Back where we belong. Been a great start to the season. We're competing again.Quote:
Originally Posted by cabbageandribs1875
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Back where we belong. Been a great start to the season. We're competing again.Quote:
Originally Posted by cabbageandribs1875
I see Arsenal beat Rangers 6-0 in Champions League qualifying earlier. Considering Rangers beat Dundee Utd 10-0 at the weekend it just shows the quality of the top women's sides in England. Kim Little scored for Arsenal incidentally.
The gulf is ridiculous and much bigger than ever. Rangers winning a game 10-0 doesn’t show they are improving. The rest are going backwards. Elite womens football in Scotland is going back at a rate of knots due to the SFA investing everything in participation rather than elite development.Quote:
Originally Posted by He's here!
A focus on participation sounds like a sensible strategy.Quote:
Originally Posted by Brightside
Why even try to compete with the OF, now they have decided to invest in their woman's teams, that's game over for the rest.
Why is it a sensible strategy? Ignore the competing with the OF im talking about how you develop the game so as a nation we can compete at major tournaments.Quote:
Originally Posted by superfurryhibby
Shouting about 50000 new participants in kids football is utterly pointless if they can't develop past recreational level. Work has to be done to close the gap with other nations. That only happens through an Elite development strategy. Regional groups, working with the best coaches at least twice a week - away from their club teams. Constant regional and cross border games against much better teams.
I would disagree that 50000 new participants is pointless.Quote:
Originally Posted by Brightside
I question the need to bother trying to compete with the OF.
Is there no regional/representative competition available for young female footballers? That seems lacking. Is there any real evidence that "elite" coaching makes any difference to the footballing outcomes?
Do girls not get the opportunity to attend football performance schools etc?
I think it has to be both.Quote:
Originally Posted by superfurryhibby
Participation is great because it opens up football to all girls regardless of ability and ultimately for the vast majority of people of either sex football is unlikely to ever be any more than a hobby, very few are good enough to do it as a job and even less as a full time job. More participation gives you a bigger pool of players to choose from when looking for elite players too, there is far less chance of someone with immense natural talent slipping through the cracks.
However there has to be a targeted approach to elite development. You can't just say that getting loads of girls playing and promoting some of them beyond their ability to an elite level is a good strategy. It's not the case for boys football and nor should it be for girls. Teams getting beat 10-0 in league games is a terrible look and suggests a huge gulf in the quality of player development (and recruitment) between the top 4 or 5 and the rest. It also hints at a failing national strategy as we struggle to keep our best players in Scotland and fail to develop more than a handful of truly elite players at international level.
I'm a huge supporter of women's and girl's football and regularly defend it against the banal sexist criticisms it receives. As the game grows there has to be a more ruthless approach to development though. Having a team playing SWPL football who are evidently woefully out their depth just because it is good for participation borders on the patronising for me. Regional academies led by the SFA working in conjunction with clubs and a cut down top flight would be a good starting point.
By all means let the girls play recreationally, get as many as possible playing on Saturdays and Sundays for their girls clubs, if some of them have affiliations with professional teams then great, but when it comes to producing elite, pro players (which is the way the game is going) then we have to be way more ruthless.
The best part of the women’s game years ago was it was different to the men’s game - Glasgow City won various league titles but others won cups etc.
Know you have the situation like the men’s where Rangers and Celtic are nearly too good for the SWPL but can’t compete with England or Europe leagues.
How do you fix it ? Well the SWPL needs to find a way to make it a better more competitive league but not sure making a smaller league helps as becomes too elitist.
You will still have the issue of England and other leagues taking best players and other clubs like Hearts and Hibs hoovering up the local talent.
You need the participation at lower levels but you also need the elite part to group - what they seem to have forgotten is the middle part hence teams like Dundee Utd getting beaten 10-0 every week. That means support for coaches and others too.
Rangers and Celtic women’s team are investing more money than many men’s teams in Scotland.
English women’s football like the men’s is financially miles ahead of a Scotland and that will never change so Scottish football gets stuck in a weird place.
I guess the positive is you get some English players and others coming to play in Scottish league but then that limits local Scottish players playing.
Players moving from Scotland to England need to get clubs some compensation so money can go back into the game.
The worst part of this is I can see anyone winning league like the men’s game outwith the old firm anytime soon - that is just boring and Hearts and Hibs are kind of stuck as you can invest but at what cost and what do you get back ?
Girls already have access to the elite academies?Quote:
Originally Posted by Pretty Boy
https://www.scottishfa.co.uk/perform.../applications/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymuZL9JQc4U
You just need to look at what elite coaching has done for the women's game in England to see the impact it can have.Quote:
Originally Posted by superfurryhibby
The participation aspect is no longer a challenge. Particularly at primary school level it's now the norm for there to be as many girls teams as boys'.
England is a country of 60 million, I would prefer a comparison with a similar sized nation. Clearly the money in the English game also makes it difficult to compare with our game.Quote:
Originally Posted by He's here!
One or 2 get in every year to the dev schools. They need to do a girls version of it.Quote:
Originally Posted by superfurryhibby
Are you being serious about the elite coaching? you only get better at something with better coaching and progressing against better opponents.
Lip service.Quote:
Originally Posted by superfurryhibby
Denmark - Iceland (lot less than Scotland) and Norway all similar populations and all above Scotland in world rankings and seem to have a better set up than Scotland.Quote:
Originally Posted by superfurryhibby
Conversely, Scotland are above many nations, who's men's team are usually better than ours, like Poland, Czech Republic, Argentina, Ukraine (perhaps understandable), Russia, Mexico.Quote:
Originally Posted by GreenCastle
Our standings (above the other home nations, aside from England) suggest we are doing well enough on the international stage.
https://inside.fifa.com/fifa-world-r...nking_20231215
The 2 things don't compute. Interest in the women's game doesnt reflect the mens game in many countries.Quote:
Originally Posted by superfurryhibby
Perhaps not but I was responding to a post that cited the Norwegians, Danes and Icelandic sides as being above us in the rankings.Quote:
Originally Posted by Brightside
If we have a very good structure which encourages what seems to be excellent levels of participation, girls getting access to elite academies and our national team are performing well, are we not already getting a great deal right in the female game?
But our national team are not performing well. I think thats the issue. Also our u17 and u19s teams fail miserably when they move up to the A leagues. We need to be taking 20/30 at each age group into elite academies.... then you have more chance of 5 or 6 being ready to step up and improve the top level.Quote:
Originally Posted by superfurryhibby
25th in the world ranking seems reasonable. Our lowest ranking was 31st and our highest 19th. We are pretty consistently in the top 30, usually low 20's (that's looking at the previous 20 years or so).Quote:
Originally Posted by Brightside
Perhaps the SFA need to look at quotas and making access to elite academies more equitable. I have no idea how many youngsters actually attend overall, but positive discrimination and more gender balance would surely help? If the participation base continues to increase, which seems to be the case, then the choice will also increase too.
Not just elite coaching literally millions pumped into it by Sky plus get the benefit of the ludicrous EPL money and academies structure. Decent Scottish players will quickly move down south.Quote:
Originally Posted by He's here!
Very few are going to be good enough at this rateQuote:
Originally Posted by JimBHibees
Edinburgh Derby tonight at Easter Road.
Tickets are FREE so a great opportunity for any fans or families to attend who haven’t been to Easter Road for a while.
Should be a good game too - don’t think Hearts have ever beaten Hibs at Easter Road in 90 mins.
Taking my son who is 3 in a couple of weeks to his first game. Torn between a feeling of can't wait and dreading it because he can't sit still for more than 30 seconds.Quote:
Originally Posted by GreenCastle
Based on my own experiences, a 90-minute football match (plus interval) can be a very long time during which to keep a young child engaged. Even when my kids were older than that we'd tend to leave after about an hour, by which time they were ready to go.Quote:
Originally Posted by Pretty Boy
What really struck me back then was while football is generally regarded as a fast-moving sport, there are more delays than you realise and very little actually happens for a large percentage of the game!
A women's game is a good choice for a first attempt tho!
My daughter was 3 when I first took her and the first year or so was tough but she's much better now.Quote:
Originally Posted by He's here!
Women's game is very much a tactical choice with the tornado that is number 2 child.
Can't manage along to ER tonight for the derby, unfortunately.Quote:
Originally Posted by GreenCastle
Just wanted to send a wee good luck message to the Hibs girls.
'mon the Hibs!
Can't make it but will be watching online.
Both sides have started the season well so it should be a decent game. Just hope for the right outcome!
Heading down shortly - looking forward to it.
Is the game on TV? Can't find it 🤷
Bbc iplayerQuote:
Originally Posted by Keepthefaith