Football - what if women ruled the world?

You wont have to worry about "Keeping" football in the headlines because it will ALWAYS be in the headlines, nothing will change that.

But it's good that the feminists take the time out to care.....it really is.

Sport in the political arena?

In Rome senators and the like actually paid for games in arenas because it hightened their profile giving them a link to the punters and easing their movement to power. It's nothing new and suggesting that it's a modern political tool is laughable.

As for Opera being culturally more beneficial? That's just an inane statement, the vast majority of people wouldn't attend opera if you paid them to watch it.

Corrie gets put back 3 times a season and the world is coming to an end, now that's just too bad.

An affectionate term for men, Saltatrix.

I doubt it like everything else it is good only in moderation. A bit like eating chocolate it's okay to have fun eating it for a day or two but all day everyday will not end up well.

What's this menz?

God I've just thought - if we told menz that there would be free to air football on a 24 hour channel if only they gave up every patriarchal privilege, would we have a matriarchy established very soon?

Or would some of them start mithering about the cricket?

MrI, the role of government in all sport in the 1920's and 30's is really fascinating. But of course you're right, TV was really the big difference and govts were involved in ensuring that national TV channels screened games as they were considered as important as operas, history programmes and "improving" stuff.

Do you remember when the meejah used to write outraged harumphing articles about the prospect of premier league games (or first division as they were called then) not being screened live on the BBC? It seems so quaint now.

Actually you make a good point, maybe we will need to not just keep football but in fact make it even more important than it is now in the transition period after the collapse of the patriarchy.

southeastastra

i'd love to have something that takes my mind off worrying about everything for 90 minutes

Your local Blockbusters should have a copy of Sex and the City 2

Herbex I think you're overplaying the role of governments in supporting football. Sure the Fascists in Italy made a big thing about the success of their national team in the 30's, but the original International Competitions - Olympics and the World Cup had nothing to do with civilian governments. Enthusiasts and promoters tapped in to a pre-existing level of support (I think the record crowd for a football match was in the 30s) rather than created it from nothing.

I reckon you're closer to the cause of general apathy towards political issues (in both men and women) when you mention TV - that's the big change since WWII and is what occupies so much of people's free time that they might have, in the past, spent attending various rallies, speeches and organizations.

I'm not a football fan by the way! Yes I agree they are all over paid and not a few of them are terrible role models to hold up to young people.

If women ruled the world would it disappear? well, who knows - I guess it depends which women were in charge; in some cases we might see 24hour football broadcasts in order to keep the male population subdued and compliant!! ... oh and to stop them attending any political meetings and coming up with plots to overthrow the matriarchy!

Southeastastra has a point about envying the complete immersion in something that fundamentally doesn't matter for 90 minutes. I have often wished I give a shit about football for exactly that reason.

Also, the fact that it is an externally scheduled 90 minutes is such a bonus for fans. There's no quibbling. postponing, rescheduling or possibly not having it: "THE FOOTBALL!" goes the ungainsayable cry. Then you can have Match of the Day, Football Focus etc - which have almost the same timetabling power as the actual fixtures.

It's like watching people shuffle off for fag breaks and wishing you smoked - obviously you don't literally wish you were actually in thrall to a mindless addiction, and you could go off and join in if you wanted to, but there's something in it.

I heard on the radio this morning that the tax on petrol is due to go up by another 5p a litre soon. I bet Davd Cameron is hoping people will be too distracted by whatever's going on in the world of football to notice.

I too get sick of football being a national obsession and it annoys me that you can't get away from the topic. News about football matches, transfers, who scored what, is on the radio & tv all the time. I also find it annoying that the way that women are joining in is as spectators and commentators to matches that are played by men.

I do think it distracts men from real life issues the way that stereotypically women's issues (fashion, beauty etc) distract women. Oh, and I never watched Corrie or Eastenders in my life!

I had a theory that, now we don't have any major wars going on, it's a way for men to feel part of a tribe, a collective. In previous centuries, there were always wars for men to fight and now they need a new way of expressing that primal instinct of belonging to a tribe and expending energy. Just my theory although I think that HerBeX's post about the government making an active decision to promote football to distract the masses (got to do something now that religion is on the wane) is very interesting.

Football is hugely popular with women as well as men and the number of women watching and playing football is on the rise. I think to say football is responsible for the lack of interest in politics in the country is ridiculous to be honest.

That's really interesting AW and SP. So the FA hasn't changed much since then . I could was lyrical about the drawbacks and vagaries of football but I'll spare you all .

I think HerBex is spot on especially with the media coverage/manipulation. I am heavily into sport and have often thought that sports coverage is very one-sided in terms of male and female. There are very few all-female sports regularly shown on television e.g. women's football, netball, softball, women's rugby, women's cricket. Yes you could use the argument about the fan base and people "not wanting to watch it" but when they want to they can show a lot of coverage of minority sports such as athletics, rowing & cycling. So I think the media can influence people's perceptions of a sport and have the power to make sports personalities and prioritise a sport when they choose to. So I think that it is a red herring about football's fan base as fan bases can be created.

On the flip side they seem to manage to televise a number of snooker taournaments where there is hardly anyone in the audience at the event. That would suggest that there isn't that large a fan base for that sport or at least not large enough to warrant such promotion on the television.

There is a lot of sexism within the sports themselves which stop female progression. For example my sport has unequal events for men and women at the Olympics (a full Olympic Team would consist of 28 men and 20 women; 8 events for men & 6 events for women) and it isn't the only one. Snooker - why shouldn't men and women compete against each other? Tennis also has unequal events (best of 3 sets for women at major tournaments) and don't get me started on the dress code/noise debates etc!

In answer to your question OP I think that there would be a much more balanced coverage and encouragement of all different kinds of sports and promotion of both sexes within a sport would be much more equal. As a result men's football, would be certainly less prominent than it is now.

Alice - there was a tiny bit about that on Edwardian Farm. The FA apparently banned its clubs from allowing women to play at all on their grounds or practice fields and effectively cut off the oxygen.

I've heard somewhere that football was a woman's game here too. Not as in just that women played it, but it was a sport for women rather than men. Then they got banned from playing it of course.

I don't recall the ins and outs, and of course the history is now written through the lens of male domination, but IIRC it was a colleague at a conference who was an academic and sports reporter.

Figures show that 30% of people who watch live matches are female now, it's a growing cross-gender spectator sport.

In the 20's and 30's it was huge because it was cheaper and in many ways the working man has been somewhat priced out of it to some extent.

I'm a football fan in a tapestry of football fans who follow football almost to the point of it being a religion (I'm a fully fledged atheist)...Now don't get me wrong my family come first but there again my family are all as excited about football as I am.

I do however believe that footballers get paid too much.

Bankers
Pop stars
Some civil servants
Celebrities

I could just be jealous, who knows?

I think it's more the whole culture of it that a lot of women (and men) dislike, not the game itself.

That's what happens when things grow in popularity. There is nothing wrong with football itself, with more people watching sport you also have more people playing sports as well (something this country really needs).

Of course there are problems with individuals and sometimes the governing body.

ha i always moan to dp that men would be more interested in politicis if it weren't for blinkin football.

i'm quite jealous that blokes can seem to get so totally immersed in it

i'd love to have something that takes my mind off worrying about everything for 90 minutes

Men still played football in the nineteen twenties and thirties.

But they weren't so obsessed with it as now. It jsut didn't occupy that place in national discourse. It was one diversion, it wasn't the lowest common denominator ice-breaker it is now.

That's obviously to do with TV as well.

Yes, now football is important to men.

In the nineteen twenties, it wasn't so important to them.

Politics was important. Important stuff was important.

The media has a vested interest in ensuring that the majority of the population have their heads filled with meaningless shit and nothign else, whether that be corrie or football.

You don't get football matches being re-scheduled so that Corrie can be shown.

No it wasn't.

Football is how old?

In the days gone by football had an almost cult like draw to "The working man"...the celebrity gossip side of things like WAGS are driven by the need for gossip, obviously not male orientated.

Men like to talk about Football because it's important to tham (Obviously not ALL Men) just like Corrie and Eastenders are talked about when some ladies meet.

Mens footie generates huge money and footballers benefit from this...it's a private deal funded by football lovers and advertisers.

Support your local Womens footballers and the advertisers will pay for the rights to use womens football as a vehicle to promote their products.

That isn't going to happen though is it?

Because it isn't popular enough.

And of course, TV coverage and since the rise of Sleb culture, football and football WAGS being promoted. It's all part of the buzz around football. You don't get quite so much of sustained coverage about other sportsfigures and their consorts. It's all part of ensuring that football is mainstream. Even if you don't ever watch it, ever read a tabloid or a sports mag, you still know who the ENgland squad are and in many cases, who their WAGs are and what handbag they are sporting this season. It's all part of the PR.

Yes that's partly to do with them hosting the WC.

Its profile is higher there now.

It was sprung on people Saltatrix

It was popular, but nowhere near as much as now. Many govts made a conscious, deliberate decision to promote it and poured money into their national FA's.

The reason it's highly promoted is because it has a huge fan base. Football wasn't sprung on people it grew in popularity. It is also the easiest sport to play because you can play it anywhere just need a ball which is why it is popular in 3rd world countries as well.

And yes football wasn't popular in the US before you will now find that over the past decade its popularity has soared before 1980s virtually no schools offered soccer, now however they do.