What a week it’s been, so much has happened and therefore this week’s blog will be very different. We will be looking at the FA Cup draw, look over what happened this past Sunday regarding the called off match against Bristol and look ahead to this week’s North London Derby against Arsenal.
Monday January 27th 2020 saw the Women’s FA Cup 5th round take place and the draw saw our Tottenham ladies drawn away to Coventry United and would take place on Sunday 16th February at Butt Park Arena.
Tottenham later announced that the match originally scheduled for Sunday 16th would be moved to the Monday 17th February with a 19:45 kick off time which may upset some Tottenham fans as this change in schedule may make it difficult for some to make the away match. Hopefully our Lilywhites will continue in the FA Cup and we as fans will get a chance to see the team in the next round as we continue our journey in fulfilling the dream of FA Cup glory under the Wembley arch.
This past Sunday saw Tottenham’s home match against Bristol City called off. I was at home in North London 5 minutes from leaving for the Hive when my phone started buzzing continuously and that’s when I first heard the news that the game versus Bristol had been called off .
To be honest we were all disappointed that the game has been called off. My household enjoy going down to the Hive to cheer on these inspirational women so for us it was strange feeling that there was no game at the ground or an away match on the FA Player and being the first cancelled Tottenham match of the season it made it feel more strange that we wouldn’t be watching the women’s team.
This brings me to this issue of matches being called off, with the exception of Arsenal, Brighton and Manchester City every other WSL team has had at least one game called off. Birmingham have 3 games less than everyone else, Liverpool, Bristol, Everton, Manchester United and West Ham all have 2 games less while Chelsea, Reading and our Lilywhites all have 1 game less.
Women’s soccer/football abroad.
So why is this happening? Should women’s teams play in better prepared stadiums? Should women’s teams play in the home stadium of the men’s team? I guess this is a discussion that can go on and on and everyone will have their own reasons as to why the women’s teams should and shouldn’t play in the mens teams stadium.
I follow the NWSL and my team in the states are the Orlando Pride. I used to support Western New York Flash but in 2016 it was announced that the Flash were bought and would be relocated to North Carolina and become the North Carolina Courage. In their final year the the Western New York Flash they went on to win their only NWSL championship in a fairytale ending. I was left with no team to support since all my family are New Yorkers I wanted to support my local team. Some of my New York family moved to Orlando Florida and in 2016 the Orlando Pride were formed and came into the NWSL. For me personally it felt like a sign that this was the team I know I had to support and even though we have had a lot of downs I am still a very proud fan of Orlando Pride and know better times will come.
The NWSL currently consists of teams after Boston folded in 2018, a expansion to the league is expected in the coming years more teams are due to be added to the league in the coming years. The point here is that NWSL teams that have a men’s team will stadium share with the men. My beloved Orlando Pride play at the Exploria Stadium home of Orlando City SC, Sky Blue play at the Red Bull Arena home of the New York Red bulls, Portland Thorns play at Providence Park home of the Portland Timbers and there are more teams that share with the men’s team.
Can a women’s team sell tickets In a men’s staidum?
One concern teams may have and even fan is can a women’s team sell tickets in a men’s stadium? If you look at the NWSL the Portland Thorns were averaging 20,098 fans, Utah Royals were averaging 10,744 and Washington Spirit were averaging 6,105 fans . A full list of attendance figures for 2019 can be found below.
So would this work in England? Can these figures be achieved in the WSL? MOST DEFINITELY we have already seen teams break attendance records over and over this season for example West Ham hosted Tottenham women at the London stadium and saw 24,790 fans attend, Manchester City women hosted Manchester United women at the Etihad and saw 31,213 fan attend that match, Liverpool women hosted Everton women at Anfield to an attendance of 23,500 and two hours later Tottenham women hosted Arsenal women at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and smashed all previous WSL records with an attendance of 38,262 coming out to see these two women’s team play and let’s not forget the 77,768 fans attended the Lionesses match against Germany at Wembley stadium in November 2019 so these figure can clearly be achieved.
Why is attendance outside of men’s stadiums low?
In October 2019 Tottenham managed to get 38,262 fans through the door for the game in Tottenham but can barely get a 1,000 attendance at the Hive so what is the problem? I think a lot comes down to marketing and the location of where many women’s teams are playing. The distance from the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium to the Hive is approximately 13 miles. Depending on traffic that’s approximately 35 minutes by car HOWEVER if one doesn’t drive you are looking at a 1 hour 30 train journey which I believe puts off many fans as it can turn into a round-trip of 3+ hours. I believe if teams are not going to play all matches at the men’s stadium then then to follow in the footsteps of Manchester City and their Academy stadium. Tottenham have a brand new staidum and like City could have built a stadium for their academy teams and women’s team or even have staidum at Hotspur way similar to what Barcelona’s women’s team have with the Johan Cruyff Stadium at the Ciutat Esportiva Joan Gamper which is the location of FC Barcelona’s training facility.
Things will always happen but to see a WSL game called off due to a waterlogged or frozen pitch is becoming too common and should be happening rarely if not at all. The standard in the women’s game needs to go up. Things are improving in the women’s game but at the moment it’s at a slow rate. People often tell me investment, interest and development in the women’s game is due to the women’s game is too slow, or the standard not being as good as in the mens game, or because female goalkeepers are rubbish and more rubbish excuses that result in low investment, low ticket prices and a low wage for female players. I follow the men’s game too and I’ve seen some outstanding goalkeeping by male goalkeepers, I’ve seen some fast paced end to end high scoring men’s games BUT I have also seen some shocking goalkeeping by male keepers and some truly dull big matches such as Liverpool v United, Barcelona v Madrid, Inter v Milan. A high quality game can come at any division and any category. Just like the men’s game you will see good and bad keepers, exciting and dull matches, those that say to me that the women’s game is dull I always recommend to watch the 2017 Tournament Of Nations match between the USA and Brazil and then to tell me that the women’s game is dull and not exciting. That game had it all, goalkeeping errors, drama, end to end energy and comebacks.
You don’t even need to look at the World Champions to see games of this level, our Lilywhites have been involved in some dramatic matches this season most recently Tottenham’s home game to West Ham at the Hive had it all missed chances, end to end attacks, a late equaliser and a deep in injury winner.
Even though it is fact that these pathetic excuses are to blame for a slow rate development in the women’s game I feel clubs need to do their part to encouraging fans to attend the women’s game. The 2019 World Cup certainly highlighted the game and the fear many had was will the interest still be there after the World Cup. Games that have taken place in big stadiums suggest yes the interest is there so what is happening when games take place as smaller grounds. I can only talk about Tottenham and the Hive and in my experience it can be a pain at times to get to the ground from the Enfield – Tottenham area but I still make it down on Sunday’s because I am a Tottenham Women’s team fan and in general a fan of the women’s game but for someone who is not into the women’s game a 3+ hours round trip can be too much of a headache for some.
I remember a few years back before Barcelona’s women’s moved to the Johan Cryuff Stadium the Women’s game would take place around an hour after the men’s game finished. So fans could watch Barcelona at the Nou Camp and walk over the road afterwards and watch the Women’s team at the Mini Stadium and tickets for the women’s game were included in a men’s match day ticket. Those who just wanted to watch the women play could purchase tickets for a couple of Euro. I felt playing an hour after the men in a stadium next door made it much easier for fans to support both teams. I remember talking to a group of Barcelona fans when I went to see Barcelona in London in the Champions League last year and I asked how they got into the women’s game and they told me that they would go over to the Mini Estadi after a men’s game to let traffic ease up as Barcelona can get very congested after a game. After a while it became more than just an escape from traffic and they started to learn the players names and follow the women’s team and have the passion that they would across the road at the Camp Nou and even began to turn these matches into family days out.
Interest for the women’s game grew with each home game and I feel this was good marketing by Barcelona and last year it saw the Mini Estadi sell out over 15,000 tickets for the Women’s Champions League semi final between Barcelona and Bayern Munich which saw Barcelona women’s reach their first ever Women’s Champion’s League Final. my conclusion is that “parent” clubs need to market the women’s game better and need to help develop the women’s game. The WSL is now 100% professional so that is an amazing step forward we just need clubs to invest a little more into their women’s teams, market games better and NOT have women’s teams play so far away from where getting to and from stadiums becomes difficult for some fans meaning the women’s team suffers. This is only Tottenham women’s first season in the WSL and hopefully there will be many more happy years to come, so therefore I give Tottenham as a club the benefit of the doubt for now and hope in the coming years we see more investment into the women’s team #COYSW
North London Derby part 2.
This Sunday 9th February see’s our Spurs women travel away to Meadow Park. I have just seen at the time of writing this that all tickets are sold for this match.
This is good news for the women’s game but I feel this game should have been moved to the Emirates. Meadow Park only has a capacity of 4,500 (1,700 seated) and after the success of the game back in October at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium where 38,262 it would have made sense for Arsenal to host this game at their men’s stadium especially since the men’s team is on winter break this weekend. I’ll be honest when I found out the game wasn’t being hosted at the Emirates I was disappointed I think it would have been a memorable occasion for both sets of players and for the fans as well, but hopefully if we remain in the WSL next year’s return game will be held at the Emirates Stadium instead of Meadow Park.
So let’s look at this week’s North London Derby, the last time these two teams met it was back in October where Arsenal came out 0-2 winners HOWEVER it really should have been a different story. Tottenham started off the stronger team and should have been at least 2 up at half time with the clearest chance coming to Kit Graham when she found herself 1 on 1 with Manuela Zinsberger who held her nerves to keep Arsenal in the game. The second half saw Tottenham again come out stronger against the WSL Champions but in the 66th minute an unstoppable shot by Beth Little beat Becky Spencer and gave the visitors a undeserved lead but Tottenham kept looking for the equaliser pushing back the champions but in the 82nd minute tiredness cost our Lilywhites the game when a mix up in defence gifted Vivianne Miedema the ball to score Arsenal’s 2nd goal and give them the 3 points.
Personally I feel Tottenham should have taken something from that game every fan should have been proud that we had locked horns and went toe to toe with the WSL champions in our first year as professionals. So what can Tottenham have taken from that game to adapt into this Sunday’s game? Well I think the most obvious answer is to be more clinical in front of goal. Had we been more clinical we would have taken those 3 points back in November so now we must go to Meadow Park and be clinical in front of goal and not give Arsenal any chances and not make any mistakes like what lead to Arsenal’s 2nd goal. Not having Rachel Furness will most certainly be noticed on Sunday. Furness was a fighter and was scrappy in midfield and was involved in winning many of the balls in midfield but we have been adapting to life after Furness and I think that either Ria Percival or Coral Jade-Haines in that position gives the Tottenham midfield a much needed toughness. Arsenal have had a tough couple of games facing City in the Conti Cup semi finals and then in the League while our Lilywhites match against Bristol was called off due to a waterlogged pitch so in theory Tottenham should be fresher. I think it’ll be a tough game, Arsenal are not unbeatable and we have shown that we can roll with the best of them, the key will be down to who takes their chances on the day.
Prediction.
As much as I have faith in Tottenham, I think Arsenal will snatch it 2-1.
Next Home Match.
Tottenhams next home match will be against Everton women under the lights on Wednesday 12th Febuary 2020 with a 19:30 Kick-off.
Tickets for the game are priced at £6.50 for adults and £3.50 concession and can be purchased over at tottenhamhotspur.com/wsl for a discount rate.
Women's Soccer Fans 