Aston Villa Women 2023/24

[Drummond]

It's £750 if you get to hold Alisha's hand.

So did they take your credit card?

[Axl Rose]

It's the idea that you have to support them, and that they've somehow been crowbarred into parity with the men, that puts me off.

Again, agreed.

[amfy]

I guess I just mostly think of them like the youth team or the under 23s or something. They are Villa and if they’re on telly I’ll watch them and sometimes I’ll go to one of their more important games, or just the odd one randomly.
I care about them, but not like the men’s first team. Same as losing a Youth Cup Final isn’t like losing an FA Cup final. It’s disappointing, not heartbreaking.
That’s the range they sit in for me.
Yesterday, I went for a walk because it was a lovely day and only watched the second half. I’d miss a lovely day if the men’s first team were on.

[LeeB]

I guess I just mostly think of them like the youth team or the under 23s or something. They are Villa and if they’re on telly I’ll watch them and sometimes I’ll go to one of their more important games, or just the odd one randomly.
I care about them, but not like the men’s first team. Same as losing a Youth Cup Final isn’t like losing an FA Cup final. It’s disappointing, not heartbreaking.
That’s the range they sit in for me.
Yesterday, I went for a walk because it was a lovely day and only watched the second half. I’d miss a lovely day if the men’s first team were on.

This is where I am I think. I can't force myself to feel the same way about them as I do the men's team as it's a completely irrational devotion that doesn't apply anywhere else in my life, and much like paulie I'm loathe to take on more of that stuff.

However, I do also recognise that the women's side of the game has been extremely hard done by down the years and over-hyping the game now is necessary to put right many of those wrongs and help it going forward. And it doesn't need to convince the likes of me or anyone else on this board that's grown up in the old days, it's the effect it has on the youngsters that makes the difference.

[London Villan]

The driving motive is to make money - have the games at Villa Park, get new sponsors on board, secure the share of wallet of an untapped audience - there are some broader social benefits - but the clubs can smell the money as the womens game begins takes off.

[Brend'Watkins]

The driving motive is to make money - have the games at Villa Park, get new sponsors on board, secure the share of wallet of an untapped audience - there are some broader social benefits - but the clubs can smell the money as the womens game begins takes off.

That makes sense. Take the Villa for instance, are the WSL Villa fans a new set of fans that only go to see WSL games or do they attend both?

I wouldn't bother going even if it was free in. 

[OCD]

I watched the majority of the second half. It was one way traffic and Arsenal were unlucky not to equalise one or two times near the end of the 90 minutes, with some instances where I was amazed we didn't concede. As soon as the board went up showing 12 minutes of injury time, the writing was on the wall.

I don't feel particularly invested in the women's side though. I would have been gutted if the men's team had been that close to winning a tough away game at a top side only to lose in injury time.

Nice to see them doing well but there's still a big gap to the top sides in the league.

[Risso]

I guess I just mostly think of them like the youth team or the under 23s or something. They are Villa and if they’re on telly I’ll watch them and sometimes I’ll go to one of their more important games, or just the odd one randomly.
I care about them, but not like the men’s first team. Same as losing a Youth Cup Final isn’t like losing an FA Cup final. It’s disappointing, not heartbreaking.
That’s the range they sit in for me.
Yesterday, I went for a walk because it was a lovely day and only watched the second half. I’d miss a lovely day if the men’s first team were on.

This is where I am I think. I can't force myself to feel the same way about them as I do the men's team as it's a completely irrational devotion that doesn't apply anywhere else in my life, and much like paulie I'm loathe to take on more of that stuff.

However, I do also recognise that the women's side of the game has been extremely hard done by down the years and over-hyping the game now is necessary to put right many of those wrongs and help it going forward. And it doesn't need to convince the likes of me or anyone else on this board that's grown up in the old days, it's the effect it has on the youngsters that makes the difference.

The trouble is, the over-hyping can't get round the fact that you can't just manufacture history, meaning and rivalry. People might go along for a nice day out if the tickets are cheap, but it's going to take a generation to really build that deep-rooted support, if they ever achieve it.


As mentioned above, money will be the driving factor, and I just can't see any overseas broadcasters ever wanting to spend decent money on the WSL.

[OCD]

Does it really need the tribalism that comes with the men's game? One of the appeals of some other sports is that families are happy to go to them and rival fans can sit amongst eachother without it being an issue.

[paul_e]

Does it really need the tribalism that comes with the men's game? One of the appeals of some other sports is that families are happy to go to them and rival fans can sit amongst each other without it being an issue.

Agreed, my daughter really likes going to the womens games because she likes the atmosphere whereas the one time I took her to a mens game she hated how aggressive it was.

[astonvilla82]

Does it really need the tribalism that comes with the men's game? One of the appeals of some other sports is that families are happy to go to them and rival fans can sit amongst each other without it being an issue.

Agreed, my daughter really likes going to the womens games because she likes the atmosphere whereas the one time I took her to a mens game she hated how aggressive it was.

We shouldn't be encouraging women football, next they will want to drink in our pubs

[Bully2345]

There are kids now that are obsessed with football and they love both men's and women's football. They're growing up with visibility of both and i'd sooner take a child to a women's game than a men's game because of the reduced aggro, swearing and let's be honest, irrationality.

I'll never be majorly fussed by women's football and couldn't imagine going to Wembley if the Villa women made it to a cup final but that would change if I were to have kids who wanted to watch it

[kippaxvilla2]

My own view is that I will watch something that is of a high standard.  With the handful of games I have endured the standard has been by and large absolutely awful.  So I would not pay to watch it.  And this is not an anti women's sport thing.  For example I was  glued to the Raducanu US Open win because of the sheer quality of her tennis.  Less said about her now the better.  And as someone said earlier, trying to equate it in any way, shape or form to the men's game is just nonsensical.

[Risso]

Does it really need the tribalism that comes with the men's game? One of the appeals of some other sports is that families are happy to go to them and rival fans can sit amongst each other without it being an issue.

Agreed, my daughter really likes going to the womens games because she likes the atmosphere whereas the one time I took her to a mens game she hated how aggressive it was.

But like it or not, it's the passion that makes football as a whole easily the most popular sport in the world, and the Premier League in particular the most popular league in it. If you haven't got the intensity, and the quality isn't there, then it doesn't really deserve the exposure it's getting.

[amfy]

My own view is that I will watch something that is of a high standard.  With the handful of games I have endured the standard has been by and large absolutely awful.  So I would not pay to watch it.  And this is not an anti women's sport thing.  For example I was  glued to the Raducanu US Open win because of the sheer quality of her tennis.  Less said about her now the better.  And as someone said earlier, trying to equate it in any way, shape or form to the men's game is just nonsensical.

Have the men’s team not sometimes been absolutely awful?
There are also lots of football fans who support men’s teams in Leagues 1 & 2, or even pay admittance for The Conference/National League. People (maybe not you) watch football generally due to an investment in the outcome, even if that’s only watching their kids play, regardless of the standard.
I think investment in the outcome is a choice that doesn’t depend on the standard.
For me, I am interested in the women, but I feel that football already takes up far too much of my time and energy, so, like most other people here, I don’t want to get too interested.
However, we are seeing bigger attendances in the women’s game where it is really hard or prohibitively expensive to go the the men’s games for the same clubs, and this could be where families grow up supporting a women’s team, and do develop that emotional investment in it.