JN2053 Article 2

Women’s football….on a level playing field?

The women’s Premier League Cup semi-finals take place today, with Preston North End Ladies taking on Doncaster Rovers Belles and Arsenal Ladies taking on Chelsea Ladies. The Northern contingent of the semis play at the 15,000 seater Keepmoat Stadium, where a full house is unlikely. Neither game will be seen on TV, nor can you expect much press coverage tomorrow when the results are in.

Let’s compare this to the men’s equivalent of the Premier League Cup, The Carling Cup. For starters, the games are played over two legs, giving the clubs more opportunity for revenue. Last year’s semis saw Chelsea beat Everton 3-1 on aggregate, with both Goodison Park and Stamford Bridge being sell-outs for its corresponding fixture. The other semi saw Tottenham thrash Arsenal 6-2, with a crowd almost hitting 40,000 and fans all over the world able to watch the game on satellite TV.

When it comes to men’s and women’s football, it certainly isn’t a level playing field. In the Premier League, there are players like Cristiano Ronaldo and Frank Lampard who see £60,000 drop into their bank accounts every week, where in the women’s Premier League, some players aren’t even professional, still having to work two jobs to afford to live.

Women’s football fans are lucky to see a live ladies game every few months, if that. Compare this to men’s football, where on three or four days a week you can flick on to Sky Sports, Setanta, ITV or BBC and be able to watch live games or highlights. The gulf between men’s and women’s football is massive. But why is this?

Paul Green, First Team Assistant Manager at Doncaster Rovers Belles thinks that sponsorship is a major factor. ‘I think that it’s due to media coverage and it not being in the public eye as much, so to speak. Therefore big sponsors aren’t as interested in backing it as at present they don’t get much back for their money’.

Many British women footballers have been lured over the Atlantic to play soccer in the USA, where in some respects it is bigger than the men’s game. The new Women’s Professional Soccer League saw millions glued to their TV screens to watch the teams being drafted, with a live phone in afterwards on Fox Sports. Their revamped league aims to lure the best female footballers to the US, including our own Kelly Smith and Karen Carney, who both currently play for Arsenal Ladies.

Nicky Harding, a 25-year-old Blackburn Rovers Ladies player, spent three months of her career playing in America, for the New Hampshire Lady Phantoms. After explaining that she always wanted to be a pro footballer, she admitted that she can’t see women’s football ever being as big as men’s. ‘You could see with the women’s world cup, England did well to get to the Quarter-Finals, but not many people were interested in that’. The 2007 World Cup was expected to ignite more worldwide interest in women’s football, but despite the games being broadcast live, and despite England’s excellent performance in reaching the quarter-finals, enthusiasm for English women’s football lessened as soon as the World Cup finished.

Many changes need to be made to the way women’s football is handled, to encourage more interest and enthusiasm. ‘There needs to be more media coverage to help raise the profile and I think that this will come with the change over of women’s football into being a summer league’, said Paul Green. The FA have announced that in the summer of 2010, a new women’s 8-team Super League will come into action, where players will be given better contracts to help them financially and to avoid them being lured over to the USA. The fact that the league will be played over the summer, when no other top-flight football is being played, is hoped to be a major factor in bringing in viewers and encouraging more interest in the sport. It is also hoped that any increased interest in the sport will see grassroots participation level increase, and like men’s football, girls from a very young age will be brought up playing football and wanting to take it on as their career.

Whether this theory will come into practice, is yet to be seen. But the introduction of the Women’s Super League can be seen as nothing but a positive in attempting to bring women’s football to the fore. Maybe in twenty years time the women’s equivalent of Cristiano Ronaldo will be as rich and famous as he is now? Only time will tell.

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JN2053 Article 1

Preston push for prestigious final

Preston North End Women carry the hopes of the North West with them as they aim for their first FA Women’s League Cup final this weekend.

Preston travel to Doncaster on Sunday to take on the renowned Doncaster Rovers Belles, who sit a division above them in the Women’s Premier League National Division. The match takes place at the 15,000 seater Keepmoat Stadium, where Preston hope to cause a major upset and progress to the final.

Despite being the shock semi-finalists, the Lancashire side go into the game on the back of a brilliant unbeaten run under new manager Chris Stammers, and will be hoping to extend this further.

The Lilywhites route to the semis saw them defeat Newcastle United Ladies 2-1, and victories against Curzon Ashton LFC and Brighton and Hove Albion LFC took them to the quarter finals. They then faced a long round-trip to Portsmouth, where they came out victorious sending them within touching distance of this major cup final.

Meanwhile, despite facing financial uncertainty earlier in the year, the Belles are hoping to reach their first major cup final in 12 years. They fought off tough opposition from Tranmere, Nottingham Forest and Watford to reach Sunday’s semi-final. They are heavy favourites to win the tie and no doubt an appearance in the final would boost their flagging financial situation.

Like Preston, last year’s winners of the cup also hailed from the North West, in the form of Everton Ladies, who play in the National Division. They saw off a formidable Arsenal team, who had previously won 8 out of 14 League Cups, to take a 1-0 victory.

No matter which side reaches the final, it is guaranteed to be a North v South affair, with the other semi-final taking place on Sunday featuring Arsenal and Chelsea, two hot favourites to win the whole competition.

Murray on fire!!!

Andy Murray keeps on going from strength to strength with his 5th ATP title of the year! Now ranked 4th in the world, the Scotsman isn't doing too badly! Sky Sports columnist Mark Petchey has a very high opinion of our Andy at the moment... "It's difficult to know what else you can say about Andy right now but the way he has been playing during the indoor season it would be no exaggeration to say that he is the best player in the world with a roof over his head" (skysports.com). He speaks ahead of the Paris Masters which begin on Monday, and surely Murray must now be one of the favourites to steal the title and make it six for the year. Could we have ourselves a new British sporting superstar long-term? I certainly hope so, the country needs something to cheer about amongst all the recent doom and gloom.

Underdog

Everyone loves an underdog. Everyone loves to see the favourite get beaten by a lesser ranked opponent, it shakes things up a bit. This happened yesterday when women's number 1 Jelena Jankovic was beaten by Italian Flavia Pennetta in three sets. It was said that Jankovic was suffering from a wrist injury incurred during the match, but even so, a great victory for the Italian underdog.

It was the same when Nadal played Federer in the Wimbledon final this July. Although Nadal wasn't exactly a low ranked player, many wanted to see Federer knocked off the world Number One spot to be replaced by the Spaniard. I think this is almost instinct, it's nice to see someone beat the best! As it happens we were given an exquisite display of tennis, the best Wimbledon final of all time...as far as I'm concerned.

Now Nadal is world number one....Federer has taken leave from the sport....the feeling begins to emerge that we want to see the Swiss superstar back to his emphatic best. Hopefully Roger can do this for his fans...and his own career.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/tennis/7674444.stm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=heGaAh1dzQo (VideoCave, July 2008)

First Blog!

Welcome to my blog.....first one so here goes...

It comes as surprising news to most that Roger Federer has decided to take leave from tennis, starting with his absence from next week's Stockholm Open. The former world number one, who recently lost his title to Rafael Nadal, says that he needs rest after suffering from glandular fever at the beginning of the year. Maybe his new world number two status has pushed the Swiss supremo to deciding to take a break, and try to get back to his formidable best.

Another absence, this time for the rest of the season, comes in the shape of Maria Sharapova, who has been sidelined with a shoulder injury since August. It hasn't been the best year for Sharapova, despite winning the Australian Open in January. The Russian crashed out of Wimbledon in the second round, and due to her injury was forced to miss the Beijing Olympics and the US Open, both major events on the tennis calendar.

It's good to see Andy Roddick on form, last week winning the China Open. He beat world number 92 Dudi Sela in three close-run sets; 6-4, 6-7 (6-8), 6-3, leading the American to his third ATP title of the year. The victory seen Roddick move up to sixth in the ATP 2008 race, which if sustained will see him compete in the Tennis Masters Cup in Shanghai in November. It's refreshing to see that despite Roddick's 'celebrity status'; ie. dating models and pop stars, that he can still perform on the court. Andy would hope to fill one of the four remaining spots at Shanghai, with four already being filled by Rafa Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Britain's own Andy Murray and Roger Federer. But with the recent announcement of Federer's withdrawal, one extra place is available....

Speaking of Andy Roddick, he has today reached the semi-finals of the ATP AIG Japan Open in Tokyo; alongside Juan Martin Del Potro, France's Richard Gasquet and Tomas Berdych. The semi-finals, which take place tomorrow, see ATP 12th seed against 13th seed, in the form of Del Potro and Gasquet, respectively. Roddick will take on Czech Tomas Berdych.

In ladies tennis, Serena Williams has learned she is to lose her first place world ranking to Jelena Jankovic, after a shocking 2nd round exit to China's Li Na in the Porsche Grand Prix. This will be a huge blow to the American, who only got the top spot three weeks ago. Meanwhile, the other Williams sister Venus, and Jelena Jankovic have reached the quarter-finals of the Porsche Grand Prix in Stuttgart. The Williams sisters are amazing tennis players, but both seem to be at times erratic, this was shown by Serena in her 2nd round loss, after winning the first set 6-0 she then crashed out, losing the following two sets. I'm a fan of the sisters and admire their determination and attitude and I'm sure Serena will be back on a winning streak again soon.