{"id":10975,"date":"2025-03-27T17:57:34","date_gmt":"2025-03-27T17:57:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=10975"},"modified":"2025-03-31T21:46:21","modified_gmt":"2025-03-31T20:46:21","slug":"a-perspective-on-the-womens-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=10975","title":{"rendered":"A Perspective on the Women’s Game"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

For those of you who have never attended a Women\u2019s game before, let me fill you in. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first thing to note is when you approach the ground you will notice far less hostility in the air. Everyone is excited of course but it\u2019s a different kind of excitement. It\u2019s far less rowdy. Nobody is staggering out of the pub shouting expletives at opposition fans. Police presence is minimal. Swearing is thin on the ground. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also, the demographic is different. A much larger proportion of the crowd is made up of women.  Over the last 10-15 years I\u2019ve noticed more and more women attending men\u2019s games but in the women\u2019s game it\u2019s on a different scale. We all want all women to feel completely safe and comfortable at the men\u2019s games but for now, it is a very positive thing that they can attend women\u2019s games, many of which are in N5 and not have any of these worries. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, onto the game itself. To set the scene, this was a Champions League Quarter Final second leg against Real Madrid. We had lost 2-0 in Madrid and the biggest talking point was the sub-standard pitch on which we had to play that was barely Sunday league standard. It\u2019s extremely poor on both Real Madrid\u2019s and UEFA\u2019s part that such a high-profile game was allowed to be played in those conditions. But it meant we had it all to do at home albeit on a surface immeasurably better than the one we were subjected to last week. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Very quickly, you could see why Real weren\u2019t too bothered about playing their games on a surface that makes Hackney Marshes look like a carpet as they spent the bulk of the game out of possession chasing their own shadows and when they did have the ball it was never too long until we reclaimed it. The first half especially followed the patterns we often see in the men\u2019s game; loads of possession but not many chances created and a lot of frustration. We had a couple of half chances and penalty shouts which were waved away by the referee who was giving Real Madrid all the help they could get. Do you see what I mean when I said it was like watching the men?! But despite this frustration you always felt we were wearing them down slowly but surely and eventually our pressure would tell and when it did, Madrid would crumble.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And less than a minute into the second half we finally halved the deficit and deservedly so. We cut through down the right-hand side and Chloe Kelly\u2019s pinpoint cross found Alessia Russo who poked home to the relief of N5. Three minutes later we hauled ourselves level through a similar avenue. Another sumptuous ball from Kelly found Mariona who was steaming into the box and saw her powerful header squirm through the goalkeeper\u2019s grasp sending the Emirates into raptures. Madrid looked like rabbits in headlights, and they failed miserably in their attempt to muster any sort of response. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unsurprisingly, we got our inevitable third goal ten minutes later. Following a free kick, one of the few we were given all night, Steph Catley knocked the ball down for Russo who smashed home her second on the half-volley to put The Arsenal in front for the first time in the tie. Russo thought she had completed a sensational hat trick shortly after, but it was harshly ruled out for offside following a two-minute check. The game had kicked off again before the referee decided to blow her whistle. It\u2019s nice to see it\u2019s not just the men\u2019s game who have to put up with such amateur officiating. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Russo had time to grab another disallowed goal in the closing stages.  Once again it seemed to have been disallowed for her shirt being the wrong colour. But Madrid were still unable to respond and we very deservedly held on for our place in the semi finals. The full-time whistle greeted by raucous cheers from the 22,000 strong crowd who were magnificent, it must be said. Some may sneer at the attendance but it is clear that Arsenal have a very passionate and devoted support for our girls. I can\u2019t speak for other clubs, but it seems we are ahead of the pack in this regard and have been for some time. Let us not forget it was our own Vic Akers who got the ball rolling for Women\u2019s football at Arsenal back in 1987 and we\u2019ve been smashing records and setting trends ever since. Before City and Chelsea came along with their ill-gotten gains, we cleaned up domestically being totally dominant up until around a decade ago. we are still there or thereabouts every year, and we do have an outside chance of winning the WSL this year, but it is in the Champions League basket that most of our eggs are placed for now. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last night\u2019s heroics have set up a semi final glamour tie with Lyon at the end of April with the first leg being played in N5. Tickets have already gone on sale, and they appear to be selling like hot cakes. Personally, I couldn\u2019t recommend going to a game any more highly. The atmosphere was electric, better than I anticipated in all honesty. It offers a family friendly environment and tickets are far cheaper and easier to come by than the men\u2019s. And, as I am sure you have gathered from my report, the football is pretty damn good too. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Women\u2019s football continues to gather momentum and Arsenal are very much a key trendsetter in that regard. I hope that this can spark more interest in the women\u2019s game on the blog and beyond. It\u2019s not everyone\u2019s cup of tea but its popularity is only heading in one direction and that\u2019s upwards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arsenal have knocked Real Madrid out of the Champions League. Hopefully not for the last time this season\u2026\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For those of you who have never attended a Women\u2019s game before, let me fill you in.  The first thing to note is when you approach the ground you will notice far less hostility in the air. Everyone is excited of course but it\u2019s a different kind of excitement. It\u2019s far less rowdy. Nobody is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18,6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10975"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10975"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10975\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10978,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10975\/revisions\/10978"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10975"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10975"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10975"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}