Inbetween Hayes – WSL/women's football 2022/23

[Janik]

Some ticket holders still didn’t turn up, even with that much spent on getting in. But ~47,500 did show, with the resultant effect on the atmosphere plain to hear. Arsenal winning 4-0 also helped in that regard. Second 4-0 for them. Which makes them the early pace-setters in the WSL.

[Jobi1]

Interesting game this afternoon between Chelsea and Man City. The latter were pretty decent and Berger had to pull off a few cracking saves. City always looked a little vulnerable at the back though - don't reckon Steph Houghton has too long to go on this evidence - deserved win for Chelsea in the end.

Another well-attended derby at Anfield to finish a good weekend.

[Janik]

Crowds (with venue and venue capacity) this weekend;

Arsenal-Spurs: 47,367 (Emirates Stadium, 60,260)
Brighton-Reading: 5,220 (Amex Stadium, 31,800)
Chelsea-Man City: 4,403 (Kingsmeadow, 4,850)
Leicester-Aston Villa: not available as yet (King Power, 32,312)
Liverpool-Everton: 27.574 (Anfield, 53,394)
West Ham-Man United: 2,104 (Victoria Road, 6,078)

Decent evidence in there that the bigger grounds encourage bigger crowds. So all games should be at those grounds - which should be considered First XI venues. First XIs being something these clubs all have two of. I wonder how many Chelsea-Man City would have drawn in at Stamford Bridge...

[Jobi1]

Decent evidence in there that the bigger grounds encourage bigger crowds.

Understandable I guess. With all due respect to them, I imagine the likes of Kingsmeadow and Victoria Road are a bit of a tough sell to kids whose last memory of the sport are those big Euros games.

[Jobi1]

Mentioned upthread, the York v Leeds National League Div One North game went ahead at the Legodome tonight, finishing 1-1, but the most important stat is that it pulled an incredible crowd of 2,280. A special occasion of course, but really illustrates the potential, if fourth-tier games can attract attendances of that size.

[Janik]

It definitely does. There would be only relatively few male fourth tier games around the world that can better that crowd this season/year, and those concentrated in English League Two and the German Regionalligas. It must be in the running for a record ever attendance in the Women's Fourth Tier? In fact in any Women's Fourth Tier, ever, anywhere.

[Southport Zeb]

In May Newcastle attracted over 20,000 in the same division last season for a game against Alnwick. The match was played at St James' Park. Originally the opposition were meant to be Barnsley, but the Sheffield FA insisted that they had to play in the county cup final that Saturday and could not play twice in the weekend. With the stadium booked and marketing underway, Newcastle persuaded already relegated Alnwick to switch their "home" game from the Alnwick St James' Park to the Newcastle version.

[ursus arctos]

Not a bad way to put your club into a final

https://twitter.com/nwsl/status/1584319329515864064?s=61&t=ChwBElqs0nMAZguzXosR9Q

[Jobi1]

FA Cup 1st round draw has just been made. Are we doing a separate thread for the tournament? In case not, I'll just leave this here...

EDIT: The FA had managed to list Saltash in this draw, rather than Exeter, despite the latter winning their qualifying tie 12-0 at the weekend, so I'm not 100% sure how accurate the rest are.

1 Fleetwood Town Wrens v Liverpool Feds
2 Norton & Stockton Ancients v Durham Cestria
3 Consett v Warrington Wolves Foundation or Farsley Celtic Juniors
4 Middlesbrough v Bradford City
5 Stockport County v Penrith
6 FC United of Manchester v Merseyrail
7 Doncaster Rovers Belles v Huddersfield Town
8 Leeds United v Brighouse Town
9 Darwen v Barnsley
10 Hull City v Newcastle United
11 Cheadle Town Stingers v York City
12 Alnwick Town v Fylde
13 Tranmere Rovers v Burnley
14 Wallsend v Redcar Town
15 Worcester City v Coventry Sphinx
16 West Bromwich Albion v Crewe Alexandra
17 Sporting Khalsa v Boldmere St Michaels
18 Oughtibridge War Memorial v Nottingham Forest or Nottingham Trent University
19 Peterborough United v Stourbridge
20 Sedgley & Gornal United v Solihull Moors
21 Asfordby v Burton Albion or Lichfield City
22 Sutton Coldfield Town v Long Eaton United Community or Leafield Athletic
23 Lincoln United or Northampton Town v Dronfield Town
24 Shrewsbury Town v Wolverhampton Wanderers
25 Loughborough Lightning v Sheffield
26 Lye Town v Wem Town or Chesterfield
27 Stoke City v Derby County
28 Billericay Town v King’s Lynn Town
29 Bowers & Pitsea v Harpenden Town or Needham Market
30 Royston Town v London Seaward or St Ives Town
31 Norwich City v Enfield Town
32 Colney Heath or Cambridge City v Bedford or Hashtag United
33 Milton Keynes Dons v Mulbarton Wanderers
34 Luton Town or AFC Sudbury v Ipswich Town
35 Hounslow or Clapton Community v Ashford United
36 Watford v Fulham
37 Abingdon Town v Portsmouth
38 Moneyfields v Crawley Wasps
39 AFC Whyteleafe or Ebbsfleet United v Southampton Women’s
40 AFC Stoneham v Actonians
41 Dartford v Ascot United
42 Selsey v Queens Park Rangers or AFC Wimbledon
43 Aylesford v Dulwich Hamlet
44 Millwall Lionesses v Gillingham
45 Oxford United v Chesham United
46 Richmond Park or Worthing v Sutton United
47 Hackney v London Bees
48 Swindon Town v Frampton Rangers
49 Bournemouth Sports or AEK Boco v Pucklechurch Sports
50 Portishead Town v Eastleigh In The Community
51 Exeter City v AFC Bournemouth or Forest Green Rovers
52 Cardiff City v Bridgwater United
53 Poole Town or Weymouth v Keynsham Town
54 Bishops Lydeard v Liskeard Athletic
55 Warminster Town v Torquay United
56 Plymouth Argyle v Cheltenham Town

[Etienne]

https://twitter.com/terriharvey_13/status/1589311515340832768?s=20&t=X7nJKf515B3rDxmOYZGEqg

[Jobi1]

Hugely significant moment at the end of the Arsenal v Chelsea match just now, Sam Kerr digging Chelsea out with an 89th minute equaliser (after Leah Williamson had completely lost her in the box). An Arsenal win would have put them level on points with a game in hand.

Another great big-match crowd of almost 47,000.

[Sunderporinostesta]

The Wear-Wear Derby ended 3-2 to the part timers. Well done Sunderland. Unlucky Durham.

[longeared]

Chelsea v Liverpool on BBC2 has just been abandoned after six minutes because the pitch was frozen. Fundamentally the right decision as the players were slipping all over the place, but it begs the question as to why the ref attempted a start in the first place.

[Sean of the Shed]

Apparently the ref was put under pressure to play by the league.

[Seven Saxon Kings]

Chelsea v Liverpool on BBC2 has just been abandoned after six minutes because the pitch was frozen. Fundamentally the right decision as the players were slipping all over the place, but it begs the question as to why the ref attempted a start in the first place.

More pertinently it begs the question of why one of the richest teams in all of women's football is playing in a non-league ground; and why they don't let the women play at Stamford Bridge and give Kingsmeadow back to Kingstonian.

[Levin]

Do spurs play all their home games at Orient?

I saw that Iwabuchi is on loan from Arsenal. Firstly, how much Spurs Arsenal antagonism is there. Secondly, are loans between teams in the same league a thing?

[ursus arctos]

They have played at least one match against Arsenal at the new stadium, but otherwise play at Brisbane Road.

The rules expressly provide for loans within the Women's Super League.

You need someone on the ground for the antagonism question, but my sense is that it is a fraction of that with respect to the men.

[colchestersid]

Watching Wales v Philippines in the Pinatar Cup (live on BBC website)

Mrs Sid is Filipino so taking an interest. Most interesting nugget is that 10 out of the 11 starting line up for the Philippines were born in the USA with the other being born in Norway

1-0 to Wales

[Gas In Name Only]

So, a couple of weeks ago Everton announced that the derby v Liverpool will be played at Goodison on Sunday March 26th. Tickets went on sale to members etc and then general sale last week. By the looks of the seat plan they've shifted thousands already - most of the Family Enclosure has gone and the best blocks at either end and in the Main Stand have been selling nicely.

This afternoon they announce it's been moved to the Friday night from Sunday lunchtime. Refunds available. I've knocked back a shift at work to go on the Sunday which I now can't reclaim so it's cost me a day's pay - refunding my £4 ticket won't really compensate. More to the point, an awful lot of families who were planning on making the trip on a Sunday lunchtime now can't go on the Friday evening and a lot of kids are going to be getting told tonight that their trip to Goodison for the Derby is off.

Big slow handclap for the WSL and Sky for this outstanding bit of planning

[Janik]

So, a couple of weeks ago Everton announced that the derby v Liverpool will be played at Goodison on Sunday March 26th. Tickets went on sale to members etc and then general sale last week. By the looks of the seat plan they've shifted thousands already - most of the Family Enclosure has gone and the best blocks at either end and in the Main Stand have been selling nicely.

This afternoon they announce it's been moved to the Friday night from Sunday lunchtime. Refunds available. I've knocked back a shift at work to go on the Sunday which I now can't reclaim so it's cost me a day's pay - refunding my £4 ticket won't really compensate. More to the point, an awful lot of families who were planning on making the trip on a Sunday lunchtime now can't go on the Friday evening and a lot of kids are going to be getting told tonight that their trip to Goodison for the Derby is off.

Big slow handclap for the WSL and Sky for this outstanding bit of planning

Six weeks ahead doesn’t sound unusual for TV to be picking their games to show. As such I would be looking at the club for announcing the date as certain when it wasn’t yet and starting selling tickets too early.
It’s the issues men’s football has had with TV contracts being repeated of course. But women’s football clearly needs both the income and exposure that TV brings. Which is why I would be asking questions of the club here (which they may have good answers to - if, say, they were privately told that the derby being shifted to Friday was unlikely).

[Janik]

Big 1-0 win for Chelsea over Man United, which takes them above United with a game-in-hand to boot. Probably means Hayes’ side winning the league again... and doing that despite a number of long term injuries to significant players.
Winning goal was a beaut - weighted curling pass over/behind the defence from Lauren James, chest control and then clever lobbed finish from Sam Kerr. 50 yards, 5 seconds, 3 perfect touches, goal. It’s what quality players can do.

[Janik]

Kadeisha Buchanan was player-of-the-match. Which shows the importance of money, doesn’t it. That’s why Harder, Cuthbert, etc. can be in the stands and Chelsea still winning.

[Gas In Name Only]

Bristol Rovers sit three points clear of Torquay with one game left in the South West Regional League. Likely champions? No, because Torquay have three games left and while Rovers are likely to finish their programme atop the division, we're going to have to wait another four weeks for Torquay to finish theirs. The joys of an amateur league, no midweek games and county cups taking precedence over everything

[Jobi1]

Quite a time for Arsenal's women as well as the men - still very much in the hunt in the league, 3 points off top spot but with a game and games to come (the next two in fact) against both Manchester clubs, and now tonight's impressive win over Bayern. All the more impressive given their attacking absences.

[Sporting]

There was absolutely no need for the Lyon player to commit that penalty - if indeed it was one.