Women's Football Farce
I wouldn't say I was an expert on women's football and I'm still puzzled on a regular basis by matters relating to members of the opposite sex, as my wife would wholeheartedly concur if she ever bothered to read this blog.
I've never seen Sunderland or Newcastle United's female teams play, although I did watch a bit of the Women's World Cup and I did interview England's third choice goalkeeper a couple of years ago.
But I don't need to be an expert or an aficionado on the fairer sex's football exploits to realise the decision not to have a North East team in the Football Association's new Super League is a disgrace.
Let's make this clear. Newcastle and Sunderland both have women's teams, yet neither will be in the Super League, supposedly because they failed the criteria on marketing and geography grounds.
Well, erm, that's just a load of tosh. Both clubs are attached to Universities, Newcastle with Northumbria and Sunderland with Sunderland so they have plenty of marketing and public relations expertise behind them.
As for the geography, the extra travel costs for teams coming up to the North East is surely more than compensated for by the fact the North of England will be represented in the league.
Leeds Carnegie have also dropped out of the running for one of the eight Super League berths which means the closest club to us will probably be in Manchester! That's great, well done, I'm sure that will do wonders for the women's game in the North.
What an absolute farce. We may as well call it the south of England Super League.
Forgive me, but given the fact the North East of England is generally regarded as the most passionate football region in the country, why oh why would it not be allowed to take part in the Women's Super League?
Honestly, this is one of the most idiotic calls I've heard in a long, long time. Right up there with Tony Blair agreeing to the invasion of Iraq without any evidence of weapons of mass destruction and the bankers who have ended up mortgaging our national economy because of their greed and stupidity in the financial sector.
Alright, that might be a little over the top, those decisions caused thousands of deaths, the raising of taxes in this country and massive public spending cuts but still....
Apparently, the two clubs can apply again in two years time and will be eligible for promotion in 2013, but for the time being Sunderland - the better of the two - will be forced to drop down to the National League and a young, exciting team is expected to break up as the best players are poached by Super League clubs who will be semi-professional and able to pay them a semi-decent wage as a result.
So yeah, thanks FA big wigs, thanks a lot....
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Luke Edwards - is Chief Sports Writer of The Journal and uses his blog to give a unique and entertaining insight into events at Newcastle United and Sunderland.
Without wanting to sound sexist Luke, women's football isn't even as watchable as kids football, so it's really not worth getting too upset about.
Let's concentrate on the professional game and discuss Newcastle & Sunderland's men's teams, who are pros and do and always will have large followings. I couldn't imagine either Newcastle or Sunderland womens team getting more than a couple of hundred people at any game, that's less than the average reserve game.
hmm...
You couldn't bring yourself to post my comment but posted the negative comment above.
Hi Amy, I'm not responsible for posting the comments and sometimes they don't go up for some reason, the wonders of modern technology and all that. Try posting it again. I'm interested to know what you said now!
Hi Luke.
Thanks for clearing that up, and my apologies. I should have realised it was probably something to do with the software. Sorry x.
As for my original comment I can't remember it all now.
I am disappointed with the way the Super League has been set up, but I shouldn't be surprised. There is much more investment in Women's Football in Germany, Sweden and the United States yet our own Football Association has put the onus on the clubs to put in more investment, and in these lean financial times many cannot afford to do so.
What should have happened is that the Football Association should have set up a non-profit organisation like they did in the US to explore better ways to promote and support Women's Football in this country (the home of football)
As far as the North East teams not being a part of the new Super League goes, I agree it is an absolute disgrace. Hopefully there will be an option to join the new league at a later date, and Women's Football in the North East will continue lower in the "pyramid" but, it feels very much like a missed opportunity by the Football Association to promote Women's Football and they obviously have favoured the Southern Clubs as you rightly point out. I hope that both clubs do survive. Leeds Carnegie University have withdrawn their support for their time and I really do hope that they survive and the same does not happen to Sunderland or Newcastle.
"failed the criteria on marketing and geography grounds." I have never heard so much nonsense in my life. Why should geography even be a consideration?
The United States has a viable Women's Professional Soccer league and yet the geographical distances between teams are infinitely greater, so how is this an explanation?
This is not the same as my original comment, but hopefully I have covered the same points.
Amy