Soccer

[MintJulie]

England vs Spain
6am ET

Who do you like?
I'm going with England. 
I'll be watching live.  It's a Sunday at 6 am.  I told Dan I would not be attending church with he and the girls.

[MintJulie]

90 minutes.  Spain 1, England 0
+13 minutes

[staci]

La Roja wins the World Cup.

[ObiDongKenobi]

Shame that England lost but Spain were the better team.

[Hilda]

Shame that England lost but Spain were the better team.

I was watching BBC/ITV coverage of the final, and the pre-match build up led me to expect more from the English team. Apart from the defeat by Japan, I think the Spanish team played skillful, positive football and deserved to win. They were a delight to watch.

It's been four years since I followed a sports event. I've lost interest in sport and the only thing that holds my attention is women's soccer. I had major difficulty deciphering the commentaries by former England soccer greats. They kept repeating "press" and "quality" and other words the meaning of which I could guess, but couldn’t understand when and why they'd acquired buzz-word status. And I really, truly, find it difficult to understand the dreadful nasal accent that I don't remember hearing when I was living in the UK.

I'm now working my way back through recordings of the early games in the competition, and marvelling at how much places like Dunedin have changed since I was last there. I remember it as a sleepy rustic town that could have been transplanted from Scotland. Now it has a huge stadium capable of hosting major tournaments.

[Colin Piper]

Australia went nuts, and we had England, Ireland and New Zealand interests too, but despite the disappointment for Australia and then England, well done to Spain - I agree they were the better team and deserve all their success.

[MissBarbara]

Look who's sitting at the top of the Premier League Table:




Yes, I know...

[Hoss]

Look who's sitting at the top of the Premier League Table:




Yes, I know...

Obviously their new "Aussie" Manager is doing something right....early days though..

[aussierules]

There! I fixed it for you!

[ObiDongKenobi]

 

[Hilda]

Watching the Women's World Cup 2023 games on BBC and ITV, I heard some commentators remark that women's soccer had come a long way (true), and women had been banned from soccer until the 1970s (not true). Perhaps it would be more accurate to say that professional women's soccer wasn't recognized until the 1970s, at least in the UK.

Here are a couple of photographs that dropped into my mailbox this morning, courtesy of the Derbyshire Record Office.



Bolsover Jam Factory Ladies Football Team, May 1917



Trent Motor Traction Bus Company Ladies Football Team, c. 1945.

[ObiDongKenobi]

From Wikipaedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women%27s_football_in_England)

The 1920s saw the re-emergence of unsubstantiated theories which contended that football threatened women's health and morality.[23][10] In 1921, the Football Association banned all women's teams from playing on Association-affiliated grounds, arguing that the game is "not fitted for females", citing the high costs of player expenses, and alleging financial corruption.[10][25] Dick, Kerr's player Alice Barlow recounted how women players disputed these rulings, explaining that "we could only put it down to jealousy. We were more popular than the men and our bigger gates were for charity".[19] While a handful of teams, like Dick, Kerr's, found alternative venues, the FA's decision saw most women's teams disband and reduced spectator numbers for the few who remained.[13]

For several decades, this decision meant that professional women's football virtually ceased to exist. Women developed their own amateur leagues, such as the English Ladies' Football Association (ELFA) which incorporated 57 teams, however these leagues drew in far smaller crowds and funding remained limited.[23][16] In the context of widespread popular interest in the game following England's men's 1966 World Cup triumph, the Women's Football Association was established in 1969 which oversaw the creation of a women's England and premier league team.[23][26] It would take a further two years – and an order from UEFA – to force the (men's) Football Association to remove its restrictions on the playing rights of women's teams.[27] In the same year, the Mitre Challenge Trophy was created as the first national cup competition for women's teams in England, a competition which would eventually morph into the FA Women's Cup.[28] Although the Women's Football Association did much to advance the game, taking an English team to the European Championship Final in 1984, insufficient funds continued to stunt growth at a grassroots level.[26]

[Pornhubby]

Trent Motor Traction Bus Company Ladies Football Team, c. 1945.

Love? I always look for subtle hints.

[Pornhubby]

New topic created and moved over to general discussion since nothing about it has anything to do with football a/k/a soccer.

[MissBarbara]

They picked up four points vs. Arsenal and Liverpool, and they're now one point shy of the top of the table:





COYS!

[ObiDongKenobi]

Meanwhile Chelsea are starting this season as dismally as they finished their last, all the while giving more seats over to corporate free-loaders at the expense of regular fans. 

[MissBarbara]

Meanwhile Chelsea are starting this season as dismally as they finished their last, all the while giving more seats over to corporate free-loaders at the expense of regular fans. 

That's karma for getting rid of Azpilicueta.

[ObiDongKenobi]

I'm one of "Dave's" greatest fans but he was past his best.  I can't see the logic of letting Kovacic go, if Guardiola sees good in a player........

[Dirtymind]

Meanwhile Chelsea are starting this season as dismally as they finished their last, all the while giving more seats over to corporate free-loaders at the expense of regular fans. 

That's karma for getting rid of Azpilicueta.

It blows my mind that a club like Chelsea given it's history with Winston Bogarde, would put themselves into a even worse position.  The wages in the Premiership is of the highest in the world.  Now they give 7 or 8 year contracts to the majority of the squad.  There's no way they will be able to shift anyone when this backfires.

[ObiDongKenobi]

There is no one at the club (apart from fans) who remember Winston Bogarde.  The long contracts are a ruse to get round the Financial Fair Play rules and restrictions.