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Original poster

Womens football....leading headline BBC news....why? Cos very few people actually care

292 replies

UnbelievablyStressed · 27/07/2025 21:22

Let's be honest. The BBC feels the need to have this as a major headline for woke reasons. The reality is few people give a shit....

OP posts:
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12
Spinachpastapicker · 28/07/2025 23:39

Words · 28/07/2025 19:04

Well I agree re the results, although they have a long way to go to equal Germany in terms of achievement don't they.

But at least they actually won the damn thing which the Lion men have failed to do since?1964?

Can you imagine the absolute mayhem there would be if the chaps ever managed that? It makes me wince.

@Wordsthe Men’s Team won the World Cup in 1966, but they’ve never won the Euros.
They’ve been runner ups twice. And each time the Women’s team has won the Euros the following year. Showing them how it’s done. Grin

Cuwins · 29/07/2025 06:32

Apparently lots of people did as it was ITV’s most watched moment of the year

mids2019 · 29/07/2025 06:45

Interest in women s football does down after these events though and I do think the Euros and Women's world cup in football are maybe sports way of placating the public about the massive gender divide in salary that occurs across the board.

Fundamentally I don't think the coverage of the Euros makes the game as large as the men's. It's a great achievement but it's publicity is disproportionate to the interest in the womens/girls game. My daughter's school has had a really successful netball team for years with well arranged tournaments. There will probably be more pressure on teachers to bring focus onto girls football after this whether the girls like it or not because to not have a girls football team at a school will now be viewed as heresy. The last girls football tournament that local schools tried to host collapsed virtually as they couldn't get full teams and we had pe teachers hauling girls from corridors to make up the team. Sport should grow organically and not through a media driven showpiece in my humble opinion.

Our hockey players,netball players, athletes, gymnasts, professional dancers are not feted with open top buses yet these are all sports enjoyed by girls and left to themselves would continue to engage girls in large numbers. Do girls really be pressured into participating into what many consider a boys sport? We don't get teachers pushing boys into netball but we now have given the green light for the reverse.

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Radioundermypillow · 29/07/2025 07:57

Oh fgs. Football is our national sport, and tbh my local small state primary has had a girl's football team for the past 7 years with a busy local league in a rural part of the country, so your school sounds absolutely backward if it doesn't have a thriving team.

One of mine was on the England football talent pathway 10 years ago - this isn't a flash in the pan!

Why on earth are you so anti women's football in schools - check your internal misogyny! (Fwiw I have three very sporty dds and they all found netball absolutely deadly boring).

Steelworks · 29/07/2025 08:11

The Euro win in 2022 has benefitted all women’s sports, not just football. I’ve seen so many adverts on local Facebook pages about new women and girls’ cricket, rugby and basketball teams being formed and promoted, not just football.

StarlightLady · 29/07/2025 10:23

mids2019 · 29/07/2025 06:45

Interest in women s football does down after these events though and I do think the Euros and Women's world cup in football are maybe sports way of placating the public about the massive gender divide in salary that occurs across the board.

Fundamentally I don't think the coverage of the Euros makes the game as large as the men's. It's a great achievement but it's publicity is disproportionate to the interest in the womens/girls game. My daughter's school has had a really successful netball team for years with well arranged tournaments. There will probably be more pressure on teachers to bring focus onto girls football after this whether the girls like it or not because to not have a girls football team at a school will now be viewed as heresy. The last girls football tournament that local schools tried to host collapsed virtually as they couldn't get full teams and we had pe teachers hauling girls from corridors to make up the team. Sport should grow organically and not through a media driven showpiece in my humble opinion.

Our hockey players,netball players, athletes, gymnasts, professional dancers are not feted with open top buses yet these are all sports enjoyed by girls and left to themselves would continue to engage girls in large numbers. Do girls really be pressured into participating into what many consider a boys sport? We don't get teachers pushing boys into netball but we now have given the green light for the reverse.

There is nothing wrong with netball. It is a perfectly good sport and the default “girls’ game” for many schools. It should not be either or.

But that does not help girls who want to play football. Neither does it have 12.2 million people watching on TV or 34,000+ in attendance.

Anything which encourages the participation
in sport and fitness of young woman is surely a good thing.

JoeTheDrummer · 29/07/2025 10:34

UnbelievablyStressed · 27/07/2025 21:22

Let's be honest. The BBC feels the need to have this as a major headline for woke reasons. The reality is few people give a shit....

12.2 million people watched it on the TV, so slightly more than “a few” 🙄

DuncinToffee · 29/07/2025 11:30

Up to 50,000 Lionesses fans are expected to line The Mall for the open bus parade

Live coverage on iPlayer and Radio 5 live

Steelworks · 29/07/2025 12:23

Watching live on tv. Certainly looks busy!

DuncinToffee · 29/07/2025 12:36

Steelworks · 29/07/2025 12:23

Watching live on tv. Certainly looks busy!

It's great, isn't it

Wow!

Radioundermypillow · 29/07/2025 12:44

Whoops lol

Elderflower14 · 29/07/2025 13:20

Radioundermypillow · 29/07/2025 12:44

Whoops lol

If the whoops is about Chloe swearing then I agree.. All the children watching...

mids2019 · 29/07/2025 13:23

I am all for girls sports but there shouldn't be some sort of drive to get them into football as sports like netball are too 'girly' . Netball is incredibly popular amongst girls but there is never going to be anywhere the same magnitude of coverage as for women's footballers. The question is is this fair?

Some girls have complained at my daughter's school that football is too physical and at times hurts if you have to chest the ball. These girls prefer a non contact sport like netball and I do hope girls don't feel they are letting their gender down by not getting engaged in football

I also think at the end of the day despite all the coverage at heart women's football is still an amateur sport. The average wage of a WSL player is 47K and the minimum is something like 20k. (Ronaldo gets paid £200 million pounds per year in Saudi). When we get over the europhoria of the euros we have to acknowledge there is a funding and infrastructure deficit in the women's game that is not easy to combat without state funding. The name game is funded through television rights, sponsorship and gate receipts.

With the euros it just seems disproportionate to a degree and media driven in that when the wall starts the gate receipts will be far less than those for the men's game.

Radioundermypillow · 29/07/2025 13:39

mids2019 · 29/07/2025 13:23

I am all for girls sports but there shouldn't be some sort of drive to get them into football as sports like netball are too 'girly' . Netball is incredibly popular amongst girls but there is never going to be anywhere the same magnitude of coverage as for women's footballers. The question is is this fair?

Some girls have complained at my daughter's school that football is too physical and at times hurts if you have to chest the ball. These girls prefer a non contact sport like netball and I do hope girls don't feel they are letting their gender down by not getting engaged in football

I also think at the end of the day despite all the coverage at heart women's football is still an amateur sport. The average wage of a WSL player is 47K and the minimum is something like 20k. (Ronaldo gets paid £200 million pounds per year in Saudi). When we get over the europhoria of the euros we have to acknowledge there is a funding and infrastructure deficit in the women's game that is not easy to combat without state funding. The name game is funded through television rights, sponsorship and gate receipts.

With the euros it just seems disproportionate to a degree and media driven in that when the wall starts the gate receipts will be far less than those for the men's game.

I've heard it all now.

If your girls like netball then they can carry on playing it.

The 'drive' to get girls into football is motivated by girls enjoying playing football. Playing football is cheap and you can practice skills anywhere.

Girls playing football do not stop girls playing netball.

The only person I know in rl who says things like this is the mum who's daughter was the captain of the netball team and worried that she wasn't going to be seen as the best sportswoman in the school any more.

EmpressaurusKitty · 29/07/2025 13:43

I hated netball at school because I’m short so I only ever saw the ball fly over my head.

Hockey was a lot more fun since it all happened on the ground.

Radioundermypillow · 29/07/2025 13:51

Hockey is fun but if someone thinks football is too physical then hockey is definitely not for them!

YesterdaysFuture · 29/07/2025 14:05

The investment by the FA into all forms of football has paid off.

The male England U21s retained their European title last month and it is a success that has been matched by the senior women's side on Sunday.

The senior men's side has been runner up twice, but that will be the most difficult one to win due to the increased competition.

mids2019 · 29/07/2025 15:45

@Radioundermypillow

I disagree there is at least in my experience pressure in schools to provide football for girls where there is neither the staff and in some cases the demand.

It seems that a school is deemed ragingly sexist if they can't provide football for girls and out local pe teachers don't know the rules or know them in enough technical detail to run the game properly.

Our daughter's school football team fielded 10 players but made it to a local fina because other schools couldn't field teams.

Other girls team sports deserve similar coverage to football is all I am saying and football at least amongst girls doesn't deserve such focus when other sports are denied.

Radioundermypillow · 29/07/2025 15:53

mids2019 · 29/07/2025 15:45

@Radioundermypillow

I disagree there is at least in my experience pressure in schools to provide football for girls where there is neither the staff and in some cases the demand.

It seems that a school is deemed ragingly sexist if they can't provide football for girls and out local pe teachers don't know the rules or know them in enough technical detail to run the game properly.

Our daughter's school football team fielded 10 players but made it to a local fina because other schools couldn't field teams.

Other girls team sports deserve similar coverage to football is all I am saying and football at least amongst girls doesn't deserve such focus when other sports are denied.

Yes, the school is sexiat and backward if it can't provide girls football along with boys football.

I dont know whether you or your PE teachers realise that the rules are the same for boys and girls football? So if they provide boys football they should be able to provide girls as well.

Luckily I would imagine any new PE teachers will be learning the rules of football :/

Netball and hockey are not as popular as spectator sports, although they occasionally get good crowds and iirc we did well in one of the Olympics I seem to remember.

slightlydistrac · 29/07/2025 16:05

mids2019 · 29/07/2025 15:45

@Radioundermypillow

I disagree there is at least in my experience pressure in schools to provide football for girls where there is neither the staff and in some cases the demand.

It seems that a school is deemed ragingly sexist if they can't provide football for girls and out local pe teachers don't know the rules or know them in enough technical detail to run the game properly.

Our daughter's school football team fielded 10 players but made it to a local fina because other schools couldn't field teams.

Other girls team sports deserve similar coverage to football is all I am saying and football at least amongst girls doesn't deserve such focus when other sports are denied.

Maybe what needs to happen is for schools to stop segregating their PE lessons.

raininginlanzarote · 29/07/2025 16:20

saveforthat · 27/07/2025 21:28

Well of course everyone cares. Well everyone I know. How lovely to have some good news for a change. Before the match one of the players said "Now little girls can say I want to be a footballer when I grow up".
When I was a child that was just a fantasy.

Well you see that’s not true. No one I know cares, certainly I don’t.

if there was a poll of the whole country I reckon the majority wouldn’t care. It may not be a huge majority but a majority nonetheless.

No one can say ‘everyone cares’ when that is patently bollocks.

Radioundermypillow · 29/07/2025 16:31

That poster did caveat it with 'everyone they know'.

And to say that the majority of the country has to care about something before its important is silly.

saveforthat · 29/07/2025 16:32

You obviously missed my qualifier of everyone I know. So everyone I know cares, everyone you know doesn't. What makes you think you are in the majority?

Cuwins · 29/07/2025 19:36

mids2019 · 29/07/2025 13:23

I am all for girls sports but there shouldn't be some sort of drive to get them into football as sports like netball are too 'girly' . Netball is incredibly popular amongst girls but there is never going to be anywhere the same magnitude of coverage as for women's footballers. The question is is this fair?

Some girls have complained at my daughter's school that football is too physical and at times hurts if you have to chest the ball. These girls prefer a non contact sport like netball and I do hope girls don't feel they are letting their gender down by not getting engaged in football

I also think at the end of the day despite all the coverage at heart women's football is still an amateur sport. The average wage of a WSL player is 47K and the minimum is something like 20k. (Ronaldo gets paid £200 million pounds per year in Saudi). When we get over the europhoria of the euros we have to acknowledge there is a funding and infrastructure deficit in the women's game that is not easy to combat without state funding. The name game is funded through television rights, sponsorship and gate receipts.

With the euros it just seems disproportionate to a degree and media driven in that when the wall starts the gate receipts will be far less than those for the men's game.

I don’t understand that thought process at all. Plenty of boys don’t play football (or only in PE) and enjoy rugby or cricket instead so why would anyone think that if girls football is on offer then girls will feel they have to play? I guess it might be compulsory in PE but so will netball or hockey in different terms.
I spent all my break times at primary playing football with the boys and was allowed to join the after school club to. Unfortunately my secondary didn’t offer it at all for girls, so I ended up not playing any sport outside PE which continued into adulthood.