Positives and negatives of the Olympics.

Kickass, you are right, because there is only one FA per country. If there was a women's SFA, you might have got women to take part in the GB team. It's a shame for them, but being dominated by men, I guess there is only going to be one outcome. Plus, I wonder if Mr Salmond and the upcoming referendum might have something to do with the decision!

I have thought over some of my contributions here, and I think I have taken the wrong tack. If people want to just post stuff and enjoy the moment without riposte/debate, I will tone it down.

For those who want to enjoy women's football in the longer term, here are some good sources for the new Summer League (WSL);

www.thefa.com/womens/ and www.fawsl.com/index.html

As an example, my club, Liverpool, have a women's team. Costs are very reasonable - for their next game, it is 4.50 pounds for adults and free for under 16's. Compare that with the Premier League, where match-day tickets are over 40 quid per game!

Thanks messy, what a great response from Zoe Smith.

kick you are right. Let's get back to the tally..

I have a minus: my arse is getting sores because I have been stuck on the sofa glued to the telly for the last few days, and I have washing up in the sink that is beginning to stink..... I had to order pizza last night coz I didn't want to leave the house to do some shopping.

Once again, I'm just not getting it.

You think it's 'narrow' to observe that women footballers don't get the status and recognition male players do, and say this might in some way be related to their sex?

How could it possibly not be related to their sex?

No one, I think, would deny that there are all sorts of complex interactions between sex and culture, sex and access to wealth, etc. etc. - but why is it so wrong to observe that women footballers have a different situation than the men?

I would say, if anything, this is a very broad view - I'm not getting into the nitty-gritty of it, just making the obvious point.

"These things are very circular - if women's football got more attention, funding and coverage then more people would watch it. "

I think you've hit the nail on the head Mooncup. Before the Olympics I didn't watch women's football because it's not easily accessible. I don't have Sky and I don't have much money to go to matches, hell I don't even know where the matches are. But now it's right there, being brought to my telly every day I am loving it. I'm sure there are lots of men who would never have gotten into football if it wasn't just a few remote control buttons away.

What I don't understand about market fundamentalists with their "oh well if more people were interested in WF then the market would respond" is that such thinking doesn't get applied to other things. Advertising companies aren't just about responding to demand but they also try to create demand for their new products. Look at the Paralympics. I'm sure the powerful advertising that has appeared over the last weeks has really drummed up the desire to watch it. Yet when it's about women's sport there seems to be a lot of "oh well its all about the market".

Still, I'm really happy about the interest that has been shown in this Olympics and hope that the "market" responds. I'm also really happy about this awesome response given by weightlifter Zoe Smith to those twitter idiots who bodysnarked her for appearing "unfeminine"(yawn... not again!)

Geek, it is a pity because it would be a great opportunity for some players, and while I understand the SFA under normal circumstances, I think they are being a wee bit paranoid here.

And I did request special dispensation to discuss woman-y sport, which MN Towers graciously granted. The hammer-and-nail thing is a common enough phrase. It refers to those with a narrow perspective, and who only have one argument, and therefore everything has a single cause, regardless of the complexity of the situation. It's a pity, because I love sport and love the opportunity to discuss it.

I know, mooncup. You'd think at least if you and I wanted to talk about woman-y things, we'd have the decency to do it in some special section, or to put some kind of clue in our posting names, or something.

I'm Scottish and hate the stance we have over team GB.
Anyway, the girls are leading the way when it comes to medals..!

You and your odd feminist agenda, eh, LRD?

These things are very circular - if women's football got more attention, funding and coverage then more people would watch it.

Still totally baffled by why we can't have a GB women's football team for the relevant tournaments. If it's hard for the England women's football team to get attention then what must it be like for the Northern Irish one?

I have no idea what's the hammer and what's the nail.

You're implying I have some kind of odd feminist agenda because I point out women's football has less financing and status than men's?

Rugby isn't currently played at the Olympics - but they are bringing rugby back to the Olympics in 2016 in the form of a Rugby 7's tournament for both men and women.

Kickass, here is the stance of the Scottish FA, on behalf of themselves and the Welsh and NI FA's:

www.scottishfa.co.uk/scottish_fa_news.cfm?page=2550&newsID=8002

The team GB thing is purely because LOCOG wanted representation in all events if possible. Even then, the other FA's could not overcome their stance. C'est la vie!

A negative today, in relation to the women's rowing gold: The Guardian's blogger has quoted Marina Hyde:
according to a recent study female athletes tend to be depicted in the media as more reliant on others ? for instance coaches, team-mates, and family members ? than their male equivalents, as expressed through more frequent TV camera shots of their interactions with these individuals. Just before Stanning and Glover received their gold medals just then, the BBC commentator said: "There are really three people on that podium," and told us not to forget British rowing coach Robin Williams.

One last attempt at a reasonable discourse;

'Answer me this: does women's football have as high a profile, and as much funding as men's?'

How many people here go and watch women's football on a regular basis? Because that is where the high profile, and the funding, come from. If you want to improve the game, support it.

'If all you have is a hammer, everything has to look like a nail...'

HipHopSkip, gymnastics for boys has grown in recent years, partly down to successful role models like Louis Smith. DD's gym club now has a dedicated boys' section for artistic gymnastics. Rhythmics remains all-female.

treats - well, my thinking exactly! But there's a time and a place, and when my mate is thrilled that the American women won gold, I'm not going to grudge her exclaiming that it's proof of America's general all-round loveliness ... she's excited and happy.

messy - no, I didn't see, I'm afraid. It's not a sport I know about.

I am still fuming that the Guardian still has on the front page that the Korean woman 'protested' which is total bollocks. Does anyone know how you write to them online, when there's no comments tab on the article?

xposts Treats !

LRD exactly. Let's not it ruin our happiness.

Whatever you do, don't point out to your friend that the Chinese have won more medals and therefore must be "freer" than the US!!

Did you watch the badminton controversy by the way? It was very naughty of the Chinese IMO.

LRD - The Chinese have won more medals than the US. Obviously it's all due to their enlightened liberal democracy......

messy, you're right, I should just stop responding.

I don't get why it's so much fun to insist that every good thing that happens to women should be belittled, and every time we get happy because women are triumphing over the odds, someone has to come along and pretend there were no odds against them.

If you don't believe women have anything to struggle against, and we're all being silly to be excited about this stuff ... why bother posting about it? Why not just accept we're daft to be happy and go talk about something else?

Personally, I find it sweet and amusing that an American mate of mine feels that the American successes 'prove' the USA is the land of the free. I just don't see the connection. But I'm not about to rain on her parade by posting on her happy threads about medals with 'ooh, you're all shit and you know it'.