games as there seems to be a bit more space available on the pitch to run and pass the ball into. Nigeria put the press on us to a degree, but I'd argue a good number of our players were out of sorts as well.

The final will be interesting to watch because the Spanish team are likely to be as good in possession as the men's team usually are. How will we cope when we're not the ones with the ball at our feet all the time? Should be a real battle.

I'll happily watch the Final but it will be like my interest in other sports such as cricket or rugby. I'll watch the England team play and enjoy it, but I wouldn't think of watching a domestic game.

Quoted from DaleH

Making comparisons between men's and women's football is a ridiculous thing to do. Yes it is the same sport, but the physical differences, the anatomical differences, and the pace of the game are just not comparable to men's football.

It is perfectly acceptable to recognise these differences in the game though, and if this means you have absolutely no interest in watching women's football because the differences doesn't deliver what you see in men's football, then that is fine. But lets make sure we are comparing apples with apples hey.

Someone's lack of interest in women's football does not in any way decry that women's football is still a sport, played by extremely talented professional footballers, and that it still delivers a highly entertaining spectacle for those that appreciate and enjoy it. So it becomes a bit grinding when some people are flippant and dismissive of women's football. It comes across as being a bit rude and disrespectful to those that are fans or players of women's football. Especially since the comparisons aren't being made by fans or players of women's football, and they are not claiming that the game is entirely the same as men's football.

If I was to pinpoint a bit of perspective, I would probably use the analogy of some fans of Premier League football being disrespectful towards the quality of the football being played by teams in lower league or non-league. I've heard it said "How on earth do you watch this football every week?" - Well yes there is a distinct and massive difference in quality between what is played in the Premier League compared to what we see at Blundell Park, but that doesn't mean that our level of football still isn't massively entertaining and enjoyable for those of us that choose to support a lower league club. And it certainly doesn't mean that our professional players are regarded as any less of a professional sports person, just because they play in EFL2.  Well the same goes for the women's teams and their professionals too.

England women are doing incredibly well. They are representing our country and they are doing a fine job of it too.

Excellent post Dale!   I find the whole nonsense about ‘they’d get beaten by a men’s non league team’ so annoying.  An Olympic medalist like Keely Hodgkinson would get beaten over 800m by a decent U17 boy.  It’s just biology.  I don’t get why some people feel the urge to complain that women’s sport is inferior- it’s just different.  I don’t know much about women’s football but watched England at the Euros and the World Cup and enjoy it as much as watching the men’s team.

When I was a teenager a girl used to play football with us boys on our green.

She was as strong as any of us plus a good player who could hack it in the men's league if allowed.

it goes to show some women are as strong as men and even stronger than some.

When she was about 18 she worked as a coal person delivering coal.

And still came out to play footy with us in the evening after lugging bags of coal about all day.

Quoted from LondonMariner43

Excellent post Dale!   I find the whole nonsense about ‘they’d get beaten by a men’s non league team’ so annoying.  An Olympic medalist like Keely Hodgkinson would get beaten over 800m by a decent U17 boy.  It’s just biology.  I don’t get why some people feel the urge to complain that women’s sport is inferior- it’s just different.  I don’t know much about women’s football but watched England at the Euros and the World Cup and enjoy it as much as watching the men’s team.

I agree with you of course (Hodgkinson is a star, by the way…) but I think it’s the “the girls can do it, why can’t the boys?“ that annoys me. When the men get to a major finals, it is tough because nearly every team is tough opposition. Aldi mentioned it - the men’s game has a 100 year headstart on the women’s. For England to win the men’s World Cup is pretty much an impossibility nowadays.

And here his the problem; the lionesses SHOULD win this World Cup. They have the biggest budget (possibly behind the USA, I’m unsure….), the best domestic league, permanent use of the FA’s state of the art facilities at Burton - the likes of Australia and Nigeria don’t have anywhere near that set-up, whereas in the men’s game EVERY country is developed and competitive (no 20-0 wins against Latvia, for example)..

Good luck to them, but if they don’t win then there’s something wrong - they’ve been given a huge leg-up by the authorities.

Slagging off the men’s game for not winning trophies will alienate the women’s game. The lionesses themselves do not do that (they idolise the men’s team) but the general public and press can’t wait to stick the knife into the blokes.

Basically, women’s football is for people who don’t like and never have liked football, and that’s a big shame and unfair on the team.