One step forwards, two steps backwards.
Speak to those in charge of driving women’s football forward in Scotland and the general consensus is that it is at least a decade behind where England is, where many European clubs are.
It is frustrating then that when presented with opportunities on a plate that the women’s game can still sabotage its own advances and miss an open goal.
Thursday night was the ideal case in point at Broadwood.
With Rangers hosting Celtic in the first derby of the season, there was significant intrigue around the game for all sorts of reasons; the first time the teams had met since Celtic clinched the title on goal difference last May, while Rangers headed into the game on the back of an opening six weeks where they have blown all domestic competition out of the water.
With everything against it in terms of awkwardness, they still managed to put on a show.
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A teatime kick-off at 6pm when folk are heading home from work, getting kids to football and karate and swimming and trying to get dinner on the table was never going to be anything other than difficult.
Add in to the mix that Philippe Clement’s team were hosting Lyon at Ibrox on Europa League duty and the scheduling of the game was head scratching given what it was up against.
But with Sky Sports beaming the game to a live audience, there was a compelling 90 minutes put forward by both sets of players as they stepped up to their platform.
And a decent crowd of around 1500 to boot, despite the challenges that the kick-off time presented.
Two goals to the good and in firm command, Rangers somehow allowed Celtic to squirm off the hook.
That the game finished with Elena Sadiku’s side bearing down on Rangers as they looked to claim a winner was fine drama for those who were able to tune in; as was Sadiku angrily brandishing two digits to referee Lewis Hogarth as she fumed that the whistler ‘had given Rangers two goals’ in the immediate aftermath of penalty award to the Ibrox side and Jo Potter chewing the ear off the fourth official when Tess Middag’s ‘goal’ on the ten-minute mark was chopped off.
A rivalry between the two managers and two clubs serves the game well.
Come to post-match, though, and unless one could find a way to be in two places at the same time then there was no access to both managers to hear their post-match thoughts on what had been an intriguing 90 minutes.
With one team using trackside for interviews and one team using a corridor inside the stadium and both manager interviews conducted simultaneously, it would have taken a feat of other worldly proportions to hear both post-match assessments.
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It is difficult to fathom the same situation happening in the men’s game. Brendan Rodgers and Philippe Clement put up at the same time?
Even in such circumstances the volume of media covering the game could divide and share. That is not a luxury afforded at a women’s game.
This information being relayed on the night was met with what amounted to little more than a casual shrug of the shoulders.
Simply put, for a game and a fixture that needs to promote itself this is akin to picking up a large shotgun and taking direct aim to the foot.
Fixtures in the women’s game do not command the same column inches as the men’s game. It does not have the same audience, the same pull or the same reach.
So it has to fight for its place as it jostles with other stories. It has to use the space and the airtime that it gets in order to assert itself into the public psyche.
A game between Rangers and Celtic offers scope to do exactly that. And on the back of a meeting that was nothing but a positive advert for the Scottish women’s game, clubs need to engage in a bit of joined up thinking – and a little communication.
Clubs need to be given a directive from league organisers to stipulate that the bare minimum to promote the game requires working media areas that are clearly stipulated. Anything else looks like amateur hour.
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AND ANOTHER THING
Celtic kick off their UEFA Women’s Champions League campaign on Tuesday night at New Douglas Park as they open with a home game against Twente.
On paper this is the most winning game in a group that contains significant heavyweights of Chelsea and Real Madrid.
There is every chance that there will be a few sobering nights ahead in the tournament but having engaged the full support ahead of this one to bring as many in as possible is a sensible approach.
There has been a resolution with all fan groups to encourage numbers through the gate. The ambition will be that they hold onto some of those when the glamour evenings have passed.
AND FINALLY
With Caroline Weir bang in form as Scotland look towards their Euro 2025 play-off, Pedro Martinez Losa will have felt as though his hand was firmly enhanced to negotiate the game against Hungary.
The vastly experienced captain will be a loss for Martinez Losa as he looks to lead Scotland through tricky play-offs.
