posted Sep 13, 2007

It is all to do with size and strength, I believe, but it will just take time to get the more athletic "big girls" to get involved. If you look at athletics it took a great deal of time and money to attract girls into field sports in countries where you were not compelled into training (eg the Soviet bloc).
My son was No. 2 goalkeeper for the county (the number one is now a professional with a Championship club) until age 14 after which he was overlooked. His "crime" was that he stopped growing at age 12 and 5ft 10ins. He was still agile and making great saves but his replacement was 6ft 5ins and covered, it seemed, half the goal.
Give the females time and they will improve. There will also be more competition so they will have to get better to be in the team (as the article suggests).

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posted Sep 13, 2007

Women's football not recieving enough coverage or attention? Que? As a supporter of a league one team I've seen loads more womens football on terrestial telly in the last year than I have coverage of my team. I bet more people on this thread could name the coach of England Women than could name the manager of Swansea City men, even though Swansea undoubtably play a higher level and quality of football. If the BBC is going to indulge in positive discrimination (as I believe it should), then it has to be prepared for all that comes with it.

I also don't like the idea that if I criticise women's football it automatically makes me some sort of sexist. If a female keeper is rubbish I will laugh and make fun, the same as if a male keeper is. I also don't know many men who wouldn't be behind women being allowed to play in the men's leagues. The only people who would really be against this are women players themselves and who can blame them? They wouldn't stand a chance.

In the end I'm not really interested in sexual politics. If I'm watching any footie other than my beloved Swans or Wales or Italy then I want it to be of the highest possible quality. Women's football simply isn't that - I don't care why.

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posted Sep 13, 2007

I remember reading 'Goalkeepers Are Different' when I was young, so I couldn't resist replying to your article.
I'm a UEFA 'B' licensed coach that has worked in pro club youth development centres and a specialist goalkeeping coach for over 10 years. Some of the comments so far about woman goalies are pretty stereotypical and I have heard most of them over the years. Having worked with young female goalkeepers, there are a few that are and will be very special in the years to come.

If you look at the mens's game over the years the goalkeeper has increased in size from around 5ft,9inc. In the 60's the goalies were 5ft 9inc plus, the 70's the goalies were 6ft, in the 80's 6ft 1 inc and today's 6ft,4inc. plus. This has been relative to the fact that the average height of a premiership player is 6ft,1inc.Essentially a physical 'arms race' has occured at the elite level. Shay Given, regarded by some as being one of the best goalkeepers on the international scene, was thought of being too small at 6ft and there was a long deliberation over his size before being signed at Celtic as a young lad.

In all this time their size was not at the detriment to their ability, only the perceived requirements of the top clubs. Of course you can't be tiny to be effective between the posts, but the quality of keeping has not gone up with the increase in size! The pool of taller players can be partly explained by the increase in height in the general population. In fact Ray Clemence (he's 5ft,11 and played for Liverpool and England)has been quoted as saying that they will look at smaller keepers as long as they've got good spring.

Different heights brings different advantages. for instance a taller keeper will dominate on crosses more, a shorter keeper will get those bottom corner shots and will probably have the spring to make those spectacular top corner saves. You only have to look at the penalty shootout in May's European Champions League semi-final between Liverpool and Chelsea. Where the Liverpool players purposefully put their penalties in the bottom corner, where the taller Petr Cech (6ft 5inc)had problems getting down low to save.

From the women's game point of view, it would be detrimental to copy the men's game in this way. Many a time have I seen academy teams with extremly tall keepers that are useless, as their there on size not on merit.

The focus on woman's goalkeeping should be excellent technique, agility, spring and speed of movement. On average women tend to be more agile than men. So the focus on training should be on their physical advantages and attributes and not copying the mens game.

If they carry on in this vain we will get a poor copy of the men's game.

Instead of one where you can appreciate the artistry of the unbelievable agile save made.

enquiries@gunncoaching.com

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posted Sep 13, 2007

I don't know why but i have one thing that is puzzling me.

No doubt the womens game has improved and will keep improving but if you look at most other sports it is usually just 'Anatomy' that separates the men from the women. Normally the women are just as good technically as the men but because men are Physically stronger Women cannot match them and as a result we have men v men and women v women.

However, when it comes to football the lack of technical ability of the women astounds me. Hoofing the ball upfield (New Zealand a prime example), passes going all over the place.

I have enjoyed watching the progress of the womens game at the top level and will continue to do so, but the basics of football which are learnt at a young age are not seen as a whole.

As for goalkeeping. Who is coaching these girls??? Terrible. (not that i could do better mind you)

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posted Sep 13, 2007

Best Goalkeeper at the World Cup??

That Danish Keeper Heidi Johansen. Was really impressed with her. Confident in the air, good positioning, good shoit stopper, Athletic. If all the keepers at the tournament were as good as her i don't think we would be discussing the issue. The fact that she is almost 6ft and 12st i think has a lot to do with it.

Next Question: Why are Defenders Different?

Because they don't close down quick enough and don't jump in the wall....lol

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posted Sep 13, 2007

On the whole goalies in the men's game are pretty big guys - even Shay Given who is often called small is 6"2. Size is an advantage to a goal keeper most of the time - i know short ones can succeed, Barthez, for example - but it helps to be able to cover more of the goal.

The fact that women are shortter than men on average will inevitably stop their keepers from making the saves that a tall man would.

Natural athletisism also hinders them, men are more agile and can jump higher and further.

I hope I am not coming across as sexist - I'm not trying to but if any of my assumptions are wrong I would welcome being corrected.

Would it be ridiculous to suggest that if women 'keepers can't cover as much of the goal as their male counterparts the goals should be made smaller?

Of course size isn't an excuse for some of the mistakes the Argentine 'keeper Correa made but maybe if the English 'keeper were taller (she looks fairly tall to be fair) she might have reached one of the japanese freekicks.

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posted Sep 13, 2007

Great article and i agree 100%

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posted Sep 13, 2007

grantuch - your comments are offensive

BryanRoy -the FA 'guidelines' state that allowance may be made for youth or women with regards to the dimensions of the pitch or the size of ball used...no mention of size of goal posts.

I agree with you though - slightly smaller pitch, slightly smaller goal and areas, but that said.....when so many lower league clubs use council/rented pithces, who on earth is going to bother lining out two sets of different sized pitches? who is going to pay for two sets of differing goals....

all comes down to cash doesnt it.

we can have rugby and football both using the same grounds, but until financially they are both viable, men and womens teams can only still use the same facilities if they use the same pitches and goals.....

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posted Sep 14, 2007

Without wanting to get dragged into the entire debate about the standard and quality of Women's football, just a couple of points:
1)Womans goalie: why do women need different kit/equipment? Sportsbras are available everywhere, and their hands and feet are effectively the same. Just buy a slightly smaller size, surely?

2) This idea of womens football have slightly smaller footballs/pitches goals ect. i was surprised to read on here that the ball is lighter. Occasionally, we get a news paper story about an extremely talented girl.young woman who has to stop playing football with the boys when they hit a certain age, and how wrong it is. changing the pitches and goals essentially admits its a different gasme and that the women cant compete, generally, at the same level as the men. I cant see the PC lobby letting that go by

and, incidentally, Im a fan of football, whether its non league, sunday morning, premiership or women's.
Its all football to me, and all enjoyable.
Played against a girls team once. we took on an "after you dear" attitude. Until we realised how rough they were, it was quite a dirty(in the Dirty Leeds sense) game in the end

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