Normally, this blog posting would be titled ‘The Game on 18th
August,’ However, there wasn’t a game on 18th August. I stand corrected, there were plenty of
games, but the one I was supposed to attend didn’t happen…why?... well, I checked
Twitter a couple of hours before I was about to set off and found this: -
There does not appear to be any further information on Burnley Belvedere
Ladies Twitter, Facebook or Website – it seems they have wiped this game from their
minds either using a Neuralyzer or an Obliviate spell!
On social media, over previous weeks, they have been calling out
for new players and perhaps they just don’t have enough players to put a team
together? This may be another example of the inequalities of football at lower
levels of the game?
I’m going to add another top-flight whinge about the Manchester
United Women’s Team. Their League Cup Fixtures were announced on August 15th,
but they still have not bothered to include these games into the season
fixtures on either their Website or Official Club App. How can fans invest more
in the women’s game when the clubs don’t?
Enough complaining and let’s mention a positive in the women’s
game. Last Wednesday’s European Super Cup final between Liverpool and Chelsea (congratulations
Liverpool as their success continues) was officiated by a full female team of
referees – this is the first time for a men’s major final and a great step in
the right direction. Main referee
Stephanie Frappart received praise from fans and pundits for her performance - an
improvement on the Andy Gray era in which he was sacked from Sky Sports after
making derogatory comments about a female official.
Also, a significant improvement on 1895 according to Tim Tate’s
book. In that year, the British Medical
Journal published an editorial condemning women’s football as it could cause
them severe and possible life threatening injury. This was proved incorrect by early female pioneers who took a
woman’s team on a 26-week tour in which they played 34 games – no male footballer
at that time had taken part in so many games in a season.
These early female pioneers used fake names to protect
themselves, and one such pseudonym, who led the 26-week tour, was Nettie Honeyball
– this fake name sounds like a Bond Girl. I can
just imagine it now…
Sean Connery – ‘Good evening, Nettie, I’d like some honey on my
balls’ (raised eyebrow).
Nettie – ‘Come, come Mr Bond, if you tried playing keeps ups,
you’d make a sticky mess on your lovely tailored frock coat.’
Anyway…
Despite the Burnley Belvedere Ladies ‘No show,’ we will move
onto the Preliminary Round of the men’s and women’s 2019/20 FA Cup.
We witnessed on 10th August a thrilling 3-4 game as
Litherland Remyca knocked out Avro FC to progress against… Sheffield FC
The GKA will be travelling 43.4 miles from Avro FC to ‘The Home
of Football Stadium.’
Sheffield FC were
football pioneers! They are recognised
by the FA as the worlds first football club and they were instrumental in the
development of the English Football Association and in helping to create a unified
set of rules throughout the country.
They play in the
Northern Premier League, Division One East, at Tier 8 of the English Football
League System.
On Saturday 24th
August 2018 the GKA, along with a brand-new blog guest, will be heading to ‘The
Home of Football Stadium.’
Over to the women’s
game…
The last time I
wrote this blog in 2013 I followed Ashton Athletic in the Extre-Preliminary
Round and after a replay they beat St Helen’s Town and played Curzon Ashton in
the following round. Now, in 2019, I’m
going back to Curzon to watch the Women’s Team.
Our Extra-Preliminary
Round ‘victors’ Mossely Hill Ladies have drawn away against Curzon Ashton
Ladies!
In 2013 I followed Curzon
for five games until they were knocked out by Stourbridge FC. Curzon were a friendly team that supported our
blog by mentioning it on their website and in their Match Day Program. It seems
that both the men’s and women’s team play at the excellent Tameside Stadium .
Which is 46.5 miles for the GKA to travel from Mossley Hill…
Curzon Ladies play in the North West Women’s Regional League –
this is in either Tier 5 or 6 of the women’s football pyramid – as per usual, up-to-date information on lower league women’s football is hard to find.
The GKA is planning on attending this game, with ex-blog guest
favourite Mr Tops, on Sunday 1st September.
Blast from the past! As
mentioned, Brian James made a ‘Journey to Wembley’ adventure in 1976/77 and I’ll
be serialising aspects of his journey.
His opening Preliminary Men’s game was: -
Hinkley Athletic V Tividale
Two local teams in the midlands area…
Rather much like the Burnley Belvedere Ladies, it appears that
lower lever teams in the late 1970s would sometimes struggle to get enough
players. Are there parallels between the women’s game now and men’s football of
that era?
According to modern day pundits the FA cup has lost some significance
since its glory days, due to the growth and importance of European
Football. Brian James’s book has some
interesting interviews with the Tivdale payers on the run up to their opening
FA cup match. Many of those players had just failed to ‘make it’ at a top-level
club and they saw the FA cup as a chance to prove themselves against higher
opposition. They saw it as a chance to get revenge against the clubs that told
that they weren’t good enough, and I wonder if modern day footballers feel the
same?
I’ll add a bit of that story to this blog for even further
contrast… for example the price to get in was 25p, whilst OPS and Children got
in for 10p. How times have changed…
