In Defence of Women's Football (Too Many Words)

The criticism of the ‘quality’ of the womens’ fame baffles and infuriates me.

I do not care if you think England women would lose to Kings Lynn’s reserve team because England women are not playing King’s Lynn’s reserve team, they are playing another women’s side in a tournament that includes teams that are more or less equally matched in ability and quality. The drama and excitement is the same whoever is on the pitch.

I know someone who goes to watch Poole Town every week in the Non-League Southern South Division. “Poole Town men would beat these women,” he says to me.

“So what?” I say. “Poole Town would lose to Bournemouth, maybe you shouldn’t go to watch Poole Town?”

That’s different apparently.

I tell him that he enjoys watching Poole Town in a game where they are equally matched against Bracknell Town. The quality is irrelevant when both teams are the same quality.

“Yeah, but women’s football shouldn’t be elevated to have the coverage it gets because the quality is poor.” I tell him maybe the quality is poor because it was banned by the FA for 50 years. “I know the history, mate” he says. “It just shouldn’t have the same coverage just because they’re women.”

It’s a NATIONAL TEAM in a tournament. It’s a team full of players who are competing to the best of their ability against another team who are performing to the best of their ability. Have the penalties been great? No. Do people complain about men’s football when Ronaldo or Messi miss 61 penalties between them in their career? No. It hasn't always been technically brilliant football in this tournament but I admire these women busting a gut to win the games they have. We should all get behind that.

Anyway, this idea that football should only be watched if the quality meets a certain standard is nonsense. Your regular football fan should not be holding up Man City, PSG, Barcelona, Real Madrid, Liverpool as examples of what football should be. Yes, they might have brilliant, world-class players (in an industry that has had significantly more investment than women’s football so of course they would) but the treatment of fans of these teams gets worse and worse every year. Championship, League One, League Two, Non-League is all ‘better’ than supposed ‘world class’ football in that respect, it’s about the community and the attitude to the game. I don't care one bit about the Big Six or international franchises or the Club World Cup. An industry that allows a club to win the FA Cup for the first time in their history but not be allowed to compete in the Champions League because their rich owner happens to own (and has nearly bankrupt) another club in the competition is not proper football. We should all be angry about what has been done to Crystal Palace.

England men? Boring, mostly. England u21 – a bit more interesting. England women? I find it exciting, regardless of whether or not Joey Barton thinks he can beat a female goalkeeper.

The women’s national game DESERVES the coverage though. It’s entitled to it as much as the men’s team has been, even when the quality of the men’s game was poor. Coverage provides interest, interest generates money, money generates more investment, more investment generates better players. Non-League Barnet for example last year would more than likely have lost to a team in League Two because they are in the league below; they got promoted on merit, they get money, they invest that money, they can now compete with League Two sides but would probably be beaten by a League One team. In time, they might secure promotion and compete with League One teams, etc etc. It goes on – the quality improves (see Swansea, Bournemouth, Wrexham etc).

If we continue to let the women’s game have coverage and exposure it needs (that is massively overdue) and let that money be invested back into the game, you can then, if you think the quality is poor, watch the women’s game improve with that funding. If you don’t want to see women’s football get better and improve with money then you don’t have a problem with ‘the quality’ of the game, you just don’t think women should be playing football.

Anyway, we’re all Norwich fans here. I don’t think we have a right to complain about people watching ‘poor quality’ football. We all know that League One was more exciting than the Premier League. When we struggled to compete though and didn’t have money, Talksport called us the disgrace to the Premier League and claimed we should be banned from competing in it, a year after Man City (with 100+ FFP breaches) and a bunch of other clubs tried to break away to form their own competition. Let’s not be all Talksport over women’s football. Punch up, not down.

Posted By: tim berry on July 23rd 2025 at 11:44:27

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