Friday Ramble: Current Conditions
Plus I answer your questions in this week's Friday Ramble
As I was sat at my desk writing this week’s Ramble and going through questions left yesterday, I was preparing to just look back on a quiet week of news, but a busy week of action.
I was in Milton Keynes, Coventry and Bristol to cover England’s Arnold Clark Cup triumph and enjoying a rare day at home, and then our media WhatsApp chat sprung into life around two hours ago.
I’m not going to lie, our WhatsApp is more often about food and drink than it is work, but this time it was someone posting a link to a tweet from Wendie Renard, which subsequently we understood via translation was the France national team captain announcing she would not be going to the World Cup under the “current system”.
Sigh.
You can read a full translation of Renard’s statement here thanks to my multi-lingual colleague Charlotte Harpur at The Athletic.
It’s 2023 and the federations currently ranked 5th, 6th and 7th in the world are either at war with one of their own players, or even with their whole team.
In England, we have it good. It’s not perfect and there are certainly elements of our game here that need improving, but we have it good. Quite often when I tweet about a new TV deal or a new sponsor, fans from other countries reply or quote my tweet lamenting their nations don’t have the same.
Even this morning when I put the news out there of the new board set up to look at the future of the domestic leagues, I had fans from around Europe asking why their country can’t provide the same.
The national team is thriving as the current champions of Europe and while the FA isn’t perfect, they have funded the sport to this point and created big TV deals with major brands, as well as bringing Barclays on board to sponsor the WSL and the Championship.
No Renard at the World Cup would be a huge shame. Stories for many years now have questioned Corinne Diacre and the FFF’s relationship with its players amidst big names like Amandine Henry being left out of last summer’s European Championships, though Renard describes her issues as with the “current system”, rather than any individual.
The specifics of that we don’t know, but it echoes what we have seen late last year with Spain, where 15 of its key players still refuse to return to national team duty, and just this month Canada who spoke out against the lack of funding and support from their own federation, threatening to strike ahead of the SheBelieves Cup.
How are we in this position? The game is growing exponentially and while some smaller federations probably are genuinely struggling to keep up, there is no excuse for three of the top 10 federations in the world to not be able to sufficiently support individual players or a whole squad.
France, Spain and Canada aren’t the first either. USA have been through it, Ireland have too. New Zealand, Norway, Argentina the list goes on and on and many around the world who get no mention in the news are still fighting for more.
It’s unacceptable.
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Answering your Questions
My Name Goes Here - I wasn't able to attend any of the ACC matches, but how do you feel the double headers worked? Do you think it's something that should be thought about for the FA Cup Semis, pick a stadium in the middle of the country and make a big day of it?
Overall, I’m not a huge fan of a double header. I think it could work in big games like a semi-final where it’s a big occasion, or I’d like to see maybe a festival weekend where even perhaps all six league games are played at the same ground. Three on one day, three the next.
It did work better this year for a couple of reasons. Games were scheduled in better times during school half-term is the first one. The second is tickets could be bought for both games together, whereas last year you had to buy separate tickets for both. And finally the games were pushed closer together. There was a bit of a gap between them last year, whereas this year it was just over an hour between matches.
I definitely saw more people in the grounds for the non-England games than last year, there was nearly 7,000 for Italy vs Korea Republic in Bristol.
Grumpy Dad - Newcastle picked up a 4000+ crowd during the International break and another 2000+ in midweek.
Can you see the FA ‘moving’ them into the Northern Premier (or even Championship) if they fail to reel in Durham Cestria.
Personally feel given the brilliant organisation of clubs like Burnley, Forest, Watford, Oxford, Wolves, Ipswich and Portsmouth that this would be a real kick in the teeth if Newcastle given preferential treatment.
I hope not, but I’m sure at some point the licences will be opened up again for review because that’s what the licences are there for, to ensure all clubs are meeting various standards and criteria.
I think though the game is at a point where it doesn’t need further restructure and can be done on merit 100%. As a side note, I do also find it neatly ironic the team looking to come in and cause Durham some problems in the north east is currently being stopped from getting promoted essentially by Durham’s sister youth side. That’s a story.
What you missed
Subscriptions continue to steadily increase and the money coming in so far has allowed me to trek around the country for the Arnold Clark Cup, but it will take a lot more to make this site sustainable for the future, so do please consider a monthly £10 subscription or an annual £60 (£5 a month) subscription.
Here’s some of the premium features this week you would get access to…
The Big Interview: Kassandra Missipo
Plus deeper analysis of England’s final Arnold Clark Cup matches.
Looking ahead
The international break is done and dusted for about six weeks and I’m looking forward to see how the FA Cup games unfold this week, and of course it’s then the Continental Cup final the week after.
I’m really looking forward to what’s coming on WFC soon. We have big, exclusive interviews with Lluis Cortes, Gemma Grainger, Jack Sullivan and more and a fascinating in-depth look at the Serbia national team’s progress next week.
We will also have a very interesting exclusive with someone from Chelsea ahead of the cup final, which I think will be a great read.