kyle - How on earth did you reach that conclusion from Erik's post?!

I'd be surprised if Fuller lasts the season here let alone playing when we move into Plough lane.

If you believe women can't play, watch a playback of the Euros final. That was something of an exhibition of how good to watch football can be (on any level, not just the women's game).

I like watching the England women's team play but am not that interested in anything of a lower level tbh. The one thing about that Clare Balding documentary that got on my nerves was the way she kept going on about the size of the crowds watching women's football. Most of the best crowds were at charity matches and for games involving the Dick Kerr ladies team which was like watching a touring Harlem Globe Trotters, who as we know were a novelty act. I don't think crowds for watching ladies league games would have been very large at the time. Women's football crowds would be larger than they are now if they hadn't been banned, but not on any level that would've challenged the men's game. Ps, I have watched about 5 Wimbledon ladies games over the years.

I am talking exclusively about professional leagues that people pay to watch. Great to see the amateur game doing well in countries like the US. I play five aside football with a couple of girls and they are technically excellent.

Jog On- so in summary Erik blaming others for his miscalculation

Sharif - there have been plenty of opportunities for the game to take off worldwide. And in fact other countries had the first professional female team (Italy in the early 1970s) and league (Japan in the 1980s). And it wasn't a case of the male game blocking the development of the female game - look at the US where the female game failed to flourish despite much high profile support and the WC. There just isn't the same appetite for it. Yes it was popular during the 1st World War, but as Kyle has pointed out there were clear reasons for that, and it has had plenty of opportunities to rise in the last 50 years.

Women's football, rugby and cricket have been given an increasing amount of airtime in this country recently and quite rightly. The standard of play has improved, with greater strength, skill and speed. I think that it is well-worth watching for its own merits, especially as there are some players stand out as being significantly better than the rest. Aluko was dropped because she was too slow and ponderous, had stopped scoring goals and clearly had a beef with the coaching staff. Her replacement, Taylor, was a real Kedwell, chasing down the long ball and bullying the opposition to good effect.

Sharif - there have been plenty of opportunities for the game to take off worldwide. And in fact other countries had the first professional female team (Italy in the early 1970s) and league (Japan) some

Well I think the plough lane curtain opener has picked itself -Wimbledon men v Wimbledon women . Packed to the rafters . I look forward to Barry Fuller sending Debbie from carshalton into row z in the second minute

Did anyone see this post from Erik yesterday, he was responding to the lack of seats available for home matches this season: Erik Samuelson - "We had a difficult decision to make about how many seats to offer to ST holders and concluded that we should allocate places to as many fans as we could. This means that after taking seats set aside for sponsors etc there are only a handful of seats available for each game. In this context I am always massively disappointed at how many empty seats there are at home games. We did an analysis at the end of last season of which people didn't come to one/two/three/four games and which of those told us so we could recycle their seat. I will shortly be writing to them asking them to let us know if they aren't coming as there are plenty of fans who'd love to take their seat if they'd return it"

Salad, new signing announced tonight or tomorrow plough lane next week hun

moving on where the new signing.and when NPL getting signed off?

I think women's international football is at quite a watchable standard. Certainly entertaining and a breath of fresh air when you realise that they don't roll around the floor screaming every time another player does as much as breath on them as they run past. It's quite popular in the USA isn't it, I would think it will get more popular here given time and TV exposure.

Tooting - fair enough and respect your opinion. I however still say it's a very sad world we live in that a fan of the club another supports can't discuss their involvement within the game. Saying I played semi pro and also scout should have no bug bearing within this group whatsoever. As others have mentioned..it's discussing the game..it's mearly sharing experiences...some have found interesting others not so. Isnt that the same to any discussions?? But should never escalate into anything near to what it has.

Wu - noted, but football in that period followed the lead of the British. Without a British presence in the women's game at that time it's not surprising it didn't take off elsewhere

But that's the only reason it ever got those crowds sharif , the inescapable truth , not because the people of early twenties Britain were progressive feminists when it came to sport

I mean I'm not ignoring WW1 at all but okay

Actually scrap that , you'd need to put it on before the men's . No way would I hang about watching that pony

The reason it would never get those sort of crowds is because it would always be in competition with the men's game in a way in which tennis and athletics isn't . The only way to really boost the women's game is play their games straight after the men's at no additional cost . Which won't ever happen

Women's golf a very decent standard and arguably more relevant to the male watcher as they hit the ball similar distances to the average amateur men. There are lots of female sports played to a high standard, they simply suffer in the comparison to the male equivalent in my opinion.

Sharif - that conveniently ignores the fact there wasn't a worldwide ban on women's football, yet it has failed to match the men's game in even the most emancipated countries.

Tennis and athletics watchable . Everything else ridiculous. Football only made to look slightly better by women's boxing

Fifty years to catch up ? How old are these women

The only woman's sport that I think it's played at a semi decent level compared to the men is tennis to be honest... maybe hockey also but no one really gives a Donald duck about hockey do they ?