Hmmm. On one hand I'm disappointed to be moving to a single round. On the other hand, excited at the vision of moving to a fully club-based formula and the participation of the Wāhinix. On the third hand, because I'm a mutant, Capital didn't do so well last time so I shudder to see how Capital A and Capital B might perform - why not just move to two Capital clubs immediately?
It's a good point, but I think club level offers continuity, I think a Karori, or a Wellington United would do better than a capital football because they have time to nurture a style of play.
Nix Reserves in is brilliant, that will help the development system at the club immensely. I don't mind the move to the round robin like the men have, you play enough games in regional leagues as it is.
Agree on Capital second team being a weird move... it seems weird to give them another spot, and as you say raises questions as to why it isn't just the clubs themselves. Strange call. But also not sure who else you would have as the tenth side (fifth NRFL team? WaiBop team? Another Chch team?). Sooner we are able to get to a club based comp the better.
Hmmm. On one hand I'm disappointed to be moving to a single round. On the other hand, excited at the vision of moving to a fully club-based formula and the participation of the Wāhinix. On the third hand, because I'm a mutant, Capital didn't do so well last time so I shudder to see how Capital A and Capital B might perform - why not just move to two Capital clubs immediately?
Curious on how these clubs will be chosen? League performance, or just Utd + Karori?
Hmmm. On one hand I'm disappointed to be moving to a single round. On the other hand, excited at the vision of moving to a fully club-based formula and the participation of the Wāhinix. On the third hand, because I'm a mutant, Capital didn't do so well last time so I shudder to see how Capital A and Capital B might perform - why not just move to two Capital clubs immediately?
Curious on how these clubs will be chosen? League performance, or just Utd + Karori?
Clubs need to sign up before the season if they want to be eligible and then it is the top two places Capital teams
Hmmm. On one hand I'm disappointed to be moving to a single round. On the other hand, excited at the vision of moving to a fully club-based formula and the participation of the Wāhinix. On the third hand, because I'm a mutant, Capital didn't do so well last time so I shudder to see how Capital A and Capital B might perform - why not just move to two Capital clubs immediately?
Curious on how these clubs will be chosen? League performance, or just Utd + Karori?
It's always bloody united, regardless of performance. There's a reason most women from other clubs hate them specifically.
What was the balance of the Capital Football team like last year? In terms of club representation.
Pretty heavily towards united, far less Karori than there should've been. Good players from lower teams were a little overlooked too.
I might be mistaken but I think the Capital coach is the United coach too. Certainly there is a bias towards them from Cap football.
Edit. So there were eight from United, six from petone and four from Karori. Hardly a sensible team when Karori was a better side than Unted by quite a significant margin, it was very apparent on the field. The rest if the squad was from various other clubs.
What was the balance of the Capital Football team like last year? In terms of club representation.
Pretty heavily towards united, far less Karori than there should've been. Good players from lower teams were a little overlooked too.
I might be mistaken but I think the Capital coach is the United coach too. Certainly there is a bias towards them from Cap football.
think you're right re the coach but you'd expect a lot more players from the clubs that won or came close to winning the league.
Precisely, I really would've expected a lot more Karori there given how good they were.
Several Karori players opted not to play and some went to play for Southern United. Last season was first time head coach of Capital was a United coach
What was the balance of the Capital Football team like last year? In terms of club representation.
Pretty heavily towards united, far less Karori than there should've been. Good players from lower teams were a little overlooked too.
I might be mistaken but I think the Capital coach is the United coach too. Certainly there is a bias towards them from Cap football.
think you're right re the coach but you'd expect a lot more players from the clubs that won or came close to winning the league.
Precisely, I really would've expected a lot more Karori there given how good they were.
Several Karori players opted not to play and some went to play for Southern United. Last season was first time head coach of Capital was a United coach
Well that definitely explains a lot. Thanks for that.
Playing at WS this year and we have heard grumblings down at our level about how the women's prems are outperforming the men but don't get significant respect. Certainly we don't think we get a fair shake re: practice fields. I did have a bit of a chuckle at the suggestion that the club logo looks like a cock'n'balls, but on a serious note at least we've been consulted about moving away from white shorts.
Victory to the Women's Prems! Reinstate Faithfull! Special General Meeting to overthrow the Board!
I thought the days of womens teams at clubs being marginalised were long gone. Undoubtedly two sides to the story but the lack of any response to date by Western Springs has left them in a bad light. Apart from inequitable access to facilities (particularly sad in view of the FIFA cash WSAFC have received) the most interesting comment to me was about player "payments" - $50 per week for the women and up to $400 per week for the men.Firstly , they are not supposed to be payments but reimbursement for expenses . I can't see that men would incur more costs than woman ? Secondly I am not sure about the upper limit on these reimbursements - wasn't it $150 ? Anyway the longer WSAFC takes to respond the worse they will look
I thought the days of womens teams at clubs being marginalised were long gone. Undoubtedly two sides to the story but the lack of any response to date by Western Springs has left them in a bad light. Apart from inequitable access to facilities (particularly sad in view of the FIFA cash WSAFC have received) the most interesting comment to me was about player "payments" - $50 per week for the women and up to $400 per week for the men.Firstly , they are not supposed to be payments but reimbursement for expenses . I can't see that men would incur more costs than woman ? Secondly I am not sure about the upper limit on these reimbursements - wasn't it $150 ? Anyway the longer WSAFC takes to respond the worse they will look
WSAFC have responded in an email around the club. Unfortunately it's not a very good email and they dig the hole deeper by disputing some of the claims in the Herald article.
My sources in the club say that the Herald article is actually not accurate in places in that it takes as fact certain things the Women's Prems are saying in the heat of the moment that are exaggerations. But the club are to blame to letting things slide to this point, and their current statement shows they don't understand that their garbage communication is the real problem here.
On the face of it the club was happy to accept $800k worth of facilities upgrades from women’s football but not pass the benefit of those upgrades on to women. Player payments to me is a non issue because they are largely over inflated when people talk about how much a player gets paid. I’d be interested to see how much has been spent on resourcing their premier women’s team vs men’s.
WS have hardly lit the world alight in the men’s game but the women’s team have done very well.
On the face of it the club was happy to accept $800k worth of facilities upgrades from women’s football but not pass the benefit of those upgrades on to women. Player payments to me is a non issue because they are largely over inflated when people talk about how much a player gets paid. I’d be interested to see how much has been spent on resourcing their premier women’s team vs men’s.
WS have hardly lit the world alight in the men’s game but the women’s team have done very well.
The Herald article was inaccurate in that they put it like what the women's team wanted was equity with the men, but I'm told the real issue is parity with what other NRFL prems teams are apparently getting.
On the face of it the club was happy to accept $800k worth of facilities upgrades from women’s football but not pass the benefit of those upgrades on to women. Player payments to me is a non issue because they are largely over inflated when people talk about how much a player gets paid. I’d be interested to see how much has been spent on resourcing their premier women’s team vs men’s.
WS have hardly lit the world alight in the men’s game but the women’s team have done very well.
The Herald article was inaccurate in that they put it like what the women's team wanted was equity with the men, but I'm told the real issue is parity with what other NRFL prems teams are apparently getting.
My bigger concern is that they are taking money which in essence is for women’s sport and prioritising the male game with it.
The club and players were due to have a mediation session tonight.
...
The woman who left her role in a club committee two months ago said: “I joined the committee as a champion for girls and women’s football. I was there to drive that but felt there was no opportunity to do that within the committee.
===
Meanwhile, over at the Northern League forum, the absolute geniuses are rubbishing claims that Western Springs (or the male football establishment in general) have a negative attitude to women's sport, using the devastating comeback that the players should "lose the fat ass first"
The club and players were due to have a mediation session tonight.
...
The woman who left her role in a club committee two months ago said: “I joined the committee as a champion for girls and women’s football. I was there to drive that but felt there was no opportunity to do that within the committee.
===
Meanwhile, over at the Northern League forum, the absolute geniuses are rubbishing claims that Western Springs (or the male football establishment in general) have a negative attitude to women's sport, using the devastating comeback that the players should "lose the fat ass first"
Shallow end of the gene pool diving off from 10m I see
Two moreHerald articles in two days with current Football Ferns chiming in to give the players the thumbs-up and help put pressure on the club.
This is obviously not unrelated to Maia Jackman being part of the Prems squad and using her contacts. On the subject, ex-Fern and PR professional Cilla Duncan is also said to be playing at WSAFC this year at a lower level, but I'm sure that's just coincidence.
Two moreHerald articles in two days with current Football Ferns chiming in to give the players the thumbs-up and help put pressure on the club.
This is obviously not unrelated to Maia Jackman being part of the Prems squad and using her contacts. On the subject, ex-Fern and PR professional Cilla Duncan is also said to be playing at WSAFC this year at a lower level, but I'm sure that's just coincidence.
Sounds like the club won’t be short of opinions to listen to
Top-level women's football is an absolute joke, a Potemkin village which is propped up just enough to look like a real thing as long as no-one peeks behind the curtain
Top-level women's football is an absolute joke, a Potemkin village which is propped up just enough to look like a real thing as long as no-one peeks behind the curtain
Top-level women's football is an absolute joke, a Potemkin village which is propped up just enough to look like a real thing as long as no-one peeks behind the curtain
I dunno about that, it depends on where you play. My partners team is given exactly the same treatment as their men's counterparts. Some of the girls I know playing in welly are saying the same thing for other clubs too. Maybe it's an Auckland thing?
The Western Springs drama is still ongoing, and going nowhere good. Hearing whispers that mediation has collapsed, partly because someone on the inside is leaking to the Herald. Meanwhile, supporters of the players have got the signatures to call an Extraordinary General Meeting.
In this matter, my position is "unconditional but critical support for the players". On the substantive issue, the club is in the wrong and should have done better. But I'm beginning to wonder whether the players, some of the players, or the people who're advising the players, are doing the right thing tactically. I can't see a positive end for anyone if mediation does collapse.
According to anonymous scoundrels in the NL Forum, before Friday's game, the (acting) coach asked who was prepared to play in the traditional WSAFC kit, and to tell him by 4 pm. According to some, the senior players didn't reply until 4:04 pm, so "tough luck to them for not being selected". But according to others, the (acting) coach had already set up a group chat at 1:30 pm with the younger players he was going to play anyway. And there are the usual accusations of "bullying" which always arise when you're part of an issue where acting collectively is crucial (i.e. any attempt to persuade wavering members of your own team not to crack under the pressure is "bullying").
So I'm hearing complaints from both sides that the other side is "fighting dirty and undermining the mediation". I can only hope that something sensible will come out of the EGM. That's probably a forlorn hope.
Bearing in mind I don't have full context here, but your read on the players not necessarily doing the right thing tactically strikes me as fairly true. Even in the original article that broke some complaints seemed justified, while other aspects were just a bit... naive.
Bearing in mind I don't have full context here, but your read on the players not necessarily doing the right thing tactically strikes me as fairly true. Even in the original article that broke some complaints seemed justified, while other aspects were just a bit... naive.
My question is: what's the endgame? What would be a satisfactory result for the players? The drama around last Friday's game seems to boil down to demanding a change in the club logo, which... well, I can see now that they point it out that it's a cock and balls, but that's not the serious issue re: disrespect for the women's game at WSAFC. It's not worth going to the mattresses over in itself. As far as I can tell the players are trying to run a "media campaign", i.e. their potent weapon is trying to use the WWC (and associated funding for WSAFC to be a training ground for Norway) to shame the club. That's got a limited time to be effective.
Latest drama is that that the players have apparently got the numbers for an Extraordinary General Meeting to get the board on the carpet, but the club secretary is apparently slow-walking it to try to drag it out to the school holidays or after the WWC. You can totally support the issues the players are raising while still wondering whether the people advising them haven't chosen losing tactics.
The crappiest thing is that if the players don't win, the utter misogynists on the NL Forum who are trotting out all these US Trumpy culture war lines about "lesbians with purple hair" "identifying as females" will think they've just driven back 50 years of progress.
maybe I'm missing something here, but the logo looks like a swan sitting on two footballs - sure if you really wanted too you could imagine the swan being something else, but it's a bit of a stretch IMO.
A full-strength team turned up last night to beat Auckland United 3-0 in the KS Cup round of 16, wearing the WSAFC kit. Ugly rumours suggest that mediation might have been successful after all. No further word on the EGM. Interesting.
A full-strength team turned up last night to beat Auckland United 3-0 in the KS Cup round of 16, wearing the WSAFC kit. Ugly rumours suggest that mediation might have been successful after all. No further word on the EGM. Interesting.
Why is a rumour about mediation beign successful "ugly"? I would have thought that was a positive? The players turning up to a game would indicate that they are satsifed with whatever conversation has transpired.
