The Women’s FA Cup Final
I’m sorry, readers, but you’ll have to bear with me as my blogs become more and more football focused. I’m a bit immersed in it at the moment but I promise to flag up when I return to dragons and fairies. In the meantime, it was the Women’s FA Cup final yesterday (May 4th 2009) Two million people watched it on TV and over 25,000 went to Pride Park, home of Derby County, to watch it live. FYI Arsenal Ladies beat Sunderland Women 2-1 to take the cup for a fourth successive time. Not that you’d know it from the coverage in the newspapers today. Of the seven pages dedicated to football in the Times, the women’s match managed a short report covering a fifth of one page. No picture. No crowd attendance. Not even the correct team name (the reporter named Sunderland’s team Sunderland Ladies, not Women). OK, this might seem picky but would he have called Newcastle United Newcastle City? I think not. And Peter Lansley’s match report was one of the better ones.
In my mini survey, costing me almost five quid, I bought several other papers to compare coverage. This was, after all, an FA CUP FINAL. The Daily Mail carried a small picture of Arsenal’s Jayne Ludlow kissing the cup and a five line summary. The Sun (I can’t believe I bought the Sun - sorry Liverpool) had the same picture, only smaller but with a slightly fuller report. The Independent’s was about the same as the Sun’s but with a thumbnail picture of Arsenal’s retiring coach, Vic Akers, instead of Jayne Ludlow. Lamest of all was the Daily Telegraph’s mention; a derisory 2 x 2 inches infill among all the hype for Arsenal’s match against Manchester United tonight. ‘Take note, Arsenal men…’ Oh, come on! What year is it again?
The best coverage of all was in the Guardian. It carried a great 8 x 6″ action shot of Sophie Halliday and Gemma Davison competing for a header and a full report by Tony Leighton with post match quotes an’ all. You know, like a proper report for a proper match. Good on you, Tony. As for the rest of you… must do better.
PS I haven’t got a picture of the match so I’ve stuck in one I took when I watched OOH Lincoln Ladies play Nottingham Forest in the 5th round proper back in January. I thought the page needed something to break up my in-depth research and commentary! The reds won that day, too.