Copa

This world cup has raised lots of discussions about investment in girl/women’s soccer in Australia. I’m in my 50s and have always lived near lots of playing fields. I have never in my life seen adult women play soccer in real life. Not once. I’ve seen w-league highlights on TV but that’s all. I’ve seen heaps of adult women play touch football, Oz-tag, netball, rugby league, field hockey and even ultimate frisbee. I also work with women who play rugby union and AFL. I’ve never worked with a woman who has said she plays soccer. These are merely my observations though. I do, however, hope any investment into infrastructure for women’s sports reflects what they actually play.

Maybe next time.

Interesting developments in the NFL. https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profootballtalk/rumor-mill/news/nfl-says-positions-wearing-guardian-caps-saw-52-decrease-in-concussions “According to Miller, there has been a 52 percent decrease in concussions suffered by players at positions wearing Guardian Caps, compared to the concussion rate of players at the same positions over the last three years of training camps when Guardian Caps weren’t worn. As a result, this year the NFL has more players wearing Guardian Caps, and they’re wearing them longer into the preseason. There are still no plans, however, to have players wear Guardian Caps during games. The NFL is also continuing to promote research and development into position-specific helmets, such as helmets with more padding at the back of the helmet for quarterbacks, who get a large proportion of their concussions when the backs of their heads hit the ground. Miller said the early data on that front is promising.”

The NFL has studied hip drop tackles. https://www.nfl.com/news/nfl-expands-rule-against-misuse-of-helmet-guardian-caps-required-in-regular-seas “The hip drop tackle, which the league says leads to injury at a rate 20 times that of other tackles and causes more severe lower body injuries, is going to be a topic of more study leading into the owners' May meeting.”

I just checked my autocorrect and it defaults to “Matilda’s”..

I was in a remote part of Indonesia and wanted to get to a nearby town. I jumped in the parked minivan (minivans were the standard public transport in the area) and waited with the other passengers until it filled and the driver returned from his meal. When the driver returned I told him where I wanted to go and he agreed. I then asked him the fare and he said it was free for me. It turned out I got into a private car and the other passengers were his family members. They never said anything initially because they didn’t speak English and they didn’t know i could speak Indonesian. After they realised i could speak Indonesian they all laughed and thought it was hilarious. I was so embarrassed but they insisted on driving me to my destination.

The Matilda’s have done very well. Hopefully they can maintain this level for many years, however, if the rest of the women’s soccer world develops they may eventually struggle like the Socceroos have struggled.

I’m not exaggerating to say quite a few people in the crowd have probably only watched a few top level soccer matches in their life. I thought it was cool to hear the higher pitch of the cheering, yelling etc, indicating that heaps of females are in the crowd. This also happens for the women’s state of origin matches. This is a great thing.

I’m amazed at how many women I know here who have never watched a soccer match before (some have watched little kids play) who are watching this. I was in a pub in Melbourne the other night watching a match and a woman yelled out “great almond!”. She was quickly told about nutmegs.

$7 million from the government. https://www.reuters.com/sports/australia-set-up-pacific-championship-rugby-league-diplomacy-play-2023-08-16/

Good stuff. Lots of support from the Australian federal government too. https://www.nrl.com/news/2023/08/16/nrl-announce-2023-pacific-championships/ Six men’s teams and seven women’s teams will take part in the 2023 tournament across two pools, which will begin on October 14. The men’s tournaments will culminate in finals in Hamilton, New Zealand, and Port Moresby on November 4-5. The 2023 Championships will include two match days in Australia, two in New Zealand and four in Papua New Guinea (PNG). 2023 Pacific Championships Schedule Week One – October 14-15 Australia v Samoa (men) at Queensland Country Bank Stadium, Townsville Australia v New Zealand (women) at Queensland Country Bank Stadium Townsville PNG v Cook Islands (men) at Santos Stadium, Port Moresby Samoa v Fiji (women) at Santos Stadium, Port Moresby Week Two – October 21-22 New Zealand v Samoa (men) at Eden Park, Auckland New Zealand v Tonga (women) at Eden Park, Auckland Fiji v Cook Islands (men) at Santos Stadium, Port Moresby PNG v Cook Islands (women) at Santos Stadium, Port Moresby Week Three – October 28-29 Australia v New Zealand (men) at AAMI Park, Melbourne Australia v New Zealand (women) at AAMI Park, Melbourne PNG v Fiji (men) at Santos Stadium, Port Moresby Week Four – November 4-5 The Final of the men’s Pacific Cup tournament on November 4 in Hamilton, New Zealand The Final of the men’s Pacific Bowl tournament on November 5 at Santos Stadium, Port Moresby

It starts at around 22:30. He said they are working with the federal government and that the Australian government will help invest in png rugby league to ensure png are culturally linked to Australia and not some other country in the world (ie China). No mention of an nrl team though but it looks like some great investment is on the way.

At 21:40 V’landys says the nrl will provide expertise to the current rugby league competitions in the US.

Allegiant Stadium is quite the stadium. Hopefully they get enough people in to make it look busy.

Found it.. https://www.news.com.au/sport/football/world-cup/passenger-watches-lord-of-the-rings-as-australia-goes-nuts-for-matildas/news-story/5ff2c20eaf3db123241f3c45c8ca807d More than 3.5 million watched the Matildas’ round of 16 win over Denmark on Monday night on Channel 7 – 3.18m on TV and 385,000 on the 7plus streaming service. Even just those numbers were enough to outrate every NRL Grand Final and State of Origin since 2016 as well as five of the past seven AFL Grand Finals. And even more football fans more would have been watching via Optus Sport, as well as all those at live sites.

I was just speculating, i have no idea about the gambling industry. V’landys’ main background, more than managing rugby league, is the gambling world. He’s seemingly no mug in the gambling world so it’d be interesting to see what he has planned.

I suspect they can sell huge amounts of detailed match data and statistics to the gambling companies.

They don’t really want to crack the market. It looks like they just want to become a sustainable niche product in the US 24/7 sports betting market which would bring in enough money to have a significant impact on such a small competition.

Some articles are saying it was every SOO back to a particular date (which i have forgotten) If i remember correctly the 2003 union WC final had the highest Australian tv ratings ever recorded for a sports event. So they need to knock the union guys of their perch.

Non stop rugby league this one Oteezy - Match Day Ritual

We also had another soccer tournament in 2015, the Asian Cup, and I watched Iran v Iraq (FT 3:3 - Iraq won penalties 7:6) in an absolutely wild and packed Canberra stadium. I also went to China v North Korea in Canberra although their fans weren’t as crazy as the Iraqis and Iranians. I doubt Australia will ever get the men’s WC. I helped contribute in a little way to the last bid and I knew the whole time we’d never get it because we aren’t cunning or corrupt enough.

Australians have heaps of experience with soccer. It’s widely considered a good childhood sport. Some clubs can have 30 plus teams in the youngest age category, and the same club will have only enough players for one u16 team. The drop out rate is HUGE once they hit 12 years old. That was my local soccer club’s experience. The kids also discussed the EPL, European soccer stars, AFL and NRL and almost never the A-League. There’s a whole “it’s time for women to shine in sport” feeling sweeping across the Australian cultural landscape these past few years. Even the Canberra Raiders NRLW team had over 6000 in the stadium for their kick off a few weeks ago. Combine this cultural change with slick marketing of a huge global women’s sporting event and the crowds will pack in. I also doubt this will result in any substantial long term increase in attendances at W-league (women’s soccer in Australia) matches.

Doesn’t UK netball’s top competition also have all games broadcast?

16 all across the board would cost a heap of money. That’s flights, accommodation, potential appearance fees etc for 48 teams and their staff.

I think scenes like Brian Carney bowing his head while God Save the Queen is played is also a great way to keep other fans away. It needs to change if GB&I returns.