A PRE-SEMI finals layover this week gave me a preview of a W-League-less existence and while the season isn’t yet over, I’m already experiencing withdrawal.
Can it have only been ten weeks since the inaugural W-League kicked off? And what on earth am I going to do when it’s over?The dearth of matches did have me thinking, though, that for me much of the W-League season has been about absence. Indeed, there’s been a refreshing lack of:
- Diving or penalty-milking theatrics
- Baying for blood when [insert team name here] fails to meet our we-only-like-winners expectations
- Player betting scandals, especially for pithy amounts that aren’t worth tarnishing one’s reputation over
- Poor home ground form that threatens to overwhelm fans who’d choose an entire season of away games over seemingly accursed home ones
- Booing of under-performing, over-the-hill marquee/import players
- Kosmina and Farina and their respective moaning about how they wuz robbed
- Ill-informed Rebecca Wilson articles
- It’s-not-as-good-as-the-Premier-League cynicism
But there’s one absence that continues to disappoint me. The lack of a dedicated W-League section on not just FourFourTwo’s website, but also on its competitors’ sites really begs the question: If the future of football is feminine, why aren’t our websites and football coverage reflecting it?
I initially thought it was an oversight or put it down to a wait-and-see-whether-there’s-interest developmental delay, but the proven-popular season is effectively over and dedicated W-League sections remain scarce.
I understand that space is a premium and that it’s not as straightforward as simply adding another tab, but with only one weekly W-League match broadcast, website coverage and forum discussions are an integral way of disseminating information and generating buzz about the league.
Where else would we discover and debate such inane but interest-piquing issues as which team has the best uniform, the shortest shorts, and the most tanned and talented chicks?
Given that the W-League website coverage issue is raised periodically on various forums and on the largely chick-run Facebook W-League groups, I’m not alone in my thinking.
So I’m putting it out there to all football websites and magazines—including FourFourTwo—not in an ungrateful, biting-the-hand-that-feeds-me sense, but instead in a seizing-the-opportunity one: can we make it a belated new year’s or pre-second season resolution to develop a kick ass, dedicated W-League section?
