Summer Football?

[raefil]

The C of E Im involved with has had to postpone yet another game, in fact with the attrocious autumn weve had we can count on the fingers of one hand the games played so far this season.  this got me to thinking. with WSL and very soon WSL 2 to be both summer leagues is it time to have a rethink over the C of E programmes aswell?  I can see a lot of positives for moving the whole thing to the summer, if Im honest.

Thoughts please.

[bilbobaggins]

this normally happens around mid december and as its so early probably 3  games  will be postponed this season, its frustrating.
i suppose moving to summer should be good but the ground (in theory) should be softer on the knees in winter.

[#1]

Yep, sounds reasonable. If you consider that one of the ideas of the CoE is to progress to a ladies side (who are playing more summer football) it makes more sense to move the CoE season to coincide.
Women's football cannot compete for various reasons so why not go for a summer season. All good. It will then allow the season to coincide with the eternally ridiculous cutoff point for the age groups (essentially the season and cut off will be a calendar year). Yep you get my vote.

[interested]

Easy in theory not so easy in practice- What about- Ground, Training facility avaliability (Other sports, schools shut), Player and staff avaliability (Summer holidays) Other Sports (These girls are athletes and are good at athletics, cricket and other summer sports) How do you manage players not playing grass roots in the winter? What about international player avaliability (Euro qualifiers etc)

 

[raefil]

Easy in theory not so easy in practice- What about- Ground, Training facility avaliability (Other sports, schools shut), Player and staff avaliability (Summer holidays) Other Sports (These girls are athletes and are good at athletics, cricket and other summer sports) How do you manage players not playing grass roots in the winter? What about international player avaliability (Euro qualifiers etc)

 

No problem, Cricket should be banned anyway, only played by wimps   all those cricket grounds would then be available for a proper sport . Easy, no schools needed. As for international availability,its time people like Platini and Sepp blatter were put in their place. they can jolly well fall into line with us.

Problem solved.

[Hooligan365]

No problem just come down to Headingley & let my daughter launch a few bouncers at your head   

[raefil]

No problem just come down to Headingley & let my daughter launch a few bouncers at your head   

Oh dear!!!!   Yorkshire aswell lol   

[Hooligan365]

 

No problem just come down to Headingley & let my daughter launch a few bouncers at your head   

Oh dear!!!!   Yorkshire aswell lol   

Yes God's Wonderful Country - U15 County Champions 2012

[bilbobaggins]

No problem just come down to Headingley & let my daughter launch a few bouncers at your head   

i hope she doesnt do javelin as well  , congratulations to her for the cricket title.

[Hooligan365]

No problem just come down to Headingley & let my daughter launch a few bouncers at your head   

i hope she doesnt do javelin as well  , congratulations to her for the cricket title.

Many thanks - no but she may take it up if summer football is suggested

[andydinger]

Unfortunately for my daughters I think the switch to Womens football being a summer game is inevitable. It will start with WSL2 then filter down to the WPL and beyond. It will be interesting to see whether it progresses to the CoEs, only because of problems of availability during school holidays. If it does, then it will make girls choose between football, cricket and athletics at a much earlier age than they do now.

At least I suppose it will help the other winter sports (Hockey, Netball, Lacrosse, etc) as most CoE standard girls are too athletic and competitive to sit around all winter doing nothing but "pre-season training"!

[CGRJ]

Summer football really won't work for the girls or women's game.

Two years into the WSL attendances are still embarrassing , and will remain so while the league is bisected  by  Euros, worlds and Olympics.

Of course there is the weather - Who wouldn't want to play in the sub tropical British sun -  its not as if events in the summer are ever rained off is it? 

If the FA really want to ensure an end to winter postponements why don't they invest in a geographical spread of 3g pitches dedicated to the female game?

[andydinger]

If the FA really want to ensure an end to winter postponements why don't they invest in a geographical spread of 3g pitches dedicated to the female game?

Because they have barely even a tenth of the 3G pitches they claim are needed for the mens/boys game and don't seem to be doing much about that very fast. If you believe the numbers then there were 110 new pitches last year funded by the Football Foundation against a shortfall suggested by The FA to be in the region of 4,000! It would take a very radical departure for almost any sporting body in the UK to fund any dedicated womens or girls facility...

[midfield general]

I'm getting to the point where I think all football should be summer!! Our Centre lost another game to the weather last weekend, and not all are re-scheduled. March to November, in line with the WSL seems like a good idea, perhaps with a break in the summer hols, and I know family holidays happen, but if players are committed, as they should be at this Elite level, they should be able to book holidays to fit in with the break.
Centres could (and should) continue training through the winter, to maintain fitness, and improve technique. In theory?? the pitches should be better from March onwards, because quite frankly, some of the pitches through the winter have been appalling!! And one definitely was unplayable but the game went ahead.

[CGRJ]

Lets be clear about this, as appealing as Summer football may be in theory, in reality its introduction by the FA had more to do with marketing than improvement of standards!

Summer football has a number of major drawbacks for girls at CofEs.

Firstly it will always clash with exams.  I appreciate that for the younger age groups this is not so critical, but believe me with a daughter currently trying to pack in revision, exams, training and matches, the only respite in sight is that the bulk of exams will fall outside the season.  With greater emphasis on examinations due to kick in soon how many parents will allow girls to prioritise football?

Secondly, very few grass pitches will sustain 52 weeks of football.  Summer is when most maintenance - re-seeding etc - takes place. Even the best pitches in our area, University/schools sports fields are either de-comissioned or put to other sports which take less of a toll on the playing surface.

Thirdly pitches suffer more damage in the summer than the winter.  In the winter conditions are pretty uniform,ie cold and wet, but this doesn't really matter as far as the grass is concerned because it isn't the main season for regrowth.  Our Summers however are relatively extreme, with dry periods interspersed with heavy rain which is particularly de-stabilising for the surface.  Not a problem if the pitch isn't being played on, but if it is major long term damage can occur.

The only real alternative is more 3 and 4G pitches.     

[bilbobaggins]

I'm getting to the point where I think all football should be summer!! Our Centre lost another game to the weather last weekend, and not all are re-scheduled. March to November, in line with the WSL seems like a good idea, perhaps with a break in the summer hols, and I know family holidays happen, but if players are committed, as they should be at this Elite level, they should be able to book holidays to fit in with the break.
Centres could (and should) continue training through the winter, to maintain fitness, and improve technique. In theory?? the pitches should be better from March onwards, because quite frankly, some of the pitches through the winter have been appalling!! And one definitely was unplayable but the game went ahead.

sound a great idea, just check how many wsl (summer)  games were off last season due to the weather (loads) .
we should just move the lot to spain., its warmer and drier. (joke)
on a serious point i have seen what over training does to young girls legs, knees etc, so if training was continued during winter it should be non impact (in my opinion).

[midfield general]

Here's a mad idea!! In the men's game, everybody from Wayne Rooney down to the lowest paid player in the lower leagues pays a flat rate £175 subscription to the P.F.A. How about once a player is earning over £10,00 per week, that they pay 1% of this, (to a charitable trust to save them some tax!?!?) to be spent on 3 (0r) 4G pitches!!!!