UEFA Women's EURO England 2022

[Bobfoc]

I wonder how many people in the conservative media will demand that this particular group of 17.4 million people be made sacred.

[Krabby]

Caught a bit of ENGLAND vs Germany at lunch yesterday including Toone's goal, was fun to watch while I had a really good Green Olive burger

[Colly]

13 minutes ago, Krabby said:

Caught a bit of UK vs Germany at lunch yesterday including Toone's goal, was fun to watch while I had a really good Green Olive burger

This thread may have just became a danger zone.

[Krabby]

59 minutes ago, Colly said:

This thread may have just became a danger zone.

hahaha whoopsie doodles!

[TheGrandAvatar]

1 hour ago, Krabby said:

Caught a bit of ENGLAND vs Germany at lunch yesterday including Toone's goal, was fun to watch while I had a really good Green Olive burger

 

[The Kraig]

10 hours ago, Krabby said:

hahaha whoopsie doodles!

[TheGrandAvatar]

11 hours ago, Krabby said:

hahaha whoopsie doodles!

😅

[GA!]

On 01/08/2022 at 09:09, Twist said:

I’ve been planning on getting to more football this year and will absolutely be prioritising women’s football.

My nearest WSL team is Leicester and no Championship team nearby but Derby play just around the corner in the 3rd tier and just missed out on promotion last year, so will try to get by to watch them as much as I can.

And the Luxembourg game is on Stoke so have got tickets for that as well.

I need to find a team. Grimsby and Cleethorpes are in the second division of the sixth tier so them probably, but it would be nice to follow a bigger team. But it seems like Sheffield United are the only Yorkshire/Lincolnshire team in the first three tiers.

[Twist]

10 minutes ago, Big GA! said:

I need to find a team. Grimsby and Cleethorpes are in the second division of the sixth tier so them probably, but it would be nice to follow a bigger team. But it seems like Sheffield United are the only Yorkshire/Lincolnshire team in the first three tiers.

You’ve got Bradford and Barnsley in the fourth tier as well.

[lanky316]

Given how the FA fucked them over so badly, the correct answer for the area is Doncaster Belles.

[DFF]

Sheffield United Women are playing all home games at Bramall Lane this season, which is very cool. Gonna try and get down to a game or two.

[GA!]

58 minutes ago, lanky316 said:

Given how the FA fucked them over so badly, the correct answer for the area is Doncaster Belles.

..how the fuck are they down there!? Weren't they the women's team once up a time?

[lanky316]

Long story short. There was an issue over the FA wanting teams to be linked with mens clubs and after some opposition they ended up merging with Doncaster Rovers, itself not a disaster with how the money coming across has changed the game by running womens teams at a loss but helping to improve the standard in general, the teams with best results are generally those with money to burn not something Doncaster could throw their way (not that the Belles independently would make huge masses to spend).  A big factor in the end is when they were just demoted from the WSL by the FA to make way for Manchester City who would make the league appear more legitimate but they never really recovered financially from the lost sponsor and demotion. They did win WSL2 a couple of years back but for financial reasons chose not to apply for the next season. I'd love to see them somehow rise from the ashes again but it's a different game than their glory years and it'll take a hell of a lot to help them recover and rebuild. 

Edited August 2, 2022 by lanky316

[Lineker]

That's an FM save to tackle for sure, once SI have incorporated women into the game. 

[Adam]

Belles are doing well (for the level) again now, Andy Butler has turned a team of teenagers into one of the better fourth tier sides, came close to promotion last season.

We were absolutely shafted when they made the WSL a franchise thing, they kicked us out of the league so Man City could come in and we never recovered.

Millie Bright got her start at Belles, Mary Earps also had a spell here when we were in WSL2, so we still have a hand in this Euros success. But it's a long way back from where we are now to the heyday of the 80s and 90s.

The FA have made a complete mess of the women's game the last decade or so. Clubs who did so well - Belles, Sunderland, Croydon/Charlton - got forgotten about or actively pushed down so that the biggest men's clubs could have women's sides at the top instead. Man Utd didn't even have a women's team until a couple of years ago and they just got a free pass into the upper echelons because they're Man Utd. It's shite.

[The Lusophone]

15 hours ago, Adam said:

Man Utd didn't even have a women's team until a couple of years ago and they just got a free pass into the upper echelons because they're Man Utd. It's shite.

United applied for a license for the FA Women's Championship same as many other teams, including Doncaster Belles, who withdrew of their own accord.

[Adam]

1 hour ago, MadJack said:

United applied for a license for the FA Women's Championship same as many other teams, including Doncaster Belles, who withdrew of their own accord.

Manchester United were strongly encouraged to create a women's team because the fact they didn't have one was a well-known sore point since all the other big men's sides had one by that stage. In 2018, only four years ago, it finally happened and the governing body were intent on fast-tracking said United women's side to the top for the commercial benefits of having the name of Manchester United in the WSL.

So, four years ago when they elected to "restructure" the leagues again, United got a license and Sunderland, who had been pretty successful and run a proper programme for ten odd years, dropped out of WSL2/Championship because of financial reasons. That suited the FA fine of course, because being able to market *Manchester United* brought more commercial gains than Sunderland would.

Doncaster Belles meanwhile, having been forcibly demoted from WSL a few years prior before a ball was kicked to accommodate Manchester City's women's team, again for the sheer commercial weight of it being a successful men's side, actually WON the second tier title ahead of the 2018 restructure but couldn't apply for a spot in the new Women's Championship due to the financial backing that was demanded of applicants - same reason Sunderland couldn't stay in it - and were effectively demoted once again.

So do not try and paint it as a level playing field and Man Utd just had a better "bid" than the Belles. The fact we have twice had to bid as a franchise to be in a league that we helped form, were successful in for years and crucially were never relegated from on sporting merit, all so the FA could have what they now get to trumpet - Man Utd, Man City, Chelsea, Arsenal, Spurs and Liverpool at the top - is disgusting and all that is wrong with the domestic women's game in this country.

[9 to 5]

21 hours ago, Lineker said:

That's an FM save to tackle for sure, once SI have incorporated women into the game. 

It won't be this year, according to my inside sources.

[Adam]

Wasn't sure where to put this but felt it needed posting - England legend Ellen White is retiring.

[Adam]

And now Jill Scott too!