Retrospective. 2019 Women's World Cup Finals

Just a bit of a reflection of mine from the last Women's World Cup in anticipation of the current 2023 Tournament  

I am sad that the TV coverage of the FIFA Women's World Cup has finished.

What a tremendous festival of football it has been over the last few weeks.

It has been hard to schedule in the televised games amongst family, work and social commitments but I can say that I have seen a very high proportion of them.

I am a keen follower of a lot of sports regardless of gender but the Women's World Cup has challenged my preconceived ideas and male prejudices far beyond what I would have expected.

Yes, my sexist and misogynistic hard wiring as a man has on occasion threatened to take over but I feel admonished to a degree in that I have been able to recognise the signs at an early stage.

I have not allowed these inherent traits to diminish in any respect the athleticism, skill, endurance and tactical prowess of the players.

I was a curious onlooker to start off with.

The emergence and increasing profile of Women's Football has awoken many to its level of performance. It has been a hard struggle to gain the recognition and attract the financial backing even in a sport where, in the Men's game we are ever more astounded by the wages and excesses although such things are very much regarded as the norm.

The historical background of women's participation in football is quite shameful in that a previous halcyon era in the inter war years in the UK was vindictively ended by the dark suited old men of the Football Association who imposed a ban on women's matches being played in the grounds of its League members.

This was in spite of mass popular support and huge attendances which propelled the likes of Lily Parr into a glorious, albeit short lived stardom.

Some years ago my eldest daughter trained with a local Under 12's male youth team but her obvious affinity for the game was always stifled when she was relegated to play with the "C" or "D" team when she should have been a regular First Team selection.

It was the case that Dads and Lads ruled the day and girls were kept in their place.

Some 17 years later she did get to play in a Women's League but I just think about all of those wasted years brought about as a direct consequence of male chauvinism, backward thinking and entrenched ideas.

At least young girls and women will benefit from the high profile attained by the current status of the game and get so many more opportunities where before that was obstructed and hindered.

Lookout Look Up

In the course of my daily work of Surveying houses I come across some very individual and quirky places. 

That was the case just a couple of days ago in a small seaside town on the North Sea Coast in East Yorkshire. 

I am a bit embarrassed to admit that even after some 30 years of driving down that particular street I have failed to notice the rather strangely styled structure atop a pair of properties. It is a timber clad lookout tower. 

This photograph, although rather grainy with age shows the tower- see upper mid left.

The two houses well predate any other residences on the street and indeed are somewhat grander in style and in the use of materials than their neighbours. 

Under the name Eton House the three storey houses are likely to have been built for a single family occupation covering multiple generations or even with the original intention of the builder to sell off one of them for a profit and keeping the best for their own occupation. 

The Title Deed indicates a sale of the land followed by construction around 1882. 

Given the quality of the brick and the glazed clay embellishments at the eaves (corbelling) and above the windows and front door there was no expense spared within the commission. This is indicative of local wealth and influence of the intended occupiers. The lookout tower may have been part of the original build and with its unrestricted views to the sea could be associated with the owner of a seagoing vessel such as a fishing boat or inshore cargo carrier. 

The seaside town itself does not have a harbour and the Pleasure Pier was never reinstated after a storm stricken ship collided with and severed the otherwise illustrious and well patronised attraction. 

This would mean a mooring of a larger vessel out at sea and the need for an owner or operator to keep a regular vigil. 

What better than your own high level observation point? 

The tower, today, remains in good condition although as the pair of properties have come into separate and unrelated ownership so there has been a compulsion to sub divide it and rather than a large panoramic outlook there are now two 180 degree aspects. 

The maintenance of the old timber frame will form a liability on respective owners but because of the local historic significance this has been carried out sympathetically and diligently by successive owners. 

The side relevant to my Survey is internally ship lap boarded and retains small leaded and stained glass  windows. It was perfectly dry and well preserved. 

As for access, this was from the attic level of the house with a steeply angled ladder and a liftable trap hatch very much akin to that between decks on a ship. 

Speaking to the current owner she told a story, told in turn by someone else to her about a fatal suicide from the lookout tower way back in the history of the house. 

It was recounted that the reason for the suicide had been the death by drowning in the backyard well by a young child and with the grief and guilt ridden parent taking their own life. 

This story really caught my imagination and I felt compelled to research it further. 

In the depths of the British Newspaper Archive I found the following story which broadly fitted the date and background story. 

This is from the Eastern Counties Press Newspaper in 1897. 

If you can make out the text it appears to give a happy ending to the much told local story 

A Game of One Half

16th February 2018. Another excursion to The Smoke by my home town team, Hull City for the Fifth Round FA Cup against Chelsea.

Games in the Capital in respective League and Cup matches have never proven fruitful apart from the remarkable victories in The Tigers first Premiership Season away to Spurs and then ending a stella Home Win Record for Arsenal at the Emirates including a wonder goal the Brazilian, Giovanni.

There was of course the 2014 FA Cup Final with City forcing extra time before eventually capitulating to the Gunners from a 2-0 lightning start. I made the journey to Wembley that year with a car full of family and friends. It was a rare chance for me to attend an actual match.

I am of the generation brought up on radio broadcasts of football and have so far resisted the lure of Pay to View or high cost subscriptions to Mega Media.

I have experienced great and iconic moments in radio commentary over the years listened to via my parent’s wardrobe sized overheated valve set, my teenage years portable transistor and latterly a high tech digital radio.

Many an afternoon and evening has been spent in the company of the likes of Peter Jones, John Motson, Alan Parry and the latter career years of Kenneth Wolstenholme. The combination of sheer knowledge about the game , tone of voice and delivery are rarely matched today.

So, I was prepared for the BBC Five Live Coverage from Stamford Bridge with all of the usual hopes, fears and anxieties even for an armchair supporter of Hull City.

By way of background, my team in early 2018 were in a very different and somewhat darker situation to the Premier League Yo-Yo and Cup Finalist eras.

There had been the usual Second Tier Owner/Chairman issues with a Fan boycott. The Managerial comings and goings included a former Russian National Team Coach to stalwart lower league journeymen. The team were just one point clear of the Championship Relegation places in the last quarter of the season.

The Chelsea game was a welcome distraction and in the previous Cup Rounds Hull City had shown excellent form beating Blackburn Rovers and Nottingham Forest who themselves had knocked out Arsenal.

The selection for BBC Radio Commentary was to be regarded as prestigious and much anticipated with the prospect of a possibly competitive contest and as always the chance of a cup upset.

Nigel Adkins, the City Manager had his game plan. It would be a necessary scenario to hold out for as long as possible and hope for a counter attack.

Unfortunately the game plan went out of the window with a second minute goal by Willian to be followed by three more Chelsea goals before 42 minutes.

Hull City were always better in the second half of a game and the status of being thrashed at 4-0 would hopefully not get worse.

At that point on half time the BBC inexplicably broke off from the commentary and switched to Leicester City v Sheffield United at 0-0..

This was unprecedented BBC behaviour in all of my 50 plus years of listening to radio coverage of football.

I could only stare at the LCD display on my radio in utter disbelief and indignation. I am not one to bear a grudge but the BBC’s decision to move away from the live commentary left me stunned and angry. Yes, Hull City apparently improved slightly after the break and even had a penalty saved by Caballero. I would like to have heard about that first hand. The match statistics showed 45% City possession and in fact a better shots on target percentage than Chelsea even with the 4 first half goals taken into account.

I have regularly returned to the emotions stirred by the Game of One Half.

My sense of bereavement at the loss of the second 45 minutes was raw and very real and I required some form of closure. It was not important that it took me 5 years to act.

The BBC is a State Broadcaster and subject to the Freedom of Information Act.

I wrote to their Information Rights Department seeking an explanation. They said they were happy to voluntarily provide a response which was “It is not uncommon for 5 Live to move between different cup ties depending on the state of play and potential levels of excitement for the broadcast audience”.

I am not aware that the BBC have repeated their abandonment of a match commentary at half time in the intervening 5 years to the present or indeed ever or in any competition. In fact the Leicester V Sheffield United commentary straddled both 5 Live and 5 Live Extra and so the BBC defence was weak and not entirely true.

I cannot help but to constantly re-live the emotions stirred by the Game of One Half.

I have tried to avoid the usual speculation about conspiracy theories, the unprecedented bias of a London centric media against any North of England teams and attempts by the BBC to trim their budgets in their outside broadcasts.

In my mind the Game of One Half will go down as one of the great mysteries of human existence which includes the Bermuda Triangle, the whereabouts of Shergar, the purpose of Love Island and how Boris Johnson got to become Prime Minister.