It’s Ladies Time! Good Luck England’s Women
September 10, 2009
In just a few hours time our England’s women football team will battle Germany in the final of the European Championships in Finland (live on BBC2 at 5pm)
Now Womens football is not taken as seriously over here as it is in the USA, Sweden or Germany. It is because of our stupid machismo.
But the girls have done us proud by battling their way against the odds to face one of the giants of the womens version. It is almost impossible that they will beat Germany…but we can hope.
So its good luck girls! Go get ‘em and bring the silverware home
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Not bad at all! England women winning cricket silverware left and right and now on to the European cup finals. Congrats to the ladies.
Cringe. Women’s football is poor, and not a nice watch in my opinion! But good luck to them. They haven’t beaten Germany in 18 matches! What a night to put that right.
As a female footballer, I’ll be the first to admit the slower pace of the game makes it tough to watch. I don’t even spectate.
But the technical ability of top female footballers is extraordinary.
i dont consider mens and womens football the same..they are two different sports. If you let go of what you consider is cringeworthy or not then you can appreciate the womens game. Its the same with womens cricket
The whole thing is cringeworthy to me, and cricket’s even worse.
+ I hate how they call England women vs Australia women ‘The Ashes’. It’s just not right.
I agree with Rob – two different sports.
Anything that promotes football and cricket is good, especially at grass roots level. However, the Ladies version of both sports is one I prefer not to watch.
After several stays in England, I’m happy to see anything promoting positive forms of competition and self actualization for females in channels other than who can be sexier or who has which boyfriend. And that attitude, I’m sorry to say, appears to be rampant in England.
It’s not a competition between men and women. Obviously men on average are faster and stronger. It’s more about letting women be the best they can be and compete against each other. I guarantee your average female footballer isn’t bothered with petty gossip and being catty. Greater self esteem. Greater understanding of teamwork. Greater understanding that you don’t have to be on Page 3 of the Sun to deserve respect and admiration. I’m glad to see women succeeding in England- hopefully more and more little girls will have positive role models.
Cringeworthy? Nah. Different, separate, and very purposeful.
I have three reasons for not watching women’s football:
- the goalkeepers make the game a lottery
- the difference between the good players on the pitch and the bad ones is massive
- it’s never shown in parity with the men’s game.
God we could write a thesis about the link between British ideals and how this influences opinion on womens football and females in general
I went to school in the US on an exchange when i was 15 for a bit..the first thing that got me was how the girls threw a ball. I was amazed. Then they played football with some of us English boys, and their technique shocked me. What it displayed really was our ideas of what women/girls should be good at is dictated by some strange warped British mentality..girls can do Athletic…play Netball…but thats about it..we do not allow them to get good at Football, or Cricket or what not..because it almost disgusts our English ideal..some men here even find it offensive and thoroughly objectionable.. I dont find womens football cringe-worthy. I enjoyed the final tonight and it was on a knife edge for an hour. I just dont link it in my head with the Prem or the mens game..it is different. I dont get at all why anyone would find it objectionable..its just a sport, being played by women, at a different standard to men…whats so strange about that?
Sometimes I forget that football elsewhere in the world is like NFL here.
And I could see people here really cringing at the thought of lady American footballers. “Soccer girls” here are considered attractive and in school, soccer and lacrosse are the sports the girls really want to play, and the guys want to date the players. Cultural-Social differences is all.
I grew up in Germany, where in the 1980s little girls didn’t really play. I was allowed to train with a boy’s side and quickly learned the technical skills (it certainly wasn’t due to my speed or natural ability) which allowed me to play on the third ranked team in the entire USA when I was in secondary school. Playing football and belonging to a team has always been one the greatest sources of my self esteem and I’m forever grateful that I had the opportunity.
So, I don’t know. Maybe to those who see sport as a masculine thing, it’s on par with how I kind of feel when I see female body builders. So I can kind of understand that.
Not trying to offend anyone but when it comes to providing females an outlet for creating self worth in England other than appearance….the country can really use all the help it can get.
I really hate to agree with you K. It all stems from schools here and parents. Truth is if a girl is interested in playing footy here she is labelled a lesbian, or something else to de-feminise her. Id love my girls to grow up playing the sport i love to bits. I know they will never play to the mens level but thats not even a consideration in my eyes..its about competition to their standards.
Too many Sun readers in our fair nation im afraid. They run the country.
Oh and the football girls in the US were hot..they loved us cos of our footy skills. The team goalkeeper fell for me in a big way cos i could beat her from 25 yards at will…she thought that was such a hot thing…none of the US boys could do that. Good times..
Spot. On.
And hard luck England, we’ve now lost to Germany in the finals of the U21 European Championship and Womens European Championship.
Third time lucky in South Africa next year? Let’s hope so!
Ah sad.
But helpful in a way. Any guy who’d have a problem with me playing football would probably have a problem with me being clever and making a good salary t00.
Oh how horrid. A fit girl who can play ball, has a sharp wit, and is financially set….
Whatever will we do.
And maybe with the help of a super-mega-miracle-wonderbra I could even pull off a page 3 look for one lucky bastard (not the whole of the country).
Women in sport: It’s a good thing, boys. Trust me. :-)
Sorry KP…youre clever and fit? ;-)
(joke before you rip my throat out!)
That Jessica Ennis is gonna be the face of 2012..and for one i am pleased with this..amazing athlete for the UK and also…very nice
I think it’s great for the girls to play the more male dominated sports and compete to the highest standards but where it goes wrong in my opinion is when they try to compare themselves to the mens game. Making the comparison with an England v Germany game, for example, in football. The men have “earned” the tension and drama that goes with that fixture over decades. And making the comparison in cricket with “The Ashes”, again a rivalry built up over many, many years with a lot of blood, sweat, tears and bravery along the way from the men. The girls have to earn their own respect and not latch on to what the men have achieved, then they will be valued in their own right.
Perhaps I’m a minority, but I like fit athletic girls. I hate it if a girl can’t play any sort of sports. I don’t want her to come and cheer for me. I want her to play with me. And beat me if possible (one of my exes was a damn good badminton player and beat me all the time!)
And besides, I don’t see why I can’t be the first recognized HABs (husbands and boyfriends!). I’d take up the honor! haha