Women’s World Cup is full swing in Canada and already it’s getting more coverage than ever.
Credit to the BBC who have devoted a fair amount of resources to covering the event. Though this may largely be down to the cost of securing the rights and the lack of competition from the likes of Sky and BT Sport.
After a season when you often could have watched over 40 live games in a week, it’s welcome from my view to have a break from football. But I tuned in last night to watch the Germany vs Norway game and to be honest, after a short period of time, I realised why I’ve never developed an affection for women’s football.
Is not as grating as watching the growing rise of celebrity football matches (who really does want to watch Olly Murs play against the likes of Boris Johnson) but watching the game last night just left me cold. With some much sport on TV now, we’ve become ever more demanding from what we want from a sporting occasion. For me, I want a sense of occasion, a great competitive spirit, physical intensity, high technical ability and a real emotional investment into the ultimate outcome. I got that in spades watching the recent Champions League final between Barcelona and Juventus, but last night, I got little from watching Germany draw with Norway. I did grab a little bit of the England v France game earlier in the week, and again, I was underwhelmed by the experience.
This is far from a rant against women in sport. Growing up, I remember the great battles between Chris Evert (the media’s darling) and Martina Navratilova (the unpopular one) and was thrilled to be in the Olympic Stadium in Athens to see the then Kelly Holmes win her first gold medal. Indeed, it’s tennis and athletics where I have most interest in watching women in sport. I think the problem for me is that there is such a wide gulf between watching football between the two sexes. Going from watching Messi glide around the pitch to watching Karen Carney toil for England. I’m sure the women’s game will further develop and grow in popularity, but I fear it will never cross the emotion divide to really engage the mainstream football fan in the UK.
Saying all that, the men’s team are hardly pulling up any trees. They are in the middle of undoubtedly the most boring qualifying group for many years in the aim of qualifying for next summers European Championship in France. The match in Slovenia, on the back of the ROI friendly, will surely attract very low viewing figures.
But all is not lost, the club fixtures for next season are out next week…