PM Question Time now bbc2 !

grayling...

who,s the small.baldy,fella ruddy face about 4 seats to mays right on front bench ,there every week ,never heard him talk,seen him on media etc,but I assume he,s a  minister

LOL "prize money for men and womens football in their FA cups should be equalised".
Where do they get these idiots from. How many people watch a 3rd round womens FA cup match? What is the small sponsorship potential?
It's quite obvious any "equalisation" would be nothing more than a huge subsidy of womens football by the funders of mens footabll.

Feb 13, 2019 -- 6:33AM, 1st time poster wrote:

who,s the small.baldy,fella ruddy face about 4 seats to mays right on front bench ,there every week ,never heard him talk,seen him on media etc,but I assume he,s a

Feb 13, 2019 -- 6:38AM, Just Checking wrote:

LOL "prize money for men and womens football in their FA cups should be equalised".Where do they get these idiots from. How many people watch a 3rd round womens FA cup match? What is the small sponsorship potential?It's quite obvious any "equalisation" would be nothing more than a huge subsidy of womens football by the funders of mens footabll.

Merge men and women's football....see if they can get in any teams !

girls simply didnt play football when i went to school

never watched football, nor read about it, nor talked about it.

far much more interest now, with many schools offering the chances
to play, or at least an introduction to the game.

i stopped going to watch newcastle for a few years, returning some
8 years ago. my mrs said she would like to go to, so i bought her a ticket
next to me. obviously i have had to explain many rules, but shes now
at a point where she can discuss football with anybody.

8 years...rome wasnt built in a day.

good luck to ladies fa getting more funding, but theres always been
a problem with funding getting down to kids and amateur clubs that
are the lifeblood of the sport...

At least she didnt demand parity with that Arsenal player on his way to Juve

I have no problem with women playing football or any other sport, I'm totally happy with it. What I'm not happy with is ths idea that they are somehow the same moneywise etc and all the rules of fairness and supply and demand and support and funding should all be thrown out the name of a common sense ignoring feminist idea of "equality".

If lots of people go to womens sports and sponsorship is high etc I'm totally ok with them getting large amounts of money, I'm ok with them getting even more than men in any sport where the market supports this.

But saying there is some sort of unfairness and the people paying money to see mens football, or sponsors sponsoring mens football, should have large amounts of that diverted to games few people are interested in because they are "women" is just stupid and UNFAIR. IT's asking for your sport to be given support it cannot organically get, based on gender. It's sexist. I'm guessing the woman doing the complaining was a labour or lib dem mp..?

yeah but that doesnt allow for the fact women were prevented the oppotunities that
their male counterparts have long been given. which allowed the mens game to develop
unchallenged , except for some wartime stuff.

there should be some funding for ladies football from the fa..

aiming for parity one day is a fine ambition, but cant see it for 50 years
or so.

small steps and all that

they aint looking for wages parity, nor same tv rights from sky, nor a share of advertising revenue

just equal funding from sports governing body, ...if equal numbers of girls and boys are going
to be playing the sport at school and at grass roots level, then one day the prize money for
ladies fa cup from fa should match that of mens

And where does the money the FA gets come from? The magic money tree?

PS: The MP used the word "equality" talking about this or something very similar meaning that.

By 1921 women's football had become increasingly popular through the charitable games played by women's teams during and after the First World War. In a move that was widely seen as caused by jealousy of the crowds' interest in women's games which frequently exceeded that of the top men's teams, the Football Association banned all women's teams from playing on grounds affiliated to the FA because football damaged women's bodies.[14][15]

For several decades this decision meant that women's football virtually ceased to exist. It only reversed from 1969 when, after the increased interest in football caused by England's 1966 World Cup triumph, the Women's Football Association was founded,[16] although it would take a further two years - and an order from UEFA - to force the (men's) Football Association to remove its restrictions on the playing rights of women's teams.[17] It was not until 1983 that the WFA was able to affiliate to the FA as a "County Association" and only in 1993 did the FA found the "Women's Football Committee" to run women's football in England.[18]


hey its only wiki, but so what!

The FA's main commercial asset is its ownership of the rights to England internationals and the FA Cup. Broadcasting income remains the FA's largest revenue stream with both domestic and international broadcasting rights for England fixtures and the FA Cup tied up until at least 2021.

For the four seasons from 2008 to 2012, the FA secured £425 million from ITV and Setanta for England and FA Cup games domestic television rights, a 42% increase over the previous contract, and £145 million for overseas television rights, up 272% on the £39 million received for the previous four-year period.[48] However, during 2008–09 Setanta UK went into administration, which weakened the FA's cashflow position.

Turnover for the year ending 31 July 2016 was £370 million on which it made a profit after tax of £7 million. It has also made an investment of £125 million back into every level of Football in 2016. In July 2015 the FA announced plans to carry out a significant organisational restructure, in order to deliver considerable cost savings to invest in elite England teams, facilities and grassroots coaching.[49]

The FA's income does not include the turnover of English football clubs, which are independent businesses. As well as running its own operations the FA chooses five charities each year to which it gives financial support.[50][51]

During the last three years, the FA received £350,000 in fines from players over comments made on Twitter, the most recent fine being a £25,000 to Rio Ferdinand. The highest fine given during the last three years was a £90,000 fine to Ashley Cole in 2012 after calling the FA "a bunch of twats." The FA has been more and more strict on comments made by players on Twitter, as the FA has disciplined 121 players overall in the last three years.[52]

Competitions    Edit


The FA Cup trophy used from 1992 to 2013
The FA also runs several competitions:

FA Cup
FA Trophy
FA Vase
FA Women's Cup
FA Women's Premier League Cup
FA Youth Cup
FA Sunday Cup
FA County Youth Cup
FA Community Shield
FA Inter-League Cup
FA Umbro Fives
FA Futsal Cup
FA People's Cup[53]

against their better judgement man utd were cohersed into having a womens football team, in a mouthwatering derby against top womens derby rivals man city,79 spectators paid to watch,take out family,friends basically no one turned up

omen’s football in England has quietly recorded a series of landmarks this year: the FA Cup final was attended by a record 45,000 people while nearly 2 million people tuned in to watch the game live on the BBC, and Manchester United’s women’s team debuted to record crowds.

This weekend, the English game passes its biggest milestone yet, when its top division becomes fully professional. From the reigning champions, Chelsea, to newcomers Brighton and West Ham, the teams competing in the Women’s Super League will for the first time be facing opponents who are all paid full-time salaries and train as long and hard as they do.

“They’ve got strength and conditioning support and medical support and all those things you want your elite athletes to have,” said Kelly Simmons, the new director of the Women’s Professional Game. “That will help the clubs when they go to play Champions League football; it’ll help England when we go to play in the World Cup.

Beth Mead, 23, a rising star in Arsenal and England’s national team, said: “Anyone can take points off you, that’s the exciting thing about the league. You’ve got to watch it for every team now.”...

But despite the optimism about the game’s growing appeal, there are fears the professionalisation of the sport could lead to similar problems to those faced by the men’s game, such as the stark divide between the haves and the have-nots.

More than 150 miles north of where Arsenal’s women train on a fine carpet of grass, one of the FA’s oldest and most celebrated women’s teams is struggling to keep up.

Doncaster Rover Belles (formerly the Doncaster Belles) were one of the first women’s teams to form after the FA lifted its ban on women playing football in the late 1960s. The Belles went on to win the FA Women’s Cup six times since the 1980s and were runners-up a further seven.

The Belles have a fierce rivalry with Arsenal, who in recent years overtook them as the most decorated club in English women’s football. After coming first in the second tier, now known as the Championship, last season, the Belles hoped to once again face theirrivals in the Super League.
But to compete in the top tier, clubs have to field players who are contracted to a minimum of 16 hours – soon rising to 20 hours – of daytime contact a week, plus matches. Teams in the Championship have to guarantee at least eight hours of weekly contact time, plus matches. Also, the clubs have to establish academies to develop young players and coaches.

“We went into the season preparing for a promotion campaign, thinking we can get promoted on merit on the pitch,” said Steven Chicken, a spokesperson for the Belles. But the rules meant the Belles were insteadrelegated to the league’s third tier – they couldn’t afford to pay their players part-time, let alone full-time.

When the players found out the team would be going down a league, they fled. “We’ve lost all of our players,” said Chicken. “Every single member of the playing squad from last year has gone. Our team at the moment is made up almost entirely teenagers who were not expecting to play first team football this year.” And their inexperience is showing – the team recently lost 9-0 to Blackburn Rovers.

The casualty list from the FA’s shake-up of the league includes Watford, Oxford, Sheffield FC, who were forced to withdraw from the second tier for financial reasons, and Sunderland, who are not playing in this season’s Women’s Super League.

“It’s really disappointing to see and really sad,” said Mead, who first made her mark at Sunderland. The club has produced a wealth of England national players: seven of Phil Neville’s Lionesses side, including Mead, began their careers there.

The players are largely focused on this upcoming season, but the buzz of next summer’s Women’s World Cup in France is hard to ignore. England and Scotland have both qualified, the latter for the first time. A cross by Scotland’s Lisa Evans, 26, helped secure the opening goal in their decisive 2-1 win over Albania this week.

Evans, who plays for Arsenal, says the Women’s Super League was crucial in reaching this milestone. “Playing in that professional environment, and training in that professional environment every single day has benefited our national team hugely,” she said.

The changes in the Women’s Super League is generating a buzz abroad too. Julia Simic, 29, left the well-established German league to join West Ham United Women. “I have friends, German players, coming here, playing for different teams,” she said.

The FA wants to increase attendances at senior international matches from 11,000 to 22,000 and double average attendances in the Women’s Super Leage from 1,047 to 2,020. To get there, they need a league that is making money and drawing in fans.

“I call it ‘mainstreaming’ the sport,” Simmons says. “In 10 years, women’s football will be the biggest team sport in this country.” This week, the FA bid to host the 2021 women’s European Championship, which is seen as another key plank in its efforts to grow the game.

But amid the excitement, it’s hard to see where teams like the Belles fit into that future. “Women’s football is changing and we’re not in a position to go along with those changes,” Chicken said. He pauses before adding: “Overall, I feel like the changes are good for the overall profile of the game.”

Simmons remains mindful of clubs struggling to get sponsorship. “We strongly believe what is best for the players – as elite athletes, as England players, as Olympians – is that they are full-time professionals,” she said.

While the women’s game is undoubtedly becoming more like the men’s, Mead is keen to point that some important differences are unlikely to change any time soon. “The girls don’t roll around a lot like the men, they just get on with it. We’re a bit tougher. We’re not drama queens.”

• This article was amended on 10 September 2018 because Sheffield FC, not Sheffield United, had to withdraw from the league for financial reasons.


link to last two posts

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2018/sep/07/womens-super-league-football-arsenal-chelsea-doncaster

i have never attended a ladies match, and have probably only viewed  less than 10 games on tv
non of which were must not look away games.

they have a long long road ahead, but good luck to em

sick of hearing about elite athletes, womens football is that elite if they payed a mans sunday morning pub team the red lion they,d get hammered, after 10 pints and a curry on the sat night before the game would the lads at the red lion consider themselves elite athletes
what do posters think the highest level a women would reach in the mens game on merit not just getting a game to tick a box

you would have to allow mixed games from an early age to find out
where it ended up. ...its not happening soon is it?

im not sure there would be much demand for skilful women players
in the lower reaches of the mens pro game as they would be unsuited
to the style of play....so they would continue to play for elite womens team
instead

how many goals would a top woman striker score in the current man city team ?