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Post by zanygame on Aug 20, 2023 17:35:10 GMT
The sub-heading of an article in the Economist this week which poses the question “Should women’s football have different rules from men’s?” The article cites a report by Arve Vorland Pedersen, a neuroscientist and sports scientist at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, which that "Women are indeed playing a game that is subtly different—and considerably harder—than the one being played by the men. The researchers start from the observation that women are physically different from men in many ways. Women are shorter than men (168cm v 182cm in a Norwegian sample). Female footballers are lighter (65kg v 76kg). Women are slower (4.84 seconds to run 30 metres, v 4.25), and cannot jump as high (36cm v 57cm). Those differences persist even among the most athletic members of each sex.” The report goes on to note that:
“The researchers then try to scale the size of a football pitch to account for those anthropometric differences. A pitch that was the same relative size for women as it is for men would, they say, be 93 metres long and 61 metres wide, down from the current recommended dimensions of 105 metres x 68 metres (see table). Nor is it just the pitch. Shorter female keepers can cover a smaller part of the goal than a man can. To achieve parity between the sexes, the women’s goal, say the researchers, should be shrunk from 7.32 metres wide and 2.44 metres high to 6.76 metres across and 2.25 metres high. Even the ball would change: taking account of women’s lower leg strength would require a ball weighing 287 grams, rather than the 430-grams of a standard male ball (though that would alter how the ball behaves in flight). Put another way, say the researchers, expecting women to play with a men’s ball is a bit like asking men to kick a 623-gram basketball-sized sphere around.” It's not as though other women’s sports have not adjusted standards to take account of sex differences:
“In athletics, women put lighter shots, throw lighter discuses and leap over lower hurdles than men do. The WNBA, a women’s professional basketball league in America, uses a lighter ball. Volleyball uses a lower net. Indeed, women’s football used lighter balls until the 1990s.” But football seems remarkably resistant to such accommodations. Why is that one wonders? An article by Laura Woods, recently appointed as chief presenter for TNT Sports, which appears in today's Mail may provide a clue:
It's cos we's all ekwal innit.
Surely all this only matters if women play against men. Other that that the pitch size, goal size, ball weight etc are just arbitrary items anyway. Who decided the goal should be 7.32mtrs in the first place. |
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Post by Dan Dare on Aug 20, 2023 18:59:14 GMT
Probably the Football Association, but they would have specified 8 yards as the width of the goal.
The point with respect to dimensions and weights etc for womens football is a complicated one. Many efforts have been made to make them more appropriate for female physiology as the article points out has been done for many other sports, but football seems obstinately resistant to making such obviously sensible adjustments.
It might have something to do with the concern that anything that tends to imply that womens football is different to mens needs to be resisted at all costs.
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Post by zanygame on Aug 20, 2023 20:31:55 GMT
Probably the Football Association, but they would have specified 8 yards as the width of the goal. The point with respect to dimensions and weights etc for womens football is a complicated one. Many efforts have been made to make them more appropriate for female physiology as the article points out has been done for many other sports, but football seems obstinately resistant to making such obviously sensible adjustments. It might have something to do with the concern that anything that tends to imply that womens football is different to mens needs to be resisted at all costs. My point being what if the men's goal had been 9 yards? Who's to say what the best size is for a good game. |
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Post by Dan Dare on Aug 20, 2023 20:47:15 GMT
Now you're just being silly. If you don't know how the Laws of the Game came about you probably ought to refrain from further comment.
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Post by Pacifico on Aug 20, 2023 21:05:26 GMT
You are missing the point Dan - the size of the goals, pitch etc in the Laws of the Game are totally arbitrary, they could have been anything. It doesn't matter what the size of anything is - if both teams are equal they both have the same chances to win.
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Post by Dan Dare on Aug 21, 2023 8:21:28 GMT
I feel certain that the chaps in blazers at the FA who set out the Rules of the Game in 1863, including Law 1 'The Field of Play', would have been anything but arbitrary in their decisions. After all, apart from minor tweaks from time to time they have stood the test of time and are a rare instance of a set of rules that are universally recognised and applied.
The United States tried to muscle in with innovations of its own, such as banning draws and the 'stampede' shootout, but these were soon abandoned to universal ridicule.
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Post by zanygame on Aug 21, 2023 9:41:39 GMT
I feel certain that the chaps in blazers at the FA who set out the Rules of the Game in 1863, including Law 1 'The Field of Play', would have been anything but arbitrary in their decisions. After all, apart from minor tweaks from time to time they have stood the test of time and are a rare instance of a set of rules that are universally recognised and applied. The United States tried to muscle in with innovations of its own, such as banning draws and the 'stampede' shootout, but these were soon abandoned to universal ridicule. You might be surprised then. Golf courses have 18 holes because In 1764, the golfers at St Andrews decided to combine the first four short holes into two, to produce a round of 18 holes, though it was still 10 holes of which 8 were played twice. Thus was born the 18-hole round, though it would be hundred years before there were eighteen holes and other courses followed suit. Football pitches are any number of sizes between parameters to suit fields available. So who's to say what the best size pitch for men to play on, let alone women. Further no one is going to provide replacement goals and new pitch markings for every time a women's team play. |
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Post by Dan Dare on Aug 21, 2023 9:57:40 GMT
Sorry but you've had your answers and I'm not going to be having another go on the zany-go-round
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Post by johnofgwent on Aug 21, 2023 10:28:50 GMT
The sub-heading of an article in the Economist this week which poses the question “Should women’s football have different rules from men’s?” The article cites a report by Arve Vorland Pedersen, a neuroscientist and sports scientist at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, which that "Women are indeed playing a game that is subtly different—and considerably harder—than the one being played by the men. The researchers start from the observation that women are physically different from men in many ways. Women are shorter than men (168cm v 182cm in a Norwegian sample). Female footballers are lighter (65kg v 76kg). Women are slower (4.84 seconds to run 30 metres, v 4.25), and cannot jump as high (36cm v 57cm). Those differences persist even among the most athletic members of each sex.” The report goes on to note that:
“The researchers then try to scale the size of a football pitch to account for those anthropometric differences. A pitch that was the same relative size for women as it is for men would, they say, be 93 metres long and 61 metres wide, down from the current recommended dimensions of 105 metres x 68 metres (see table). Nor is it just the pitch. Shorter female keepers can cover a smaller part of the goal than a man can. To achieve parity between the sexes, the women’s goal, say the researchers, should be shrunk from 7.32 metres wide and 2.44 metres high to 6.76 metres across and 2.25 metres high. Even the ball would change: taking account of women’s lower leg strength would require a ball weighing 287 grams, rather than the 430-grams of a standard male ball (though that would alter how the ball behaves in flight). Put another way, say the researchers, expecting women to play with a men’s ball is a bit like asking men to kick a 623-gram basketball-sized sphere around.” It's not as though other women’s sports have not adjusted standards to take account of sex differences:
“In athletics, women put lighter shots, throw lighter discuses and leap over lower hurdles than men do. The WNBA, a women’s professional basketball league in America, uses a lighter ball. Volleyball uses a lower net. Indeed, women’s football used lighter balls until the 1990s.” But football seems remarkably resistant to such accommodations. Why is that one wonders? An article by Laura Woods, recently appointed as chief presenter for TNT Sports, which appears in today's Mail may provide a clue:
It's cos we's all ekwal innit.
oh for heaven’s sake Women’s tennis does not use a smaller court although i concede it has only three sets making the case for a pay differential between three set women's tennis versus five set men’s ‘arguable’ if we alliw lower entry fees to watch the shorter game But a smaller pitch ? God almighty. My daughter’s best friend from her days in junior school would drop kick any suggesting such in her chosen sport of women’s rugby over the posts and call it a conversion. I mean, it would be like that bloody cricket match in 1992 on the pitch opposite the open university. I played for my client’s ‘B’ team our main purpose being to keep the ‘A’ team on their toes for the sunday league THEY played in. At the end of the 91 season the council had gone to town on the pitch and totally reworked everything. The A team won the toss and opted to bat. Our bowlers myself included noticed pretty quickly SOMETHING was not right but we could not suss it out. When their team captain was ‘run out’ he called a time out for a quiet word. The pitch didn’t seem ‘right’ so several of us paced it out. Then we called for measuring tapes. Some council arse had measured the pitch out in METRES. No wonder it felt wrong. |
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Post by zanygame on Aug 21, 2023 10:45:22 GMT
Sorry but you've had your answers and I'm not going to be having another go on the zany-go-round Fair enough. |
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