Womens football seems to be top heavy With local girls with zero footprint in the NE

Jedi boro

Well-known member
It seems all he big names are from the NE yet none of the games were held north of Leeds and not one one NE side in the top league.

Weren’t sunlun once the top side so why aren’t they in top league now.
 
It seems all he big names are from the NE yet none of the games were held north of Leeds and not one one NE side in the top league.

Weren’t sunlun once the top side so why aren’t they in top league now.
Sunderland were probably the top NE side 10 years ago but they suffered when the link to the men's team was broken around the same time as the WSL was moving towards full professionalism. They were relegated to the 3rd tier but have bounced back to the Championship with Durham. I think the links with the mens team have been reinstated now and they are a semi professional club. Durham are in the Championship as well and have been steady in that division for years.

As someone else pointed out, there has always been a decent level of grassroots football for girls in the NE and that's why a lot of players come from the area. Sunderland benefitted from that with a lot of players from Newcastle down to Middlesbrough ending up at the club when they were in the WSL. There are still good players coming through in the area and if one of the NE teams could get into the WSL then they could benefit from that talent.

Boro have a good crop of youngsters coming through, but don't have any support from the men's team. Elyssia Boddy moved to Leicester this season and looks a really talented player. Faye Dale and Katie Omeraud looked like good players when I went to see them this season. The local RTC is really good but there needs to be a local WSL team or most of them will drop out of the game. And, unfortunately, a WSL team now has to have ownership willing to take huge losses as they need to pay professional wages to players and backroom staff when the income isn't really there to match. I think Newcastle are planning on really investing in their women's team (ironic considering the owners of the club), so I'd expect them to be I the WSL within the next 5 years, which would be good for female players.
 
I read an article that said no North East teams were able to host any games as us and Sunderland had concerts on so was a delay getting pitch ready and Newcastle had the Rugby on.
 
I read an article that said no North East teams were able to host any games as us and Sunderland had concerts on so was a delay getting pitch ready and Newcastle had the Rugby on.
Can't see that being true. Stadiums were chosen in 2018 with the original tournament date of 2021 in mind. No concerts were scheduled for 2021 at the Riverside or Stadium of Light at that time.

I believe that neither club put their stadium forward for any games in 2018 though. Interest in women's football was much lower before the 2019 World Cup.
 
Can't see that being true. Stadiums were chosen in 2018 with the original tournament date of 2021 in mind. No concerts were scheduled for 2021 at the Riverside or Stadium of Light at that time.

I believe that neither club put their stadium forward for any games in 2018 though. Interest in women's football was much lower before the 2019 World Cup.
Yeah that makes more sense..... Maybe I read that on twitter and thought it was true 😂
 
I like the games being spread about to stadia not normally associated with international football.

We haven't done badly up here for representative games in the past, just not our turn to this time and let's face it, we haven't backed women's football for club matches, why should we expect the top games here?
 
Yeah that makes more sense..... Maybe I read that on twitter and thought it was true 😂
Haha I believe somewhere might have said it. But I think they made it up 😂.

I like the games being spread about to stadia not normally associated with international football.

We haven't done badly up here for representative games in the past, just not our turn to this time and let's face it, we haven't backed women's football for club matches, why should we expect the top games here?
I don't think it's right to equate support for club matches with the right to host games in the North East. We don't have any WSL sides in the area, so the sides are either semi pro (Durham and Sunderland) or amateur (everyone else). We really do need a WSL side in the area for sustained interest in women's football to be built and for girls with the talent to feel as though they have a real opportunity to make it in the game. As I said above, I think it's likely that Newcastle will be that club, however (unless they are parachuted up the leagues which is not unheard of) they'll need at least 3 promotions to get there. Middlesbrough don't have the investment from the men's club to sustain semi pro or pro contacts. Although I hope that the move to Stockton Town's ground next season will lead to more fans turning out for their games.

I do think that if Boro, Newcastle or Sunderland had put their grounds forward for the competition, they would have been chosen. And I really think that it would have been good with the FAs aim to attract more girls into football to have games in the North East. However, if they didn't put the grounds forward then the grounds can't be chosen and hopefully there'll be more games held up here after the tournament is over.
 
North East wasn’t overlooked by the organisers, sadly it is the other way around. The NE overlooked the Euros when asked to bid back in 2018. A huge shame as some of the venues have been far from full.
 
Haha I believe somewhere might have said it. But I think they made it up 😂.


I don't think it's right to equate support for club matches with the right to host games in the North East. We don't have any WSL sides in the area, so the sides are either semi pro (Durham and Sunderland) or amateur (everyone else). We really do need a WSL side in the area for sustained interest in women's football to be built and for girls with the talent to feel as though they have a real opportunity to make it in the game. As I said above, I think it's likely that Newcastle will be that club, however (unless they are parachuted up the leagues which is not unheard of) they'll need at least 3 promotions to get there. Middlesbrough don't have the investment from the men's club to sustain semi pro or pro contacts. Although I hope that the move to Stockton Town's ground next season will lead to more fans turning out for their games.

I do think that if Boro, Newcastle or Sunderland had put their grounds forward for the competition, they would have been chosen. And I really think that it would have been good with the FAs aim to attract more girls into football to have games in the North East. However, if they didn't put the grounds forward then the grounds can't be chosen and hopefully there'll be more games held up here after the tournament is over.
Agreed. It's not the organisers who are discriminating against the NE, it's the clubs who showed no interest in hosting games.
 
I like the games being spread about to stadia not normally associated with international football.

We haven't done badly up here for representative games in the past, just not our turn to this time and let's face it, we haven't backed women's football for club matches, why should we expect the top games here?
To be fair The Riverside has been one of the best supported grounds for the English womens football side. We got a crowd of just shy of 30,000 for the 2019 Brazil friendly
 
Can't see that being true. Stadiums were chosen in 2018 with the original tournament date of 2021 in mind. No concerts were scheduled for 2021 at the Riverside or Stadium of Light at that time.

I believe that neither club put their stadium forward for any games in 2018 though. Interest in women's football was much lower before the 2019 World Cup.
We hosted the Arnold Clark trophy last season along with Wolves and Norwich.
 
Talking of legacy Beth Mead started a football scholarship at Teesside University. That is real legacy.

 
We hosted the Arnold Clark trophy last season along with Wolves and Norwich.
We did and it was a great game and great atmosphere, but that was after 2019 when interest in the women's game increased exponentially. There had never been any games held at the Riverside before the world cup in 2019.

I'm pretty sure games in the NE were still being held at Hartlepool up until 2017. If the tournament was being held in 2025 I'm pretty sure Boro, Sunderland and Newcastle would be pushing to host games.
 
We did and it was a great game and great atmosphere, but that was after 2019 when interest in the women's game increased exponentially. There had never been any games held at the Riverside before the world cup in 2019.

I'm pretty sure games in the NE were still being held at Hartlepool up until 2017. If the tournament was being held in 2025 I'm pretty sure Boro, Sunderland and Newcastle would be pushing to host games.
They're all happy to host England vs anyone. Clubs were much less willing to host the less box office games.
 
Talking of less box office games, the Riverside is hosting Tonga v Cook Islands in the Rugby League World Cup in October, I have my tickets (y) :)
 
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