Angry men about womens football

[Ontobetterthings]

I was listening to talk radio and there was a very angry man on ranting away about womens football. He was basically saying put it on a different channel. Noone wants to watch, even his wife agrees. He was out of breath he was that mad. I was quite taken aback. Far enough if you dont like it, dont watch. Why on earth he was this upset I dont know! Whats with this disgusting reaction! How weird!!

I presume that’s because you are watching through a subscription (Sky, Now tv or cable) under your name, where the ads are targeted at you.

After some further research:

On 5 December 1921, the Football Association (FA) in England passed a resolution that banned women's teams from playing on FA-affiliated pitches. The official statement claimed:

"The game of football is quite unsuitable for females and ought not to be encouraged."

This decision came after women's football had surged in popularity, particularly during and after World War I. During the war, many men were away fighting, and women formed teams and drew huge crowds — some matches attracted over 50,000 spectators, like the famous Dick, Kerr Ladies vs St. Helen’s Ladies game at Goodison Park in 1920.

The ban remained in place for 50 years, until 1971, when it was officially lifted. That’s why women’s football in the UK is still rebuilding from that setback even today.

WOW! How sad...

Solve what? There’s nothing to solve. Playing the male vs female team would be utterly pointless and would only have a negative impact on both, even more so the women.

It’s absolutely fine that the two are different, trying to compare the two is the problem. What needs to be focussed on is building the women’s game as it’s own sport, entertainment, brand etc.

‘The game of football is quite unsuitable for females and ought not to be encouraged."

They panicked because the women were selling out stadiums, and then the men came home from war… same way they threw women out of factories and back to the kitchen after both World Wars the demobbed men needed jobs.

He’s just one of those unevolved specimens who gets all his opinions from the Daily Mail. Plenty of men find this attitude ridiculous as well though - your post reminded me of this old Harry Enfield sketch about female sports presenters.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Tv0ueEI4OBQ

I saw a post from some bloke on a local Facebook group "Pretend supporters and a pretend team. Come on Spain."

He didn't think that one through did he?!!!!

Actually I pay for the TV licence and my husband pays for Sky!

It’s not targeted advertising as football matches are broadcast live (which is why I can’t skip through the adverts!

Also they were advertising both tampax and tenna lady - so clearly aiming for a wide female demographic!

I regularly go to both men’s and women’s football matches and the queue for the ladies is extremely long at half time! I would estimate that 30% of supporters at men’s matches are women! It’s probably 50/50 at the women’s games!

I am in my mid 40s so I am shocked that you hold such misguided and archaic opinions! You obviously don’t attend football matches or stray outside stereotypical programming!

I am not yet ready for Baking with Mary Berry, or cash in the attic yet!

Not sure that’s true… our under 16s girls team played under 15s boys. They didn’t win but they held their own.

The way women’s football was banned for 50 years is horrifying! Growing up in the late 80s early 90s I played for my school team because that the only option there was!

I am not the tallest so I was a right winger / attacking midfielder.

There was no professional women’s teams!

I wanted to be a Villa Aztec… but sadly there was no route for most girls back then! As soon as you finished your GCSEs that was the end of playing football! My sixth form college didn’t have a women’s football team!

It wasn’t until 2009 that women’s football was professionalised, and salaried contracts were awarded to a few players, The Women's Super League (WSL) in England became fully professional in 2018.

In less than a decade of a fully professional WSL we were runners up in the World Cup Cup and won the Euros twice!

Imagine how dominant our team would be if the FA had invested in the women’s game in the 1990s?

Also google the lost Lionesses on 1971…. It’s dreadful how they were treated!

Given the Swiss team lost 7-1 to Lucerne’s under 15s you’d be wrong. HOWEVER, when you look into why they play under 15 age it’s because physically the top level women’s coaches believe they’re at about the same level as the women’s teams so it makes perfect sense. I’ll assume they’re correct given they know a lot more about it than me.

The issue is all the comparisons and Chloe Kelly could play in the premier league etc. She couldn’t but that’s fine, she doesn’t need to. Let women’s football be its own thing with an identity of its own rather than linked to men’s football.

His poor wife...

Doubtless you would, put those pesky women back in their box.

Amazing how so many seek to put the Lionesses down, we don't do this with Keely Hodgkinson or other women who succeed in other sports.

So it must be that fragile male ego's need protecting as their football team can't win anything, i mean one trophy in 60 years? at a time when football wasn't as international as it is now....

Theres now a guy on LBC bemoaning how hurtful it is to have the Lionesses victories used against men’s football… no irony whatsoever. welcome to OUR world little man! Yes, it is frustrating …

Strange how you've just done exactly what you accuse of other of. Having a pop at the men's team's perceived lack of success does not make the Lionesses' light burn any brighter.

The men have been extremely close on several occasions over the past 7 years and are considered among the very best national teams in the world.

Many people, me included, are fans of both. I just wish people could celebrate the Lionesses win without constant references to the men's game. They are virtually different sports. England are brilliant at both men's and women's games. We've managed to get over the line in the women's game which has been amazing. It would be awesome if the men could also take that final step.

I was replying to the poster who wanted a womens vs mens game "to settle the score" i note you didn't mention that in your critic of me.

Aside.... the mens team is a million miles away from winning a trophy, when did they last make a WC final? the Euro's final just once?

Why should pp be allowed to have a go at womens football/sport... without any push back?

Well the men have been runners up in the past two euros. In 2021 they lost on penalties. In 2024 they lost 2-1 to an extremely good Spain team. They also lost in extra time in the world cup semi final to Croatia.

If you want to push back against stupid comments with other stupid and equally ill informed comments, crack on. But I think its immature and counterproductive.

Where I do agree with you is some kind of Men v Women game. Unless a person is one of these trans rights activists, we know that it would be unsafe and incredibly one sided.

Men's football is great. I don't enjoy attending games though, they are too expensive and often aggressive. Much prefer the atmosphere at a women's match.

Lol!

Calling someone's comments stupid and ill-informed, hilarious, the irony.

You then agree with me, on the substance of my reply...

The England mens team are not a winning team, very highly paid, entitled and consistently fail to deliver, so what if they are a top 5 ranked FIFA team, its trophies that count, who remember 6th or even 2nd place?

You mention Croatia, a country with a pop. of less than 4m..... just recently ranked 10th.

One thing, among many, that impressed me with the Lionesses was their constant references to how proud they felt playing for England, that pride is very much missing in the mens team.

The joy of playing team football absolutely shines out of those women. That's what they have that the Premier mens team don't have. In defence of the men, I'd imagine the politicking and huge sums of money have completely sucked the joy out of it.

It was ill informed. You asked when England's men's team had last reached a final, even once, the implication that they hadn't since '66. You were wrong because they had reached the past 2 Euro finals. For what it's worth, the Croatia team of 2018 were ranked much higher than 10th and were a battle hardened experienced team. It was disappointing to lose that game, but no disgrace. Since 2016 (that was a disaster) the record has been:

2018 World Cup - Semi Final
2021 Euro - Runners up (penalty shoot out)
2022 World Cup - Quarter Finalists (Losing narrowly to eventual finalists)
2024 Euro - Runner up

Frustratingly close, but hardly representative of consistent failure.

They are highly paid, yes. But that is down the the draw of the game. Sponsors pay millions, TV rights are sold around the world, people buy the merchandise, and premier league games are sold out week in week out. There isn't some higher being who decides how to financially reward sports people, it is distributed according to the money they draw in. Likewise, I hope that the gap between pay is closed, but that will only happen by people watching games on TV and in stadiums, and buying the merch.

Why can you not celebrate success without lame efforts at falsely representing the performance of the men's team?

STOP MAKING THIS THREAD ABOUT MEN!!!

I agree. Sorry, my replies to another poster have unwittingly contributed to that. We should be celebrating the success of the Lionesses and the wider women's game at this point.

Well if you are in the prem and a high quality player you have :

38 games of premiership.
FA cup games.
League cup games.
Europe/champions league games.

So geeing yourself up for the international stuff when you are probably bloody knackered and the relentless negative press pressure that the mens internation team seems to attract is probably hard work. To say nothing of the injury potential.

In fact a lot of players just say screw it, I can't be arsed with international football, and I don't blame them to be honest.

This is what the womens game has got to look forward too, if it isn't starting to get there already.

So it’s acceptable to put the men’s team down but not the women’s? Have you not seen the ridiculous comments coming from people on social media declaring the women would make the men’s first team? That’s why I said if people genuinely believe they could hold their own and make the men’s team then let them play each other and then we’d see.

The reason people don’t do it with athletes such as Keely Hodgkinson is because people don’t immediately declare that she’d beat Emmanuel Wanyoni on social media. They recognise that women’s and men’s athletics are different but for some reason people think because England has a woman’s team that’s won the Euros again it automatically makes them as good as the men which isn’t true and we all know it.

Who cares?! Maybe some people think they could beat the men, maybe it pleases them to think that. All I can say with certainty is that I dont particularly enjoy mens football but I LOVE women's football! It seems totally irrelevant that men are bigger and stronger. It doesn't spoil my enjoyment to know that fragile masculinity and the women that serve them have to keep wanging on about men, when FOR ONCE this has nothing to with them.