THEY'VE pretty much nailed Season 1, and there are just six things that the W-League needs to ensure a successful Season 2...

1. Replays. On a big screen.

In what has become known as the ‘BC Curse’, my brother cannot—cannot—see goals being scored. If he’s not at the bar buying rounds of beers, he’s ducked to the bathroom. So canny is his knack for missing goals that when we desperately need to score, we just about forcibly eject him from his seat.

Sadly, his curse cannot be channelled to make a particular team score and, in the case of Roar, this invariably results in them conceding a soft goal in the 80-somethingth minute to whichever team happens to be playing them at Suncorp. At one Roar v Newcastle match in Version 3, Newcastle scored three goals in the time it took for him to line up and pay for a tray of beers. While in the bathroom at a World Cup Qualifier, BC — easily Kewell’s number one fan in the universe — missed Kewell scoring so close in front of us that we could hear him breathe.

But worse, in his absence the baton unwittingly passes to me and I am invariably in the bathroom, chatting to someone, or simply, boringly, looking down at my notes when something action-packed occurs. It is always followed with fist-clenched ‘Why you little…!’ Homer-esque frustration at knowing that I have missed a moment that — without big-screen replays or greater W-League broadcast coverage — I will never have the opportunity to see.

Please W-League and the stadiums which host the matches, ask Santa or the funding bodies that be for some big screens.

2. Replays that actually show what happened — the good, the bad, and the ugly.

This is more A-League-relevant right now, but will be equally as important once the W-League secures some plasma action: show us the replay so we know what happened — the good, the bad, and the ugly. We pay to see the match in its entirety. This includes any incidents that occur throughout. Not seeing replays makes us more likely to want to start a riot. And it makes us more likely to stay home and watch it on Foxtel where they will show us.

Case in point: the only Thugby League match I attended last season was the Broncos v Storm preliminary final, which featured the infamous grapple tackle. They replayed that crunching, unsporting, cringe-inducing incident on the Suncorp big screen what felt like five million times from five million camera angles.

If they can trust the thugby fans not to riot, I think they can trust the football fans not to.

3. More games broadcasts.

It doesn’t really need to be said, does it? If we can’t see the games, we can’t support the teams. The ratings alone have demonstrated the interest in the W-League.

More games broadcasts please.

4. A longer season.

The W-League is just hitting its straps, crowds are just cementing their support and suddenly it’s just about all over.

Will Season 2 include double the number of matches?

5. Beer at Ballymore.

Ballymore without beer is like cricket without streakers. It’s an institution and, as the boys who regularly attend the games with me have commented on a number of occasions, the W-League games at Ballymore would be perfect if they just had one more thing: beer.

6. More facials.

In honour of the W-League, massive football fan friends Bob and Wally renamed the famous ‘falcon’ the ‘facial’ after someone — we have no idea who because we were too busy going ‘Far out, did you hear the sound of the impact?! That would have frickin’ hurt!’ — got nailed by a pile-driving ball face-on at point-blank range.

There’s no such thing as too many falcons or facials in any game. Particularly when, if you missed them the first time, they’re replayed on the big screen so you can wince and guffaw and be reminded of the last time you were falconed/facialled in your own sporting life.

More facials, more big screen and broadcast action, and more beer. Please.

When she’s not missing goal-scoring action, Fiona Crawford is writing about it on her website.

Read more of Fiona's blogs here...