Ditto. I genuinely don’t know anyone personally who likes it or follows it. I found it interesting when Charlton Women’s game was postponed at very short notice on Sunday - the club tweeted a video of the attendance. I doubt there were 200 in the Lower West (the only part of the ground open for the game). It again begs the question of why they are hammering the Valley pitch for games that hardly anyone is paying to watch.
When he says "nobody cares" he actually means he doesn't care. But he doesn't speak for everyone. However, his dismissive, arrogant manner is fashionable these days, when the opinions of other people who dare to differ don't count anymore. When opposing viewpoints have no value. Brazil may have been a great footballer once, but he is a clown now, and obviously a dinosaur. I enjoy laughing at him, rather than with him.
I don't listen to Talksport, but stopped listening to 606 because it was all about the top clubs in the Premier League, most callers being armchair critics, unlike when Danny Baker hosted it. Is Talksport any better in this regard?
In defence of both station’s phone ins, regardless of what you think of them Alan Brazil, Robbie Savage & Chris Sutton have played the game at an elite level. You may not agree with their opinions, but they are speaking from experience & know what they are talking about. Shebarn Aherne is yet another DEI pick on Talksport. I have zero interest in her opinion or her agenda, and judging by the reaction to Alan Brazil’s spat with her this morning, the vast majority agree with AB.
But as I said earlier, ex-players aren't always the best commentators. I have zero interest in women's football, but I also have zero interest in listening to Robbie Savage arguing with fans about what Pep needs to do at Man City. Danny Baker's callers were fans who had just been to a game, often the lower divisions, and had a story to tell about the experience. This continued for a few years after Baker left the show to watch Millwall, but now you get Savage at 5 o'clock geeing fans up to phone in for their opinions about whatever games had been on telly No thanks.
No. Did you pay to go to Selhurst Park to watch Charlton play there? Good on you if you did. But thousands of Charlton fans did not. Did that automatically mean they didn't care about the team? And was the team worthless in that era because only a few fans went to see them? If the women in your social circle aren't interested in football that's fine. The same is presumably true of Alan Brazil and the people he mixes with. His claim however that nobody cares, just shows that he believes the views of people outside his social circle are beneath his notice. Worthless. Anything that encourages otherwise disadvantaged groups in society to try something they have not had a chance to do before - especially due to the prejudiced attitudes of the authorities and the establishment - is good in my opinion. Nobody should be told they cannot be what they wish to be because of their sex - or anything else about their nature. Inequality of opportunity is never justifiable. It's a hangover of the past, like many other injustices which have long since been swept away. Sadly too many others are still to be conquered.
Nobody is saying that disadvantaged groups can’t try something different that they haven’t tried before. They can still do that. That is not what we are saying. But Women’s Football should not be treated the same as men’s football because it is a totally different beast. I am all for the Women’s game being grown. But it is obvious outside the bigger Clubs that lots of Women, Men and Children are not interested in going to the games, you included @lardiman I think you will find that Nick supported the Club at Selhurst Park and Upton Park, as I did.
You’ve slightly missed the point. Nobody would object if women’s football was left to grow organically, and find its own place in the food chain. It’s had a hell of a lot of money thrown at it, and it still hasn’t started attracted paying fans, and you have to ask why ? IMO it’s because the quality of it is dire, and generally speaking men in particular are not interested in watching women play football. CAFC is the perfect example - the club spends £800,000 a year on the women’s team, yet always struggles with attendances in low hundreds. It’s nothing whatsoever to do with prejudice, bearing in mind tickets for it are very cheap, if people liked / rated it, far more would now be paying to watch it. (PS - I was an ever present at Selhurst 86-90, I never missed a game, incl Simod Cup )
I also suspect I missed the point about the tone of Alan Brazil's comments. I expect he was only on the win-up with a bit of friendly banter. Nothing to take too seriously. Like women's football
Everyone is entitled to their opinion. You can’t say anything these days without being cancelled or called anti woke. Or being accused of being sexist. Women’s football should not be judged as the same as men’s football. It is a million miles away. Brazil was saying that when people talk about Manchester United they are not talking about the Women’s team. A perfectly legitimate comment.
One thing I do agree on is that women's football is being promoted too hard at the very top level of the WSL. Talk about the first £1m transfer, and some saying top female players should be earning as much as the top men. That is going way too far in my opinion. It's the greed of agents & hangers-on. That kind of exploitation is the last thing women's football needs.
It’s not just in football. Attendances at the “women’s Ashes” this month were dire, and Australia completed a humiliating whitewash. The standard of the cricket was distressingly bad for anyone who loves the game. You have never seen so many pies thrown & easy catches dropped. There’s also a strong & vocal lobby of women in women’s cricket, arguing for equal pay with the men
I see the Saudi Arabian Sports-washing project gathers ever more pace. President Trump himself is brokering the surrender of the PGA Tour to whatever terms LIV Golf wishes to impose. One commentator on SSN said the 'reunification' of Golf would mean "we're all better off". Never a truer word was spoken. Better off = paid off, with Saudi blood money. Meanwhile ITV will be well paid for showing the next LIV tournament.
President Donald J Trump has signed an Executive Order in America, preventing men who pretend to be women from competing in women’s sport I merely note that lifelong Democrats, including LBTQ Martina Navratilova, have warmly congratulated President Trump on this very sensible move. We need the same law here in the UK.
The whole issue of transgender sports competition is a difficult and unhappy one. There is no way to keep everyone happy. I would have to conclude that the least worst option is to be fair to the greatest proportion of competitors, Which are those who are not transgender. A majority of around 99.9% at an uneducated guess. Sadly life cannot be fair to everyone. I'm sorry though @Part Time Crombie Model that you choose the term "men pretending to be women" to describe transgender people. It does sound dismissive and somewhat disrespectful to me. Akin to describing religious folk as "People pretending there is a God".
