[Albion] Brighton's women's team - what's going on

[Swansman]

Good opportunity to dump the women's team and save the club some money.

Nothing would save the club as much money as dumping the men's team so maybe that would be a better solution if money is everything.

 

[Dave the hatosaurus]

Can someone explain Le Tissier was allowed to walk out when she signed a 2 year contract only a year ago

BBC reporting that manure have bought out her contract via a release clause , pity because i thought she was one of our best players but there you go .

 

[Pondicherry]

Very short sighted & narrow minded view, you are obviously not looking at the big picture are you.
Women's football is one of the fastest growing sports, and being at the top table in the beginning is a major aim of Mr Bloom.
You forget the more "people" including girls, women, ladies, boys and men who have interaction with the Albion the more people will support all the Albion teams.
Mothers have daughter's and son's both of which with positive interaction with all forms of the Albion then surely only good things can come from that including growth in revenue.

No ?

WSL attendances are falling aren't they? I am not sure whether actual participation figures are going up (I suspect they are). The fundamental problem here is that to many people (not all), the WSL is an inferior standard and 'product' to all of men's professional football. This may not be the case for ever, or it might be. There is a limit to the amount of live football people will pay to watch and most people (not all) want to watch a decent standard. Having said all that, Mr Bloom pays the bills and he can spend his money how he likes and everyone should be encouraged to participate in sport but they can't all expect people to pay to watch them.

 

[gripper stebson]

I think one of the mistakes the media, and even the clubs make, is to think that because a team is wearing an Albion kit I'll care as much about them as I do the first team.

I 'support' the womens team in the same way that I 'support' the mens Under 18's... in that I don't, really.

Not saying I speak for everyone of course - just my thoughts.

 

[JBizzle]

WSL attendances are falling aren't they? I am not sure whether actual participation figures are going up (I suspect they are). The fundamental problem here is that to many people (not all), the WSL is an inferior standard and 'product' to all of men's professional football. This may not be the case for ever, or it might be. There is a limit to the amount of live football people will pay to watch and most people (not all) want to watch a decent standard. Having said all that, Mr Bloom pays the bills and he can spend his money how he likes and everyone should be encouraged to participate in sport but they can't all expect people to pay to watch them.

Having watched my fair share or Non-League, League One and League Two games in my time, you'd have to go a long way to convince me that the WSL is an inferior standard.

 

[Pondicherry]

Having watched my fair share or Non-League, League One and League Two games in my time, you'd have to go a long way to convince me that the WSL is an inferior standard.

There is no way to prove this currently so its just a matter of opinion. In my view if a WSL team played a League 2 men's team they would lose heavily. If they played Horsham (Isthmian Premier - I have seen a few times last season), Horsham would also win. I think you are looking at County League for a competitive match. I would be interested in any other opinions though.

 

[HH Brighton]

I went to the end of season awards and there was a very strange atmosphere amongst the womens team, something was not right. One of the team was on our table and she chatting openly about how she was on her way elswhere.

 

[Wardy's twin]

Very short sighted & narrow minded view, you are obviously not looking at the big picture are you.
Women's football is one of the fastest growing sports, and being at the top table in the beginning is a major aim of Mr Bloom.
You forget the more "people" including girls, women, ladies, boys and men who have interaction with the Albion the more people will support all the Albion teams.
Mothers have daughter's and son's both of which with positive interaction with all forms of the Albion then surely only good things can come from that including growth in revenue.

No ?

Spot on - its about the health of the 'club' not just the men's first team.

 

[Napper]

There is no way to prove this currently so its just a matter of opinion. In my view if a WSL team played a League 2 men's team they would lose heavily. If they played Horsham (Isthmian Premier - I have seen a few times last season), Horsham would also win. I think you are looking at County League for a competitive match. I would be interested in any other opinions though.

county league could be about right

If you put the england national team in league two , they may have a chance of staying up but suspect relegated

the new signing looks fit though so good luck to them

 

[rippleman]

Why on earth is Le Tissier leaving. Thought she was one of our future stars. Surely at a time Albion hoping to sell more STs on back of Englands performance club should be communicating

Certainly was. But as I posted elsewhere, we are in the bottom half of the WSL and our stars will get bought up by one of the top 6 who, like the EPL, have the biggest wallets.

I would have wagered that Le Tiss was extremely unlikely to be with us at the start of next season. Be interesting to see where she ends up. Man Utd or Liverpool would be my guess. Hope she continues to do well.

 

[rippleman]

BBC reporting that manure have bought out her contract via a release clause , pity because i thought she was one of our best players but there you go .

I honestly hadn't read this far through the thread when I posted mine above!

 

[Pondicherry]

There is no way to prove this currently so its just a matter of opinion. In my view if a WSL team played a League 2 men's team they would lose heavily. If they played Horsham (Isthmian Premier - I have seen a few times last season), Horsham would also win. I think you are looking at County League for a competitive match. I would be interested in any other opinions though.

Having said there is no way to prove this, there still isn't. But there are a few instances of women's national teams playing u16 or u15 boys teams. The most recent I can find (which looks legitimate) is the Brazil national team (ranked top 10 in world?) lost to a Gremio (Brazil 2nd Division) U16 team, 6-0 and it was 30 min per half. This was January 2021 so relatively recently although I appreciate things move on.

Reflecting on the game, Brazil women's coach Pia Sundhage said: "This training game was important for several reasons, firstly, due to the challenge of playing speed in this male category, they are very fast.

"When we play in front of big teams, which are very fast, we will have this type of challenge.

"The game was also important for us to evaluate the players individually, we had some situations of one against one, protection of the ball, and how to react quickly in these situations. It is a good way to improve and be ready for the great challenges of 2021."

 

[Bry Nylon]

There is no way to prove this currently so its just a matter of opinion. In my view if a WSL team played a League 2 men's team they would lose heavily. If they played Horsham (Isthmian Premier - I have seen a few times last season), Horsham would also win. I think you are looking at County League for a competitive match. I would be interested in any other opinions though.

But why would / should they even do this? And what point are you trying to prove? Nobody suggests Emma Raducanu should play Camron Norrie or Andy Murray in an attempt to calibrate her position in the world rankings or justify her right to play tennis. She plays against other women. Just like women footballers play against other women footballers. Why is that so hard for some people to understand, without constantly trying to find some sort of equivalence with the men's game?

I'll drop an email to the IOC and let them know they can cancel the women's track and field events for the next Olympics in Paris because I've done some research on Google and my preliminary findings suggest that if they competed in mixed gender events, the chaps would probably win. Hopefully this is moving sport more in a direction that you will be happy with.

'sake.

 

[Swansman]

WSL attendances are falling aren't they? I am not sure whether actual participation figures are going up (I suspect they are). The fundamental problem here is that to many people (not all), the WSL is an inferior standard and 'product' to all of men's professional football. This may not be the case for ever, or it might be. There is a limit to the amount of live football people will pay to watch and most people (not all) want to watch a decent standard. Having said all that, Mr Bloom pays the bills and he can spend his money how he likes and everyone should be encouraged to participate in sport but they can't all expect people to pay to watch them.

And League Two is an inferior standard to Premier League but that didn't stop you from watching Brighton rather than going to see Manchester United in the 90s, did it? And people still watch non-league football despite the Portuguese or Danish league being a lot better.

county league could be about right

If you put the england national team in league two , they may have a chance of staying up but suspect relegated

the new signing looks fit though so good luck to them

They would be destroyed with 20 or 30 goals every week.

The Swedish national team, particularly under Pia Sundhage but also later, play against a few boys team every year when they want to practice defending and facing stronger opposition. When the boys reach 17+ it becomes impossible for the women to compete, regardless of the quality in each team. It is just the biological reality.

The quality of football doesn't decide the entertainment level or the number attending... that is all a matter of culture/football culture. Like I said before, if only the best possible football was "good enough" to be watched then Brighton & Hove Albion would have been dead and buried a 100 years ago.

 

[dazzer6666]

WSL attendances are falling aren't they? I am not sure whether actual participation figures are going up (I suspect they are). The fundamental problem here is that to many people (not all), the WSL is an inferior standard and 'product' to all of men's professional football. This may not be the case for ever, or it might be. There is a limit to the amount of live football people will pay to watch and most people (not all) want to watch a decent standard. Having said all that, Mr Bloom pays the bills and he can spend his money how he likes and everyone should be encouraged to participate in sport but they can't all expect people to pay to watch them.

What is the ‘fundamental problem’ exactly ? Also not even sure it’s an inferior product at all as a branch of the sport in it’s own right. Players are technically good at WSL and championship level (and improving rapidly), there is virtually no playacting, injury-feigning or other timewasting, no surrounding of the ref red-faced, screaming obscenities and dribbling with rage, and no need for fan segregation because there is no violence or abuse. The continual comparison with mens football from a ‘they’d get beaten by a conference team’ is bollocks - that’s the case with most sports. I enjoy PL, non league and womens football for what each of them are.

 

[dazzer6666]

I went to the end of season awards and there was a very strange atmosphere amongst the womens team, something was not right. One of the team was on our table and she chatting openly about how she was on her way elswhere.

Quite common in the women’ game……only now starting to see more 2 year contracts, most are only on season-long deals. Every summer is a big game of musical chairs.

 

[Badger Boy]

Quite common in the women’ game……only now starting to see more 2 year contracts, most are only on season-long deals. Every summer is a big game of musical chairs.

I think this is partly why I'm so surprised by this summer. Is name recognition our problem? The ladies team has their own training facilities and the investment in the female game at our club seems to me to be at least in line with what other clubs are offering. Is the issue we're having keeping and attracting players because players would prefer to play for the biggest club?

 

[JBizzle]

There is no way to prove this currently so its just a matter of opinion. In my view if a WSL team played a League 2 men's team they would lose heavily. If they played Horsham (Isthmian Premier - I have seen a few times last season), Horsham would also win. I think you are looking at County League for a competitive match. I would be interested in any other opinions though.

I'm talking about quality of football, not whether one would beat another. The greater physicality of men's teams will likely mean that a League Two team could beat a WSL team, sure, but my point is that the quality of football is poor to watch. I've found the women's Euro's really entertaining, I struggle to get much from Bradford v Crawley.

Of course though, all about opinions

 

[Brovion]

But why would / should they even do this? And what point are you trying to prove? Nobody suggests Emma Raducanu should play Camron Norrie or Andy Murray in an attempt to calibrate her position in the world rankings or justify her right to play tennis. She plays against other women. Just like women footballers play against other women footballers. Why is that so hard for some people to understand, without constantly trying to find some sort of equivalence with the men's game?

I'll drop an email to the IOC and let them know they can cancel the women's track and field events for the next Olympics in Paris because I've done some research on Google and my preliminary findings suggest that if they competed in mixed gender events, the chaps would probably win. Hopefully this is moving sport more in a direction that you will be happy with.

'sake.

I agree, however it's not helped when the Guardian run articles such as "Ellen White is one goal from Rooney's record - and fully his equal" - https://www.theguardian.com/football/2022/jul/13/ellen-white-wayne-rooney-england-record-equal

I know it's just standard Guardian clickbait as White herself says they can't be compared. It's a bit like saying that neither of them are as good as Jimmy Anderson as he has more Test wickets for England than both of their goal totals combined.

 

[The_Viper]

Mental turnover of players in the squad after our best ever finish. Doesn't inspire much confidence really, feels like its very much a backwards step. I suspect relegation from the WSL is a MASSIVE blow for most women's teams, making relegation to the Championship seem trivial in comparison. Would be very odd to see the amount of work put in to promote this side of the game be hampered by comedically bad handling on the pitch with half our squad gone.