The women’s game has definitely grown over the years, but I wonder if there’s no real correlation between the promotional side of the game and the actual interest in it?
Because almost every person (including women) that I have spoken with that follows the men’s game with a passion, knows next to nothing about women’s football. Even Arsenal Ladies when it came to Arsenal fans.
The fact women have so much more opportunities to play sport, and it be promoted and taken seriously, is fantastic! I am a huge advocate of health and wellness, and good mental health, with sport being a great way of improving this. So it’s wonderful that women get to enjoy sport just as much as men these days.
I enjoy watching many women’s sports, especially tennis, and most things at the Olympics, but I just do not enjoy women’s football, despite it being my favourite sport to watch and play in. I have tried to follow it, but I just cannot get into it. I have some theories as to why this may be, and does this apply to others as well?
Lack of time
We all know as passionate followers of the mens game, how much time and effort is needed, especially for the fans attending the games in person. Then when Arsenal are not on, and we have the time, we’ll most likely take in another EPL game, or watch some of the big boys from around Europe playing, because we love watching the game, and seeing our rivals lose.
Then when you also take into account family life, your job, other hobbies, it doesn’t leave any time to get into the women’s game.
Quality of the product
I hate using the word “product” when describing football or worse, fans being referred to as “customers”, but there are two versions of the “product” known as football – the male version and the female version.
In all sports, men are quicker, more powerful and more aggressive, which does make for a better spectacle. It’s just a biological issue, and nothing women can do about that. Despite that, most women’s sports are still enjoyable because the standard of the product is great.
With women’s football however, I find the standard of play not so great. Given the amount of years it’s been around, and the uptake in exposure, it’s surprising how amateurish it still looks. Especially the keepers. They are shocking! Even worse when you think that the ball is moving a lot slower in comparison to shooting in the men’s game.
So when you have such disparities between the male and female product of football, one naturally gravitates towards the better product. This isn’t just a male issue as well, because I know plenty of female fans who choose the men’s game over the womens version, especially now that football has become more inclusive and family orientated.
Lack of interest in general
Justarsenal admin will be able to answer this better than me, but I rarely see many, if any, comments on Arsenal Ladies articles, and not just on here. It’s the same case across every Arsenal blog I’ve ever seen, and some do not even have a ladies section.
So how many of you actually follow the women’s game or Arsenal Ladies? If not, why? Will you ever have an interest in it?
I don’t mean being able to name the odd player, or just watching the odd final, I mean regularly watching full games/highlights, being able to name at least 16 Arsenal ladies, and players from other teams. Knowing upcoming fixtures, the league table, etc.
As I said at the beginning, women’s football has my full support, and I am not belittling it in any way. I am just curious to see what involvement other fans have with women’s football?
Jonbo
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Is just as you said I enjoy female MMA and volleyball because I find it interesting (female athletics is too)but I cannot for the love of me watch Women football it’s boring, watching sometimes I cringe at the plays and goals it’s almost as bad as watching the WNBA
Men generally only watch women sports players who look like TV stars. Women playing beach volleyball or women golfers wearing mini skirts are popular with men. The Arsenal striker Miedema is a superstar but does not have fashon model looks so has no value in the Male viewership. The Willims sisters dominated womens tenniss for 20 years but men were never interested instead preferring the likes of Maria Sharapova or Anna Kournikova the latter never even winning one title but garnering millions of male followers because of her fashion model looks. Almost all women sports players have to wear as little clothing as possible as they know Males want to see as much flesh as possible. On male sports programmes all women presenters have to be drop dead gorgeous. When the cameras pan on the crowd at male sports events they always focus on young attractive women because men want to believe attractive women like their sport. At the boxing, at the NFL games at the F1 presentation the women are always fashion models in skimpy clothing. This is what the male sports watcher demands and is what the programmers provide. Its just how most males roll. Its been like this for 10,000 years and is not going to change any time soon
I love Miedema.
Sad to relate, I identify with all that Jonbo writes in his fine, realistic, though sad to read piece. I guess almost all decent fans everywhere will approve of the huge increase in being able to watch a lot of womens football.
But not that many do by comparison, perhaps outside USA, where it is huger than mens football, for whatever reason.
I can only give my own perspective as a 71 years old. I got into loving football before even the age of six. By age seven I knew all about our Woolwich history and of the thirties glory times courtesy of Grandad and Dad respectively.
At seven I attended more or less regulary all home games and only finally stopped for various reasons, partly related to our club under Wengers last period, though mainly for personal reasons including a massive increase in my love of playing bowls and playing at weekends around five years ago.
THE POINT IS that is is hard in later life to become passionate about something that, til recent times, has not been widely available and had not much figured in my sporting interests.
I hope and pray that much younger fans are able to see things differently but the evidence, at least on JA and in actual attendances, is not positive, as womens articles hardly attract any posts at all, by comparison with the mens game.
In other sports, athletics, tennis, hockey, though NOT cricket, I have at least as much interest in womens as in mens sport.
But in football, rugby , boxing and things where the marked physical disadvantage in the female sex in sheer muscle power, speed and dynamism are MOST obvious, I find it hard to enjoy them at all.
Goalkeepers, as Jonbo says, is by a distance, the MOST OBVIOUS problem women have.
I accept there are inconsistencies in what I write , as athletics too is based on physical power and explosiveness, but I am simply giving MY honest view.
Others, hopefully will see things differently. I do think that, given more time and TV exposure , the womens game will gain ground on the mens game more widely, but it is fair to suggest it has along way to go as yet.
Finally , praise to Jonbo, for such a fine, honest and IMPORTANT article.
I’ve never followed it at all.
It’s not misogyny, it’s just that my interest in sport has always been at the highest level the given sport is played – I never follow anything much about Championship football for the same reasons.
Same with F1 motor racing when I was mildly interested i that (before it became a show rather than a sport) – I never watched or had any interest in, say, F3 or karting.
Women’s sport is simply a less capable version of the men’s sport to my mind, therefore not the highest level at which (almost) any given sport can be played.
I find it ridiculous that women are given the same prize money in tennis. They play fewer sets, there’s less interest in it so the TV money is generated more by the men’s version.
But it’s interesting what it shows tyoo. The number of timjes a woman player does ok in one set, then capitulates 6-0 or 6-1 in the next two… there has to be something different upstairs. Something in the mentality.
I played bridge at quite a high level for a number of years and the game has no physical advantage for men over women, so you’d expect the top players in the game to be roughly equal split men/women. But not so – if you look at the list of top players (and it has a robust rating system), it’s rare to see a single woman in the top 1000. Same is true in chess, which is an individual “mind sport”.
Nobody knows why They used to claim it was because they were hom elooking after the children (but then… weren’t the men out working and travelling all day – and weren’t the kids at school a lot of the woman’s day?)…
That was all debunked when all the equality stuff kicked in. The best theory I’ve seen is that testosterone is known to increase spatial awareness which is essential to the visualisation (of unseen hands, based on information gained) in bridge – but less so in chess where everything is fully disclosed.
So why are women so much less capable at these activities?
I don’t know the answer, but I do know that the top of any sport doesn’t have many – or any – women in it, so that’s why it’s not of interest to me.
There is a modicum of truth in a few parts of your post but the vast majority of it is the male chauvinist drivel.
@SueP
Thank you…
Except that it isn’t chauvinism it’s fact and observation – and I *strongly* resent the accusation. I firmly believe in meritocracy in *everything*.
Are you suggesting that there’s a mainstream sport where the best all-women player/team would beat the best all-male player/team?
Would any team in the top women’s football leagues beat any professional men’s team?
Or, a better question might be… do you believe there are any women who might break into a club first team in the near to middling future?
The Arsenal First Team is not called the Men’s team, the name First Team implies that it’s an Open team so women could play in it if they were seen to be good enough – therefore the very fact of creating a women’s team at all means that no women are expected to play in the Open team(s) any time soon.
But… I’d be just as interested in club first team sports if there were women in it, because it would be the top level of that particular game. That’s the key point which you seem to have missed.
I really don’t care what gender they are, nor do I have to care why things are the way they are, it is what it is – as I took great pains to try to explain, it’s the top level of competition that interests me, gender is not a factor. Sorry if that’s not what you want to hear, but that’s what interests me personally.
You totally missed it
And I mean totally
Women play top level sport according to the physical limits of their bodily structure
Serena Williams is a second rate sportswoman??
Think again
You totally misunderstood *everything* that was written and began flinging insults around.
Serena Williams can be a first-rate sportsWOMAN (i.e. better than most other women at the sport she plays), and she can still be inferior to the men in her sport and therefore what she does is not the best level that tennis can be played BY HUMANS.
Strange that you should mention her – a few years agoi there were twits talking up a game between her and the top men, saying how they thought she had a chance etc. When she was asked about it on air she looked shocked – she said “Me against the men? Are you serious?”.
And she was right – she’d have no chance at all. Her game is inferior dur to the limtations you mentioned and possibly some others.
And that is why *I* prefer to watch those who are best at the sport. Because that is *my* view. *You* are of course free to watch whatever you wish, according to your interests.
I mean if you compare her to The males then she’s second rate in all honesty and many normies want to watch only top quality
👏👏👍👍
P.S. I’m leaving this thread now, this has already got out of hand. I came here to discuss Arsenal/football, not to get into this kind of thing.
I always thought women tennis is superior to men. Because when I want to watch tennis womens is my go to 😅
People who criticise the standard of women football need to stop making the comparison with the mens game and get real. There is no sport other than horse riding and some sailing events where women can complete equally with men.
I’m very impressed with our women team who missed out on the Women’s Super League title by just the one point this last season, but have had plenty of success in past seasons and do Arsenal proud all of the time. They are currently more successful than the mens team but play at non league Boreham Wood before a few thousand supporters, although next season will play at least six games at the Emirates. which hopefully will become a trend.
The Euros are starting this week with Englands game against Austria on Wednesday 6th July. No matches at the Emirates unfortunately, but we are the favourites I believe. Most matches are live and free on TV so enjoy.
I own up to not watching either Arsenal ladies or the women’s game in general
Probably historic as I was brought up with the mens’ game and stuck with that. Hopefully the generations coming along will enjoythe womens’ game as it grows.
Games such as tennis thrive and I think this must come down to it always being part of the world’s sporting life.
What does surprise me is that the pitch size is the same for both men and women although men are much taller and generally beefier. This must affect the choice for goalkeepers who are not much use if only 5’5”. Perhaps a smaller goal would improve things
I posted a reply to my own post above which disappeared, but when I tried to re-post it, it says “Duplicate, you’ve already said that”.
???
That means it has already posted…
Hmmm it still hasn’t appeared.
All it said was that my Dad surprised me by watching the women’s world cup since he doesn’t watch stuff like Championship football, I assumed he was only interested in top level stuff, same as me.
He said he likes it because they play football like it used to be, no gamesmanship, no cheating or rolling around pretending to be injured, no spitting, swearing at the ref etc.
I can see where he’s coming from on that front.
Found it! Got stopped by ny spam filter!
Sometimes, if you make a mistake in your name or email address your post will not appear in the comments and goes into moderation and may or may not appear for hours or even days. So with your very long name even one letter out of place…and you’re dead (or wounded).
Personally for me I wouldn’t watch it and have only watched if they play on a Sunday maybe if it’s on bbc and nothing else is on ,that’s not to say I don’t enjoy woman’s sport as I love watching the ladies golf (brilliant players )and tennis .
Football rugby and cricket not for me but i wouldn’t watch Mens rugby or cricket .
Horses for courses type of a question .
Good article Jonbo, I enjoyed the read and how it made me question myself.
I do actually watch any Arsenal game, including the ladies.
Having two daughters, who my wife and I brought up tp realize they are equal to anyone on the planet, I don’t believe chauvinism comes into this discussion in any shape or form.
I remember standing with them, cheering both the men and women’s open bus celebration and it was the SHIRT that mattered to everyone lining the streets.
Of course Arsenal was founded when women were regarded in quite a different way, but that is part of the history of our club.
Does it really matter about the differences in skill levels, if it’s our club playing?
Winning is so VERY satisfying.
Of course I know more about the men’s team, as their history goes back further and I was brought up watching them – there was no women’s team anywhere back in the 50’s anyway.
Today it is a different situation and a crowd of over 60,000 watched Barcelona women, so give it time.
I enjoy women’s football a lot when I can find it especially national teams. I enjoy it differently I don’t compare it with mens so I find enjoyment in both.
Exactly the point it’s the same but subtlety different
It’s impossible for women to compete physically in most sports bu to consider it inferior is blindness
I coach a girls team at a HS in America. No they aren’t as fast or strong as the boys but they play a much better style of game. In fact when we have scrimmaged the boys the last few seasons we have drawn both times. This is the beautiful game for a reason. There’s more than one way to appreciate it. It doesn’t have to be the biggest and fastest. It’s all about movement and space.
Couldn’t agree more G4L .
I loved the fact that the Women were so keen to learn and didn’t seem to have the ego problems associated with coaching even junior men’s teams.
Its often easier to see tactics and play develop within the Women’s game as it is that bit slower.
Anyway, each to his/her own, i’m lucky I love watching both teams…double the value!
I love it.
Don’t compare it to men’s football
Anyway, we should at least support Arsenal Ladies
Yes.
Coached Women’s football for a long time and enjoy watching the development of the Arsenal Women’s team.
They have some quality players and my interest has been heightened as we now have a couple of Aussies in the team.
Absolutely loved this year with the Arsenal women’s team and was crushed by the first Barcelona CL game.
The quality of the product – From a tactical and sporting perspective, that Barcelona team convinced me that the women’s game has a very high ceiling for entertainment and viewership. Our women’s team is getting closer to that level and, I think, are just a few midfielders and some clear tactical drilling away from a sharper transition from midfield to the final third and back to our defensive shapes.
Lack of interest in general – DAZN’s TV deal to show all champions league games on youtube made it more feasible to actually generate interest. Without TV deals that allow people to watch games, I won’t have interest. We have to see the drama to feel the drama.