[Albion] Reports on Brighton Womens defeat to Bristol City in the Womens Super League

[Bry Nylon]

Englands women could win the World Cup, but it wouldn't make a blind bit of difference in terms of getting me to Crawley to see the womens BHA team. I've no objection to their existence, there are many many positives that come along with it community-wise, I see no reason why they shouldn't be fully supported by the club.

But I simply do not give a shit about their results. I have no emotional investment in them, no interest at all I'm afraid. I can't get past my indifference towards them or womens football as a whole. I'd no sooner watch it as I would...rowing.

Granted, it's taken a few days, but you're getting right into your stride with regard to this whole @alfiesgrandad gig.

 

[Milano]

There's a local stadium near Preston Park that could host football...............

Personally I have no interest in the women's game and would not pay to watch it. However if someone else has then fine, live and let live.
There's far too much "right" and "wrong" on this forum now, less and less debate.

 

[Da Man Clay]

What was the attendance for the U23 sides game against Man City at the same venue out of curiosity?

I would be surprised if in the not too distant future we’ll have the U23s and Women’s team sharing a purpose built home ground.

 

[hart's shirt]

You are not comparing apples with apples here. You need to compare attendances with clubs in the men's league with similar finances not with the men's premier league riches.

To be fair, I also included Reading who aren't in the Premier League. The men's home game against Sheffield Wednesday had 14,352 attending.

The women had 464 (3.23%).

One would have to drop further down the men's football pyramid (Tier 6 - National League North and South, or still lower) for similar attendances.

Yes, there is some possibility for change, but a cursory look at the States would show that it's still a poorly attended spectator sport.

 

[Giraffe]

The crowd for BHA's first ever game at the top level was just 342.

Seriously? Was that it? After all the marketing and promoting, the constant emails about tickets and providing travel to get and only 342 turned up. If you discount family and friends that really does suggest that no one is interested at all, or at least not enough to spend the time and money watching it.

 

[hart's shirt]

Tier 6 of the mens game may have the same finances compared to the women? If that is the case how can it be poorly followed? It would be the same as the men's equivalent.

The point I'm making is about attendances, not finances.

The top level of the women's game for the Albion at least currently has a comparable spectator base with that of Tier 6 men's or lower.

 

[McTavish]

Who really cares? Judging by the amount of replies on this thread nobody does.

There is a difference between respecting the women's league/players, and pointing out that it seems nobody cares.

But I simply do not give a shit about their results. I have no emotional investment in them, no interest at all I'm afraid. I can't get past my indifference towards them or womens football as a whole. I'd no sooner watch it as I would...rowing.

I really don't understand why people who have no interest in women's football would open a thread that is clearly about women's football to say that they have no interest in women's football.

There are plenty of threads about Sussex cricket, relatively few people go to see County Championship matches and yet these aren't infested by people saying "who cares about the County Championship".

Any one have any ideas?

 

[Easy 10]

Granted, it's taken a few days, but you're getting right into your stride with regard to this whole @alfiesgrandad gig.

I've been a miserable curmudgeonly ******* for years Bry. Grandad status will just enable me to take it to a whole new level

 

[Easy 10]

I really don't understand why people who have no interest in women's football would open a thread that is clearly about women's football to say that they have no interest in women's football.

There are plenty of threads about Sussex cricket, relatively few people go to see County Championship matches and yet these aren't infested by people saying "who cares about the County Championship".

Any one have any ideas?

Hmm. Lets think. *scratches chin*

Ahh, I know. Its a messageboard. Messageboards = debate. If nobody on here was debating the subject, then this thread would already have died on its arse and be well on its way down to Page 2 by now. You can still learn something from opening a thread you may not have any immediate interest in. For instance, I had no idea that the attendance for this game was a miserable 342. I found myself agreeing with some of the posts, then noticed something I disagreed with, quoted it, and gave my own personal viewpoint.

I honestly thought thats how these things worked on here, but turns out I've been doing it wrong all these years. Who knew ?

 

[Bry Nylon]

Out of interest, what sort of average gates did the women's team get when they played home fixtures at Culver Road?

 

[Knocky's Nose]

Fair play to women who play football. Good on them. There's no reason on this planet for them not to have leagues, super leagues and world cups. None whatsoever. However, I am also in the 'don't really give a shit' camp - and I get a bit jazzed off when I excitedly open official emails from BHAFC promoting "Brighton v Bristol" and thinking "Eh? When's that then - and how/why??" only to find out it's WSL.

Valid point about Women's Tennis previously. This is a sport which has taken decades to mature to the point where the stars are serious earners and they can pack out a stadium. Maybe Women's football will be the same? For now, though - it's in its infancy, and not many people care. Fact.

Would I go to a game? - No. Have I watched a game on the telly? - Maybe for 5 minutes to casually see if any hotties were playing (at least I'm honest, even if I'm a sexist pig in everyones eyes). Do I think WSL will catch on? - I think that women will be the driver of that. If women really get behind the sport and actually attend games, that will be the thing which creates revenue. As long as Men have Mens football, they'll watch Mens football. Why wouldn't they? (cue the reply, "unless they were Palace fans")

Right... I'm ready for flaming. I'm coated in Barbecue Sauce.....

 

[McTavish]

Hmm. Lets think. *scratches chin*

Ahh, I know. Its a messageboard. Messageboards = debate. If nobody on here was debating the subject, then this thread would already have died on its arse and be well on its way down to Page 2 by now. You can still learn something from opening a thread you may not have any immediate interest in. For instance, I had no idea that the attendance for this game was a miserable 342. I found myself agreeing with some of the posts, then noticed something I disagreed with, quoted it, and gave my own personal viewpoint.

I honestly thought thats how these things worked on here, but turns out I've been doing it wrong all these years. Who knew ?

But this wasn't started as a thread about the pros or cons of women's football, it was essentially a match report but you have opened it and said: "But I simply do not give a shit about their results. I have no emotional investment in them, no interest at all I'm afraid. I can't get past my indifference towards them or womens football as a whole. I'd no sooner watch it as I would...rowing."

if someone commented on the current Sussex vs Durham thread and said the same (and the County Championship often has attendances in the hundreds rather than the thousands), wouldn't you think that was a rather peculiar thing to do?

 

[Da Man Clay]

I know. But you can not compare the women's attendances with top flight men's attendances. For a fair comparison you need to compare tiers with similar finances. Your comparison is not valid.

The WSL will have more finances, in both marketing, and player salary than the vast majority of those in Tier 6 of the men’s league. The comparison is certainly valid if you’re only going for financial.

 

[Da Man Clay]

I do not know the finances of either close enough. We will probably have to wait until the end of the year to find out the current women's ones anyway. But we should endevour to compare like for like.

In order to be fullly professional for the women it’s got to be a reasonable wage. That said one of our players who is a police officer decided to stay in the service as women’s football wasn’t going to be paid enough in comparison. Either way fully professional is going to be more than the couple of hundred quid a week (at best for most) for National League North/South players

 

[Bry Nylon]

But this wasn't started as a thread about the pros or cons of women's football, it was essentially a match report but you have opened it and said: "But I simply do not give a shit about their results. I have no emotional investment in them, no interest at all I'm afraid. I can't get past my indifference towards them or womens football as a whole. I'd no sooner watch it as I would...rowing."

if someone commented on the current Sussex vs Durham thread and said the same (and the County Championship often has attendances in the hundreds rather than the thousands), wouldn't you think that was a rather peculiar thing to do?

I think you're missing the context a bit. The thread was started as a match report and was dying a slow death with 1 reply all day. The kind of thread that tends to slide into oblivion within a day. But then mid-evening it started attracting a few posts to it and was bumping around the top of the board, so it was fairly clear it had moved on from being a match report. Especially when you see Simster, TLO and Hart's Shirt amongst others are getting involved. At that point, it's worth a click to see what's going on or just have quiet chuckle. Especially on a dull Wednesday night.

Inspite of the title, apart from a couple of early posts, this thread is nothing to do with the actual match report itself but about the broader issue of interest in women's football at present.

 

[Easy 10]

But this wasn't started as a thread about the pros or cons of women's football, it was essentially a match report but you have opened it and said: "But I simply do not give a shit about their results. I have no emotional investment in them, no interest at all I'm afraid. I can't get past my indifference towards them or womens football as a whole. I'd no sooner watch it as I would...rowing."

if someone commented on the current Sussex vs Durham thread and said the same (and the County Championship often has attendances in the hundreds rather than the thousands), wouldn't you think that was a rather peculiar thing to do?

Not particularly, no. I joined in a conversation that had started on this thread about womens football in general. People who wanted to read the match reports no doubt did so, doesn't mean we should all keep schtum about everything else does it ? If someone wanted to discuss the reasons for poor attendances in county cricket, in amongst a thread about county cricket, then I wouldn't see a problem with that either. Is there a rule about it ?

I didn't just come into this thread, say "I don't give a shit about womens football", and ponce off again. I noticed something I disagreed with, and *shock horror* replied to it, with my reasons, in amongst the ongoing debate on here. Not that I should need to justify that to the NSC Gestapo. Bloody hell.

 

[hart's shirt]

I know. But you can not compare the women's attendances with top flight men's attendances. For a fair comparison you need to compare tiers with similar finances. Your comparison is not valid.

It's fundamentally not to do with finances. It's not about how rich or not clubs are.

Albion's WSL 10 match season ticket prices were the following: £45 Adult, £35 Over 65s / Under 21s, £30 Under 18s, £10 Under 10.

At less than a fiver a match top whack and a quid for the little ones, it's affordable for most if not all. Nothing there to price supporters out.

But 376 attended the Albion v Bristol City women's match compared with 30,526 for Albion v Fulham. (BBC stats)

The question is...why? It's not as if there isn't an Albion-supporting ready-made client base to be tapped into.

As posted earlier, Portland Thorns excepted, the numbers watching women's soccer in the USA are still very low, despite media and success..

Will the Albion attendance increase next game? I hope so, but let's see. I'm just looking at the numbers!

 

[Bry Nylon]

Not particularly, no. I joined in a conversation that had started on this thread about womens football in general. People who wanted to read the match reports no doubt did so, doesn't mean we should all keep schtum about everything else does it ? If someone wanted to discuss the reasons for poor attendances in county cricket, in amongst a thread about county cricket, then I wouldn't see a problem with that either. Is there a rule about it ?

I didn't just come into this thread, say "I don't give a shit about womens football", and ponce off again. I noticed something I disagreed with, and *shock horror* replied to it, with my reasons, in amongst the ongoing debate on here. Not that I should need to justify that to the NSC Gestapo. Bloody hell.

Did you used to run a pub?

 

[hart's shirt]

I completely disagree. If you follow your logic why are Lewes men getting lower attendences than Brighton? Their tickets are cheaper!
The Brighton v Fulham game sold more tickets because it has a HUGE amount of money pumped into it over decades. The women's game has had nothing close to that, so it will not be comparable to the top flight in men's football!
To determine if women's football is "working" or "interesting" we need to compare like for like.
Currently the bottom end of attendances in league 2 are 2-3k. The women's numbers are not too far off that.

Total attendance over all 5 WSL matches = 5,117. Average match attendance = 1,023.

Most teams are still way off the 2-3k - the outlier was the Chelsea v City match which accounted for half.

Bottom of Division 2, Notts County, had 6,049 at home to Forest Green. They're an exception perhaps, but even so.

21 of the 24 Division 2 teams have over 2,500 average attendance - Macclesfield, Crawley and Morecambe fell below.

https://www.footballwebpages.co.uk/league-two/attendances;jsessionid=E2D1F9C3C982A50CDB4E0E27095845E3

Tier 6, National League South - 19 teams have a higher average attendance than Albion Women's.

Only East Thurrock United (331), Hungerford (293) and Truro City (220) are lower.

https://www.footballwebpages.co.uk/national-league-south/attendances

The question of why the attendance numbers are so low still needs a satisfactory answer, even if it doesn't fit the desired narrative.

Let's hope numbers at Crawley increase for the next game.

 

[AZ Gull]

What was the attendance for the U23 sides game against Man City at the same venue out of curiosity?

I would be surprised if in the not too distant future we’ll have the U23s and Women’s team sharing a purpose built home ground.

The attendance at the U-23s v Man City game at Broadfield Stadium was 366.

However, it should be noted that the club didn't lay on free travel from "..locations across the south coast and from the Amex." - FREE CRAWLEY BUS TRAVEL