More Women’s Football positives
as yesterday FIFA announced plans to expand the 2023 World Cup to 32 teams – I have
mixed feelings on this in the short term as there aren’t enough good teams
right now to make the group stage matches competitive. One of my friends texted
me after USA beat Thailand 13-0 and said,
‘women’s football is a joke.’ However, men’s football can also be one-sided as
Man City won the FA Cup final 6-0 (and that was a final!), plus men’s World Cup
games have been equally one-sided in the past (Australia beat American Samoa
31-0 in a 2002 World Cup Qualifying game). On reflection, I think that expanding the women’s
World Cup to 32 teams is a great long-term idea as it will spark more interest around
the world. If more Countries can have a genuine chance of qualifying for the most
prestigious competition in International Football, then surely this is a good
development.
A recent BBC article said
that "The Women's World Cup is the most powerful trigger for the
professionalisation of the women's game, but it comes just once every four
years and is only the top of a much greater pyramid. In the meantime, we all
have a duty to do the groundwork and strengthen women's football development
infrastructure across all confederations."
I couldn’t agree more with
the above statement so let’s get on to GKA business: -
Mossley Hill Ladies V Burnley
Belvedere Ladies – Sunday 18th August, 2019.
Burnley Belvedere Ladies FC were formed in 2017. They play in the Lancashire FA Women’s County
League – Premier Division – I think it is in Tier 5, but it could be Tier 6 as
it is difficult to find up to date information on the Women’s Football Pyramid!
Information seems to be a couple of years out of date, but I’ve already said
enough about this in previous posts.
Belvo Ladies play their home games at Belvedere and Calder Vale
Sports Club. This is about 2.5 miles
north of Burnley Manchester Road train station, towards Brierfield. Burnley itself is a town in East Lancashire
and the men’s football team have a massive rivalry with local team Blackburn
(apparently, the fans just don’t get along).
Like many Northern towns, Burnley boomed during the Industrial
revolution due to engineering and the cotton industry – a lot has happened in
the North since then!
The Singing Ringing Tree is a wind powered sound sculpture that
overlooks the Burnley Town Centre in the landscape of the Pennines – this
sculpture won an award for architectural excellence in 2007.
Possibly the most famous export from Burnley is actor Sir Ian
McKellen (Lord of the Rings, X-Men, plus numerous other roles and National
Theatre Performances) and he was born there in 1939.
Burnley Belvedere Ladies FC are surrounded by Pendle Hill and
the Yorkshire Dales in this picturesque part of Lancashire. I welcome them to our blog and wish them
every success in the 2019/20 football season.
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