2nd Round of the WFAI CUP

[CollegeTillIDie]

I've heard it all now.

So if, for example, the Mayo league win the WFAI Cup they can't play n the UEFA Cup? That is unbelievable. Do the words 'sham' or 'arse from elbow' mean anything to the people running the WFAI Cup?

The top teams in leagues around the country, for example Cork, could certainly make a game of it against the Dublin teams. These top teams in other counties should be encouraged to participate and make the competition a real national competition. Of course Dublin teams are usually stronger, because of popularity of GAA down the country, but I'm sure playing against Dublin teams will help the regional teams improve overall quality in their leagues.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the organisers of football in this country seem to give a flying **** about women's football. Look at their website - ancient player profiles, no updated fixture reports. ****ing joke.

Look at how women's GAA is being promoted - could the, ahem, 'organisers' of women's soccer get their act together?

Ok in other countries which have National Leagues it is the winners of this competition who represent their country in the Women's UEFA Cup. We do not have such a League, if we did , the Cup winners would not matter.
The League sides are necessary to improve the competition so the W.F.A.I. are in a bit of a Catch 22 situation. They are damned for including representative League sides in the Senior Cup, because if those sides win the thing they are not eligible for the Women's UEFA Cup.

If the W.F.A.I. did not allow the representative League sides into the Competition , there would be very few entries into the Cup and they would be damned for that too....

Women's GAA operate a ban in certain counties prohibiting players, in county panels, from also playing soccer. Of the 7,000 registered players the W.F.A.I. I would estimate that at least 25% are also Women's Gaelic or Camogie players. The Women's F.A.I. to their credit do not ban international players from playing GAA, Rugby or even basketball if they so choose as long as these do not interfere with their international commitments then there is no problem.

The website is crap I totally agree. If anything the old website was kept more up to date than the present one. What has happened in recent years is that the F.A.I. have taken on a lot of the admin functions of the Women's F.A.I. as the International teams are now administered fully by the F.A.I.'s International department. The domestic department has taken on a lot of the other functions of the W.F.A.I. however the website has fallen between stools and nobody seems responsible for it. Compared to the crime of not appointing referees to rescheduled EL games, the State of the website is a misdemeanour.

[Numero]

Who knows what could happen.

At the end of the day, having teams in a competition who would be ineligible for one of the main rewards of winning that competition is totally wrong. Again, it shows the type of careless, direction-less attitude that exists from the Powers That Be towards women's soccer in this country.

Where was entry to the WFAI Cup advertised? In local newspapers? On football websites? On the FAI website? Through fliers to the top teams across the country? Could the answer be that it wasn't advertised at all?

It is hard to comprehend. The Government talk of getting people involved in sport and making sure girls in particular stay involved in sport in their twenties and beyond. And yet, women's soccer which I think is the fastest growing sport regarding involvement of women in the country, is treated like this.

[Numero]

In response to Collegetillidie, you make an interesting comment about the responsibility of the website 'falling between two stools' - and isn't that part of the problem? I don't really know the distinctions between WFAI and FAI.

As you say, though, the international women's teams are organised by FAI. Therefore people there should update the website. There is NO EXCUSE for this not being done - it merely shows the level of apathy that exists among some.

I don't think it is 'to the credit' of the WFAI that they don't ban the players from other sports. The individual amateur sportsperson can judge for themselves how much they can take.

Clubs as well need to take responsibility, especially the eircom league teams who have women's teams affiliated. Taking action on all these fronts will require someone with vision, bottle and determination

[rasper]

thanks collegetilidie maybe it is time to set up county league sides to play each other as in a all ireland style eg.cork/kerry/waterford/limerick/tip in league form winners play in simi all ireland. good luck to all teams left in this cup

[CollegeTillIDie]

thanks collegetilidie maybe it is time to set up county league sides to play each other as in a all ireland style eg.cork/kerry/waterford/limerick/tip in league form winners play in simi all ireland. good luck to all teams left in this cup

It's a very worthwhile idea rasper.

[CollegeTillIDie]

In response to Collegetillidie, you make an interesting comment about the responsibility of the website 'falling between two stools' - and isn't that part of the problem? I don't really know the distinctions between WFAI and FAI.

As you say, though, the international women's teams are organised by FAI. Therefore people there should update the website. There is NO EXCUSE for this not being done - it merely shows the level of apathy that exists among some.

I don't think it is 'to the credit' of the WFAI that they don't ban the players from other sports. The individual amateur sportsperson can judge for themselves how much they can take.

Clubs as well need to take responsibility, especially the eircom league teams who have women's teams affiliated. Taking action on all these fronts will require someone with vision, bottle and determination

Soccer has never been an insular , completely parochial sport, which is the point I was making.
When the website was updated regularly, the F.A.I. had one staff member devoted to admin of Women's soccer and a bit of junior ball too it has to be said and 1 RDO dedicated to Women's soccer, and she took on the updating of the website. That arrangement changed some years back.
The website was taken out of her hands and basically as I understand given to the website person and he/she has been derelict in their duties as regards Women's soccer on the site as I see it.


As regards eircom League teams who have women's teams affiliated taking responsibility, well let's just say that whole area is a mixed bag ,each club has a different level of commitment to their women's teams. This ranges from only providing a set of gear and a pitch , to active encouragement and more practical assistance.

[Numero]

Yes, but the point I am making is that things shouldn't be like that.

Probably UCD are the most progressive club in the country regards women's soccer, with their women's team playing at Belfield Park. I'm not sure if that was hard to negotiate, would be interesting to know. Regarding women's teams like Dublin City, Dundalk, Shamrock Rovers, Bray Wanderers, when do they play on the club's main pitch ? (obviously the case of Shamrock Rovers doesn't really apply at the present time).

Thats why I'm saying women's soccer needs a very strong advocate to come along and shake things up. To change mentalities.

I think the English FA are making good efforts to promote the women's game, and clubs like Arsenal seem to look after their female players well. They've obviously checked their calendar and notice it's the 21st century.

[CollegeTillIDie]

U.C.D. are very progressive and have put some resources from the Sports department behind the Women's team and it has paid off in spades. Dundalk do use Oriel Park ( they are now using the main pitch permanently) and in the past used the changing rooms there and the Under 21's pitch next door called Eamon Hiney Park. Dundalk's women's team are technically a seperate club Dundalk City even though they wear the same colours.
Bray Wanderers have used the Carlisle Grounds on a few occasions over the past couple of years but not too often. Dublin City's women's team play in the Amateur League complex on Oscar Traynor Road. But to be fair their male counterparts have been nomadic only returning to Whitehall recently.

Women's soccer does need a strong advocate I agree, I'd do the gig if someone would pay me on a full time basis to do it


The English FA are making great efforts but to be fair Arsenal's women's crew have played in Highbury I think at most 3 times in the past 5 years and that was for Women's UEFA Cup semi-final ties after the Premiersh1t season was finished for the men.

[Numero]

Yeah, I'm not saying the women's teams should play on the main pitches whenever they like, obviously the men's league matches bring in the revenue and that's that. As a means of promoting the women's game, though, it would be useful to have a small number of women's games preceding men's games as will happen at the WFAI cup final.

My point really is that the WFAI/FAI are not running the women's game properly.

[Numero]

Collegetillidie,

you know your stuff so I'm not sure why someone like you isn't in a high-visibility decently-paid role to promote women's soccer. I'm not sure if it is a full-time job, I don't know all the logistics. I'd imagine that it could be at least combined with another role within FAI.

Women's soccer has to be better promoted. The promotion of women's GAA could be a serious blow to the future of women's soccer if the FAI do not think likewise.

What can be done?

[CollegeTillIDie]

Collegetillidie,

you know your stuff so I'm not sure why someone like you isn't in a high-visibility decently-paid role to promote women's soccer. I'm not sure if it is a full-time job, I don't know all the logistics. I'd imagine that it could be at least combined with another role within FAI.

Women's soccer has to be better promoted. The promotion of women's GAA could be a serious blow to the future of women's soccer if the FAI do not think likewise.

What can be done?

Well I was PRO of the Women's FAI for a number of years stepping down in 2002 so I am aware of the difficulties. I was however like the entire current executive of the W.F.A.I. doing so in a voluntary capacity and therein lies one of the problems, it needs someone full-time to be promoting it as you say. Noel King has been made a full time development officer for the International teams and he is a good talker, perhaps this could be part of his brief especially between internationals , as he is also the International Women's senior team manager.

Raising the profile of the game has to be a priority. The Women's GAA crowd have done excellently in their own promotion, and we need to get up to that level.

One of the things that could be done in the shorter term would be to get some of the League's sponsored. That would serves two functions: 1/ Provide the League's concerned with more resources 2/ With the aid of the promotional department of the sponsor's concerned raise the profile of the League concerned and by degrees Women' s soccer as a whole.

Promotion of the big games using some of the star players who will be involved could also help. I know Sepp Blatter has said some pretty crass things on the subject but his basic point is probably this. We have fit attractive young women playing the sport, if more of the public became aware of this , they might want to come along and see just how good the standard is.Basically using a slightly puerile system to attract attention. And while I disagree with the manner in which he has gone about things, he is trying in his own hamfisted way to raise the profile of the game. And as some people usually say in these circumstances, sometimes any publicity is good publicity.

The Republic of Ireland Women's international team has recently made the top flight in Europe's nations and is playing in a qualification group for the 2007 Women's World Cup along with Russia, Scotland and World Champions Germany. Women's internationals only normally attract between 1,500 and 3,000 people to the games. We need a huge crowd for the visit of Germany next year to provide encouragement to the team. And Germany are wealth worth seeing they have some really good players and centre-forward Birgit Prinz who's around 6 feet tall and solidly built is one of the handful of women's players could hold her own physically against men no question about it. She's also an amazingly talented goalscorer and I met her once at a tournament in Nis in 2002.

If some of the disenfranchised supporters of the men's team were to come along to see the Girls in Green they might be surprised at how good the standard is at international level. I will post details of kick off times etc when they come to hand

[Numero]

Yes sponsorship of leagues is a good idea, and I'm sure certain companies would be interested.

By the way, there mustn't really be a WFAI PRO at the moment then.

[CollegeTillIDie]

By the way, there mustn't really be a WFAI PRO at the moment then.

I best say no comment to that

[Numero]

That's fair enough!

[Numero]

[QUOTE=CollegeTillIDie] I know Sepp Blatter has said some pretty crass things on the subject but his basic point is probably this. We have fit attractive young women playing the sport, if more of the public became aware of this , they might want to come along and see just how good the standard is.Basically using a slightly puerile system to attract attention. And while I disagree with the manner in which he has gone about things, he is trying in his own hamfisted way to raise the profile of the game. And as some people usually say in these circumstances, sometimes any publicity is good publicity.

Yes it is slightly puerile but it could work!
I saw the Germans during the women's Euros on TV and they are truly excellent.

[CollegeTillIDie]

Yes sponsorship of leagues is a good idea, and I'm sure certain companies would be interested.

Here's a case in point...
Nivea For Men Sponsors the AUL in Dublin. Why Not the Nivea Visage DWSL for example?

[Numero]

Yeah exactly. So DWSL organisers get your skates on!

[diamond]

hate to see that sh*te about attractive women attracting attention. that is everything that is wrong about womens sport in general all over the world. dont care how much publicity it gets womens soccer. if the attractive girls wanted to be cheerleaders in short skirts they would, if they wanted that type of attention they'd be pole dancers. they are athletes. not pieces of meat. whta type of "fans" do you think this would attract? there are enough pervs following womens football already. anyone involved with UCD a few years ago knows what i mean.

[Numero]

That's a good point.

Male professional footballers often use their looks to get publicity - not by stripping or anything but in subtle ways. Unfortunately, image is part of any promotions. I saw pictures of women GAA players in a newspaper, done up to the nines for some cosmetic-related article, it was a bit sad.

I don't agree with Blatter's 'ideas' but agree with Collegetillidie that image could be used in promotion of women's game - just as it is in men's. Not short-skirted cheerleaders though.

[CollegeTillIDie]

That's a good point.

Male professional footballers often use their looks to get publicity - not by stripping or anything but in subtle ways. Unfortunately, image is part of any promotions. I saw pictures of women GAA players in a newspaper, done up to the nines for some cosmetic-related article, it was a bit sad.

I don't agree with Blatter's 'ideas' but agree with Collegetillidie that image could be used in promotion of women's game - just as it is in men's. Not short-skirted cheerleaders though.

That was what I was driving at...not cheerleaders just the players playing the game in action on the field .. was what I had in mind.