Saturday 25th January
2020, 15:00, Burnley FC V Norwich City FC - I’d
like to welcome Burnley FC to our blog
We discussed Burnley as a place, as a town, in our first women’s
game back in August 2019. Burnley Belvedere
Ladies were our opening women’s fixture in the Extra-Preliminary round –
however, that game wasn’t played as the ‘Ladies’ couldn’t get enough players
together and Mossley Hill Women’s team won their opening encounter by
default.
Burnley men’s football club join our blog (along
with Notts County and PNE) as one of the twelve founding members of the
football league. Burnley were
established in 1882 and since then they have been Champions of England on two
occasions – 1921 and 1960. They won the
FA cup in 1914 and reached the European Cup quarter finals in 1961.
Since those glory days the club has had its ups and downs; they
were relegated to the 4th Division in the mid-1980s and in 1987 the
team was one result away from being knocked out of the football league altogether. The 1990s onwards have seen a revival, as the club saw various promotions and they are currently enjoying their 4th
stint in the Premier League since 2009.
The team are known as the clarets,
due to the colour of their home shirts that they have played in since the 1910
season (initially as a tribute to the dominant team of that era, Aston Villa).
In 2020, Burnley FC are in 14th position in the
league with 27 points – 5 above the relegation zone and 7 points behind 5th
place (this could change after their game against Manchester United tonight,
22.01.20).
More importantly, their opponents
and conquerors of PNE in our last game, Norwich City, are premier league
strugglers this season. Norwich sit at the bottom of the table and are currently 10
points adrift of Burnley – plus Burnley have home field advantage, making them
favourites for Saturday’s game at Turf Moor.
Speaking of Turf Moor – it has been the home of Burnley FC since
1883 and it was easy to get a ticket for this match. The GKA registered on the
Burnley website, waited for the tickets to be available to non-season ticket
holders, and then purchased another excellent half-way line seat for £20.
The GKA will be travelling 23.1 miles from Deepdale Stadium, in
which Norwich City beat Preston North End.
To Turf Moor Stadium in Burnley…
In the GKA official routes, Northampton Town beat Burton Albion in
the last round, and they have a home tie against Derby County, live on BT sport
– Friday 24th January at 20:00. In the women’s official route,
Barnsley Women drew an away tie against Tottenham Women – Sunday 26th
January at 13:00.
However, this weekend is a Burnley GKA special as it is the
first time that we have covered games of both the Men’s and Women’s teams of
the same club, on the same weekend.
Sunday 26th January,
13:00, Burnley FC Women V Leicster City Women
I’d like to welcome Burnley Women FC to our blog.
Burnley Women’s Football Club is fully affiliated with the
Burnley Men’s Team. They were founded in
1995 as Burnley FC Girls and Ladies and then in 2018, changed their name to
Burnley FC Women, playing their home games at Arbories Memorial Sports Stadium
in Padiham, Burnley.
In the 2017/18 season they qualified for the 1st Round Proper of
the FA cup for the first time in their history – eventually losing to Cardiff
city in the 3rd Round Proper. This season they have done one better already.
Burnley Women play in the 3rd Tier of the Women’s
Football Pyramid – The Women’s National League Division One North. At this midway point of the season, they are
in 4th place (out of 12), only 3 point behind 2nd with a
game in hand.
Their FA cup opponents play in the Women’s Championship; the 2nd
tier of the Women’s League Pyramid, so this is going to be a challenging game
for Burnley Women – will home field advantage help? We’ll have to see, as every
women’s game so far that the GKA has covered has seen a victory for the away
side – the cup will decide!
Leicester City Women’s Football Team is also affiliated to the
Men’s Team in Leicester. The club was
founded in 2004 and after 4 successive promotions entered the 2nd tier of the
women’s game. After relegation in 2013
and a (another) league restructure it effectively placed them in the 4th
tier of the pyramid.
In 2016 they were back in the Northern Division One and then in 2018
they were given a licence to play in the Women’s Championship. They are
currently in 6th position (out of 11) – 20 points behind 2nd
place and only 5 points above the relegation zone.
This should be a cracker of a game.
The GKA will be travelling 27 miles from Brighouse Town FC…
To the Arbories Memorial Sports Stadium…
Other thangs (mainly whinging)
Another
GKA whinge about the lack of publicity in the women’s game. The League Cup quarter finals were last
Wednesday and after the result came, the FA site and BBC site simply stated –
Semi Final Draw to be announced. There
have been no major announcements and I’ve had to actively check their page on a
regular basis to find out that Manchester United are playing Chelsea and Manchester City
are playing Arsenal – these are arguably the 4 tops teams in the English
women’s game and as per usual, it’s not being promoted very well.
There was an interesting article on the BBC website about the prize
money disparity between the women’s and the men’s FA cup. As I’ve made this journey, it has been quite
clear that there is little financial support for the women’s game at grassroots
level.
This is illustrated in the two tables below. I have been to
all rounds, both men’s and women's since the Extra-Preliminary games in August
2019.
GKA Stadium costs
so far – Men v Women (up to 3rd Round Proper)
|
Men £94
|
£8 Women
|
GKA Prize Money –
Men V Women (up to 3rd Round Proper)
|
Men £271,390
|
Women £11,085
|
The winner of the men’s final will receive 5 times more money
than the winner of the women’s final.
I am a realist, and I understand that a lot of this is down to
market forces and perceived worth etc, but women’s team have stated that an
away tie in the FA cup can put clubs into a financial deficit. The GKA has also
been following the 1976/77 FA cup to look for comparisons and men’s teams in
those days were in a similar position.
The FA have stated that they are developing a 5-year strategy to
make the women’s game more commercially viable – small things like actively
promoting a League Cup Final might help.
1977
Liverpool V Carlisle United is our GKA featured game (taken from
Journey to Wembley by Brian James).
On a more serious note for 2020, should betting sites really be having
the rights to stream FA cup ties?
Whinge over –
let’s focus on our FA cup bumper bonanza weekend in Burnley as it’s going to be
great.
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