Football, football, football, football, football, football, football, football, football... what you men see in it, I don't know.

We, at the Jagscast, are delighted to present you with an article written by everyone's favourite lady Thistle blogger MC. The woman behind http://gettingjaggy.blogspot.com/ tells us a little bit about how clubs can make their product more attractive to women.

I like football.

I never thought I’d hear myself say that, but there it is. I didn’t start coming to football because of a partner, child or family member. I just decided it was a challenge, and I never thought I would actually enjoy it. But as the weeks without football at Firhill have dragged on, I’ve found myself really missing it, and keen to go back at the earliest date I can. But it seems I’m one of a minority at the stadium, where attendance numbers seem to be on the slide and I meet the same three or four women in the toilets at half time every matchday. In tough financial times, increasing the number of people attending the game is vital. Let’s face it, though: many Partick Thistle supporters, even the diehards I’ve come across, are disillusioned with the recent poor run of form. Ironically, one of the few things which might increase the number of supporters attending would be for that to continue, leading to a relegation battle. The Under-16s-go-free scheme has been in place for some time, and the uptake seems to have stagnated. But what does Partick Thistle do to encourage women along to its games?

For as long as I can remember, football has been for blokes. It’s inevitable: I’ll bet that everyone has seen a video of a female toddler pushing a pram around and crashing it into furniture (meeting two fabulous stereotypes which will continue long into their adulthood about their maternal instincts and their ability to drive), while her brother stumbles over a football with an adult performing a dramatic dive of the finest Italian teams as the wean “scores” his first goal. Most girls I know don’t bother going to the football because they don’t care. They don’t understand the rules, they get bored by the terminology, they are lost by the punditry, and they find the atmosphere and culture surrounding the stadium at best bearable, at worst intimidating.

As a result of this, the generally male-dominated stands immediately, and understandably I suppose, presume that a girl who is keen on football must be in some way “blokey”. Does that mean I automatically have the face of a bearded gargoyle? Well, no...but if I dare to be something other than that, or make an effort by wearing something girly, I’m probably only out to pull a player, right? I didn’t think that this kind of attitude existed these days, but since my blog started I’ve been called countless names and many football-related conversations I get involved in magically turn into discussions about my chest. I brush it off, especially because I join in with the joke. You only need to look at my blog to see me fully playing up to the stereotype, in fact. I don’t deny it. However, I know this attitude would discourage many of my female friends from coming near a football game.

Unfortunately, clubs entrench the attitude by assuming that women at matches fall into the second category: girly girls who like girly things and oh! Pink merchandise! We’ll hook ‘em in with that. I’m sorry, but why would I want to turn up to support a team who wear red and yellow in a baby pink beanie? I’d much rather own a well-fitted Ladies cut strip than a cotton candy generic item with a small logo. Eintracht Frankfurt has a group of fans called “Stoppt Rosa!” specifically campaigning against the fact that these items do not reveal anything about your allegiance, but instead your gender: they argue that you wouldn’t expect all the men to wear baby blue. Target the female market in merchandise, but don’t wrap us up in cotton wool and candy floss.

When I first spoke to the Jagscast about my blog, I was told that in Germany, teams have specific provision for women on matchdays. The stadium opens early, and there are child-friendly activities to encourage the idea that football is a fun day out for the whole family. Indeed, you need only look at the success of the women-only match Fenerbahce were forced to pilot after the closed-doors decision as evidence that women will come to football when the provision is made for them. Alarm bells are ringing for me, though: when I go to the game, do I want to sit in the women only area of the stand they have set aside for me? Well, no, not at all. Likewise, I’m concerned at the continued belief that the presence of women at games has a calming effect on the crowd, and that discipline and the general atmosphere of the terraces are hugely improved. I’m sorry, but just because I want to go to see football doesn’t make me Ghandi. It’s as sexist to presume that women can magically solve some of the problems of football as it is to ask why they’re not at home making the tea.

However, what teams can do is show that women are wanted at the stadium. Think about the little things: ensure that there is suitable provision for ladies toilets, and for God’s sake make them comfortable. Get some decent soap in there. Replace those wooden toilet edges. Dish out handwarmers or flog them for a pound with the programmes. Really promote the fact that there is a bar available after the game – a fact I only discovered recently – and make it easy to find. When they get there, make sure it has stuff they want to buy. Get some matchday entertainment. Offer a ladies day, like many clubs already do. Run events specifically tailored to women: fashion shows, Christmas shopping events, ladies lunches. Even better, chuck it on a social shopping site and watch as groups of girls plan a night out with the club at its centre. They might not be as interested in the 90 minutes of a match as their male counterparts, but believe me, they would be much more easily persuaded to come to a club social event.

But as things go at the moment, the most obvious problem for encouraging women to football is that when they get there, they feel like a minority. This is probably best evidenced by the fact that many women go to see Glasgow’s big two teams: more women attending matches will normalise the idea, making it more accessible for others. I’m sticking with it and I’m trying my best to bring along friends, but it’s tough to persuade them. Women must be more visible in the stands, but also in the boardroom, coaching, and even on the pitch. Give younger girls role models to show them that football – whether played by men or women – isn’t necessarily a bloke’s world and that they can come and watch the men’s game without being labelled or segregated.

I like football. I just wish some more like-minded women would join me.

A visitor's view...

We, at the Jagscast, have been lucky enough to be able to publish this article on our site. Andy Hudson has traveled the world in search of football. He has taken in games in numerous countries and written a bit about them for his excellent website http://ganninaway.wordpress.com/. He need travel no more, however, as he has now experienced the greatest team of them all*. Partick Thistle.

We enjoyed his article. We hope you do too.

Firhill
Saturday 27 August 2011
Scottish League Division 1
Partick Thistle 2 Queen of the South 1

“What was all that then? What? That. That was Glasgow.”

Edwin Morgan.

Travelling home on the Sunday afternoon train I had to remember the words of Scotland’s first Poet Laureate, Edwin Morgan. The combination of a late night out on Friday and an early Saturday morning train, followed by a day in the pub with friends had left me feeling rather fragile; actually, it left me feeling broken. From coffee and then Guinness in Òran Mór, where we were squeezed into the corner of a bench by a group of models having their make-up applied ahead of an assignment; to beers in Coopers and meeting up with the Thistle lads, Colin, Niall and Jonathan; to Firhill and the match; back to Coopers for post-match ales; to outdoor drinking at Jinty McGinty’s; to Tennent’s Bar for a portion of the evening; to somewhere else – Glasgow had defeated me. That football city which Daniel Defoe had claimed as being “the cleanest and beautifullest, and best built city in Britain,London excepted” had once again bested me. But this isn’t about the travel or the beer or even something conventionally beautiful; this about football.

For Glasgow to truly be a football city, which it is in my opinion, then the surface beyond Celtic and Rangers has to be scratched to uncover something more. And what comes after the Old Firm? That’ll be Partick Thistle, formed four years after Rangers and twelve years earlier than Celtic. While the Old Firm have celebrated success-upon-success, their neighbours, who moved from the Partick area of Glasgow to Firhill, a part of Maryhill, in 1909, have rarely scaled such heights. A 1921 Scottish Cup victory over Rangers and a 1971 League Cup victory over Celtic aside, the past has been anything but golden. But where’s the fun in expecting titles and cups year-after-year?

The fantastic Main Stand, opened in 1927, now stands empty, testament to spiralling operating and stewarding costs. Away fans occasionally sit in the North Stand, a structure that hints at certain ineptitude of the SFA. When the stand was opened in 2002 it was required so that ground could reach the 10,000 seater mark required for promotion to the SPL. That figure was only required for a short period of time, dropped down to a 6,000 seater capacity in 2005. Thistle had committed their eggs into that financial basket and when they were relegated in 2004, with Inverness taking their place after being allowed to groundshare with Aberdeen and thus reach the 10,000 capacity needed (this being only two years after Falkirk attempted to groundshare in order to take promotion to the SPL; a move which was blocked by the SFA), Thistle started to plummet. After spending much of the 1980s and 1990s close to bankruptcy, Thistle were once again left cashless, only this time it was largely to do with a stand that should never have been needed and is rarely full.

Following a match-saving cameo on his debut, Christie Elliott, recently signed from Whitley Bay, who themselves had plucked him from Jarrow FC and the Wearside League only last season, was handed his first start of his professional career. His former manager at Whitley Bay, Ian Chandler, had earlier told me that Christie “could be as good as he wants to be. He could easily play in the [English] Championship; he’s very, very quick; direct; two great feet. He’ll be huge in Scotland”. And after struggling to adjust to the pace of an error strewn game, it was Elliott who proved to be the difference for Partick once again. With five minutes remaining, and the crowd of just over 2,000 expecting the draw, a David Rowson cross was played back into the path of Elliott who stroked the ball into the bottom corner to lift The Jags three points clear of The Doonhamers at the bottom of the table.

Elliott had also played a part in the opening goal when, after 19 minutes, he chased Lee Robinson, the visiting ‘keeper, down and deflected the ball into the path of Kris Doolan to score. The visitors responded on the hour mark with their equaliser, which owed more to an error by the home ‘keeper, Scott Fox, than the quality of play. A long cross was played to the edge of the box and Fox was nowhere near collecting the ball when Mark Campbell flicked the ball into the net. Luckily the late goal by the lad who was playing English Level 11 football only months ago, made the difference in this Scottish First Division match.

Andy Hudson
http://ganninaway.wordpress.com/


*Might not be true.