Womens Forum needed urgently

I'm new to the ladies game and I see a lot of unhappy people on this website.There seems to be a lot of problems with over age players,teams giving walk overs in National Cup competitions,lack of publicity for our game.Maybe it's time that the WFAI held a 1-2 day seminar for everyone involved in womens football to put their views forward for the improvement of the game.
The one thing I have noticed is the number of teams that have folded this season.A lot of players are drifting away from the game.
What do you think?

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Originally Posted by monuman

I'm new to the ladies game and I see a lot of unhappy people on this website.There seems to be a lot of problems with over age players,teams giving walk overs in National Cup competitions,lack of publicity for our game.Maybe it's time that the WFAI held a 1-2 day seminar for everyone involved in womens football to put their views forward for the improvement of the game.
The one thing I have noticed is the number of teams that have folded this season.A lot of players are drifting away from the game.
What do you think?

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I think everyone on here Monuman knows a seminar for womens football is a good idea even a great idea! But until there is a clear out in ALL the ranks of the womens section of the FAI nothing positive would come from it. I think most users of foot.ie have had a run in with the FAI at some stage or another. They are a law upon themselves making and breaking rules throughout seasons and not obeying precedent. Alot of people are becoming increasingly disillusioned with this. In comparision to schoolboy/men football the organisation of leagues, cup matches etc is nothing short of shocking. How many problems arise at every round of National Cups? Teams giving walkovers, not sticking to dates and not to mention the U16 cup farce. Does this occur as frequent in boys game? I think not!! Too many wage collectors with TOO much power in womens game.

Your positivity is very refreshing Monuman and I wish you well within the ladies game! :) This post isn't an attack response just my opinion!!

I don't think there will be a mass resignation of staff in the WFAI Dept.Stupid question but do they know that the majority of people involved in womens are unhappy with their work or do they think that things are running along smoothly?
I agree with a lot of your points as I'm new to womens soccer and I see major improvements are badly needed in most aspects of the game.I find that Ladies soccer is not treated with enough respect by the FAI

One of the problems I came across when involved with schoolgirl football was that most clubs were struggling to field teams, this led to unfulfilled fixtures etc. The factg that they play a summer season makes it very difficult with holidays etc when clubs have a very small pool of players.

What the soloution is I dont know, but maybe stricter criteria before starting a girls team would be one way to prevent a new club just weakening an existing club by taking a number of their players.

Also a change in the season may help but then we have the pitch availability problem to deal with.

Certainly a seminar can do no harm, but most important thing is to increase the numbers of players first before increasing the number of clubs.

I have noticed in my short time in womens football,the amount of teams that pull out of National Cups every year.One reason may be that cup games have been fixed on bank holiday weekends and they start too early in the season if you play in a summer league.
A big problem I find is with referees,some of them treat womens soccer with very little respect by not enforcing the rules of the game properly.How many games have you seen foul throws overlooked,bad tackles let go because they are only girls playing.I have never seen a female player sent off in my 4 years of womens soccer.I have seen women players kick young girls around the park if they are too good and no punishment handed out.This in turn puts young girls off playing the game.

I have to agree with the basic gist of what you are saying but I also believe that the womens game has to take itself seriously to be taken seriously.

Speaking from a Wexford perspective, we are a winter league and we have very few issues with pitches, referees, etc. We have very few drop outs, walkovers are rare as fines are heavy and the criteria to allow clubs into the league is fairly strict. Referees are instructed to treat the game on the same level as the mens and although we have a few who still feel odd brandishing red cards to a female, most are okay. We would have an average of ten to twelve sendings off a season

What I am really trying to say is the league treats the womens team with respect, expect the clubs to do likewise and overall it works quite well. We are just about to start the season with almost thirty adult teams and one hundred and twenty schoolgirl teams ranging from under ten to under sixteen

Regarding your idea of a forum, its a good idea but my experience of forums, they have a tendency to attract moaners while the people who are happy stay at home

With reference to how the game is progressing at national level, that is a whole different story and it currently has so many things wrong with it, it beggars belief

On the subject of respect for players and league etc.....

Are there specific clubs which consistently fail to fulfill fixtures?


Can anyone shed any light on these?


Monaghan - Teams not travelling to play in Monaghan and Monaghan not travelling to play other teams in League(Looked into this and there are many results of 2-0 involving them this season.....maybe GAA fixtures here also?)

Stella Maris - Rarely travelled to play Benfica and consistently don't travel to Dundalk, Templeogue?. Consistently fail to turn up for matches at all age levels...at younger age groups more than senior......is this because squad of players is small and players will play for more than one team...sometimes at U14 / U16 and senior level. Games normally postponed and played at the end of the season when other teams have completed their seasons...except for games v Stella of course.
I seem to recall hearing that Stella were actually due to play Raheny in a 2007 DWSL game two weeks after the 2008 season had begun.(can anyone confirm this?
League has a lot to answer for in this case obviously.
Didn't travel to Peamount on Monday night last I was told. (Will travel to play in UK or Canada though.......)

Eureka Kells - Has history of not travelling to play if team is much stronger and loss is likely. (Surely won't benefit players in the long term?)

Benfica - Involved in "car accidents" for three successive seasons while travelling to games in Dublin when playing(UCD, Peamount + Raheny) in the DWSL. Message always received about 1-2 hrs before kick-off(Sundays)

There are many "weaker" teams in every division who will fulfill every fixture even though it's likely the result will go against them. They are constantly being relegated and promoted and relegated and promoted again...etc
Similar to the teams which fielded players of the correct age in the U14 and U16 National Cup Comps....they deserve the utmost respect. They are promoting Girls/Womens football a fair and correct manner.


comments welcomed..........

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Originally Posted by monuman

I have noticed in my short time in womens football,the amount of teams that pull out of National Cups every year.One reason may be that cup games have been fixed on bank holiday weekends and they start too early in the season if you play in a summer league.
A big problem I find is with referees,some of them treat womens soccer with very little respect by not enforcing the rules of the game properly.How many games have you seen foul throws overlooked,bad tackles let go because they are only girls playing.I have never seen a female player sent off in my 4 years of womens soccer.I have seen women players kick young girls around the park if they are too good and no punishment handed out.This in turn puts young girls off playing the game.

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While my only involvement with ladies football was between 99 and about 04, at up to U14, I did see a girl get a straight red in an U12s match! And she deserved it!

I rang the soccer correspondent who works for the local Monaghan newspaper and he told me that the ladies team there have never given a walk over to any team in their league/cup games in all the years they are playing.He told me that some teams were unwilling to travel to them if Monaghan had already beaten them previously but it rarely happens.He reckoned that most clubs did travel as it gives them a chance to play on a LOI pitch

Do Monaghan Utd play their home games on a Monday or Sunday?

Glad to hear that Monaghan travel to all their games and that rarely do opponents fail to turn up to play in Monaghan.

I only mentioned Monaghan because I am extremely sceptical of 2-0 or 0-2 results in the DWSL. In the vast majority of cases these results turn out to be walkovers.....especially if this result occurs with one team on a regular basis.

It's great to hear that these results are legitimate. Well done the Monaghan girls!

From all reports Monaghan play on Monday nights with late kick offs as they have lights.