There would seem little of note in the forthcoming SWPL fixture card tomorrow as Celtic take on Hibs other than the fact that both teams are looking to maintain their 100% start to the new campaign.
However, for the second successive weekend, it is a game where Celtic will host from their new base – their third in two years – at the Kirkintilloch community sports complex.
Aside from the fact that has been a nomadic existence for the club’s female side as they have been shifted from Airdrie to Hamilton and now to the outskirts on the north side of the city, the merits of their new home are hugely questionable.
For the small number of fans who follow the women’s team, the constant changing of venue doesn’t lend itself to any measure of stability – and nor does it speak of any consistency to develop the foundations of the side.
No disrespect to the community sports complex. But is it a ground for a top flight SWPL team who have aspirations of competing in European football? Who want to live among elite level?
More pertinently, how enticing is the here and now? Those fans who make the journey are shelling out a tenner to get into a ground that is unlikely to give them a roof over their head – the small stand that is undercover holds little more than a handful of bodies.
That might not be the easiest sell when it comes to the realities of a long Scottish winter.
Once more, it doesn’t speak to a strategy that offers any authentic ambition of pushing the game forward.
The issues around the women game, its resources, its attempts to stand on its own economic feet are as stale as week-old gum. We have repeatedly chewed over them but, ultimately, for any progress to be made there has to be some kind of faith shown in the product.
Otherwise, what is the point?
Shunting the team out to Kirkintilloch to get used to another surface and try to stimulate interest in the local community is not a long term strategy. The idea of a shared facility between the top three Glasgow sides has been suggested more than once across recent seasons and would seem like a sensible solution, albeit even that would still require logistical planning to avoid overlaps.
What it would do is offer a consistent approach and a chance to build up the relationship between clubs and a fanbase within geographical areas that offer easy accessibility.
The bottom line is that for many clubs the women’s team is about box-ticking optics rather than an vested interest in its development. The constant fight for space, visibility, resources and basics is exhausting for those invested in the day-to-day realities of it.
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AND ANOTHER THING
A routine post from an unofficial Chelsea Women’s Twitter account - @CFC_Women – which attracts a following of just over 18k, drew in an audience of 5.8m views last week.
The post? A brief video following what appeared to be the women’s team playing against one of the (male) academy teams.
5.8m views. And why? Because there is an element who gleefully revel in the disparity that such meetings show up. It was the same some years back when an under-15 FC Dallas team beat the USWNT team, a team that at that point was fighting for equal pay with the men’s national squad.
There should be no real surprise that male players, even young teenagers, triumph over a women’s team. The two games are entirely different.
The men’s game is based on power, speed and strength. No matter how hard a female footballer trains or plays, there is no match because of the biological and physiological differences between the two sexes.
However these games play out is no reflection on the innate ability of the athletes who compete in them.
It is the same in any sport – both Serena and Venus Williams lost to German tennis player Karsten Braasch, then ranked 203 in the world, back in 1998 after a fairly light-hearted challenge.
That judgment should be passed on the standard of the women’s game based on how they show up against male players, regardless of age or level, is a nonsensical argument.
But it won’t stop a certain type of observer from milking it for all its worth.
AND FINALLY
May Cruft, the Scottish PFA Young Player of the Year last season, was a standout for Rangers last term.
Still just 16, she has been excellent in the middle of the park for Leanne Crichton’s side, playing with a composure and maturity that belies her age.
That form has seen Cruft rewarded with a call-up to the England squad for next month’s Women’s U-20 World Cup. Assuming it goes ahead given the current UEFA stance, Cruft would be joined by her Ibrox team-mate Eva Hendle, on loan from Chelsea, who has started the season impressively for Rangers.
If it is a particularly exciting reward for Cruft and reflects well on the club, it will nevertheless be a blow for Crichton to be without the services of both players as they head out to Poland.
But the chance to compete on such a global stage against the best young talents in the game will be huge for the development of Cruft. England have been drawn against Brazil, Canada and Tanzania, games that will open her eyes to a significant breadth of talent.
