Leicester City Women

[Robin127]

How long before a female footballer is good enough to play in the male game?

It's not the ability that will hold a woman back but that old chestnut about being up to it physically. It's a question I don't have an answer to.

There have been plenty of examples of girls being banned from playing in youth football with boys. My nephew played in the same team as Kelly Smith's brother which was coached by their dad. The league had stopped her playing with the boys when I think she was about eleven or twelve, the general consensus of opinion was that it wasn't because she was a girl, it was that she was so much better than any boy in the league.

 

[Micky]

How long before a female footballer is good enough to play in the male game?

I generally don't give a shit about any football other than Leicester games or ones that affect us, this includes womens football.

It will only happen if the 'female' is another Caster Semenya.

 

[mabrah]

There are already women players that are 'good enough' to play in the men's teams. I was genuinely surprised (and I recognise this as my then sexism) at how technically skilled and tactically aware the women's game can be. It does depend what level we're talking though.

The physical/strength aspects of the male game is the big divide. Like @Robin127 , I'm not sure whether that's a gap that can be bridged.

Goalkeepers though, gotta say that it's a position I thought women would come much closer to performing on near equal terms - theoretically at least - but the standard of keeping in the women's game is pretty poor, sometimes even comically so. I have no idea why that might be.

 

[Matt_B]

It will only happen if the 'female' is another Caster Semenya.

You mean, she's a female?

 

[Blue Maniac]

You mean, she's a female?

I think the preferred term is woman

 

[Matt_B]

I think the preferred term is woman

I think so long as it's not in inverted commas, they won't care.

 

[mabrah]

In simple genetic terms Semenya is male, in that she has XY chromosomes. She also has 'male levels' of testosterone. But life (literally, life) isn't simple and sometimes defies our simple classifications.

Spare a thought; it could be unbelievably tough for her. She's only ever been her, doing what she does and what she enjoys. It's all the others that ask the questions and cast doubt. That must be really hard to deal with.

 

[jb5000]

I've always assumed that the goalkeeping issue is one of height. Bear in mind that Kasper was often dismissed earlier in his career as 'too short' - he's 6'1" which is well above average for a man. Women play in the same size goals, but exceedingly few are even the same height as this 'too short' male keeper. That effectively means that they have more ground to cover, so they bound to look worse. I've heard some in the Women's game argue for smaller goals, which I'm far from sold on but I do think that if they were proportionally the same size as the players the difference would be a lot less noticeable

 

[mabrah]

I hadn't considered the difference in height, it could certainly account for something. I might well be forming a general opinion on the basis of specific instances. Next time I watch a game, I'll check my own assumptions.

 

[Graz]

The goalie issue is one that's been coming up again a few times recently. I remember during the Women's World Cup, it was certainly what I noticed and put me off a bit, as penalties just seemed to be virtually guaranteed goals without even being right in the corner.

There was talk recently of it being looked at again whether the women's game should be played with smaller goals.

 

[parafox]

I've always thought they should treat the international tournaments more like the olympics and have the men's and women's events at the same time. Maybe that's idealistic but it would go a long way to improving the prestige of women's football instead of being the afterthought it currently is.

 

[parafox]

The goalie issue is one that's been coming up again a few times recently. I remember during the Women's World Cup, it was certainly what I noticed and put me off a bit, as penalties just seemed to be virtually guaranteed goals without even being right in the corner.

It didn't help that it was the first tournament where they decided to be ****ing annoying with VAR so when a penalty was saved they were allowed to retake it because the goalkeeper was a nanometer off her line!

 

[bocadillo]

It didn't help that it was the first tournament where they decided to be ****ing annoying with VAR so when a penalty was saved they were allowed to retake it because the goalkeeper was a nanometer off her line!

It's nanometre.

 

[Jeff]

Today's game is being streamed live at 2PM. A win guarantees the title, and promotion to the super duper league. A draw will be enough too, barring something ridiculous happening with goal difference.

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[parafox]

Penalty to Leicester but it's saved!

 

[mabrah]

It's one way traffic, only a matter of time before Leicester score.

 

[Blaarev]

It's one way traffic, only a matter of time before Leicester score.

The time has come. 1-0

 

[Jeff]

Gooooooooaaaaaaalllllllll!!!!!!!!!!!111111111

 

[parafox]

1-0!

 

[popillius]

Tierney scores. One nil Leicester.