WOMEN’S PROFESSIONAL SOCCER SUSPENDS OPERATIONS PERMANENTLY
RIP WPS.
SAN FRANCISCO, CA (May 18, 2012) –The WPS Board of Governors agreed today to suspend all League operations permanently and dissolve the League.
“We sincerely regret having to take this course of action,” said T. Fitz Johnson, Atlanta Beat Owner and Chairman of the Board.
The suspension of League operations will be effective immediately as the Board of Governors begins the process of dissolving the League.
Congrats to Olympique Lyonnais, winners of the UEFA Women’s Champions League today in front of a record crowd of 50,212 at the Olympiastadion in Munich, defeating FFC Frankfurt.
ANNOUNCEMENT: We’re giving away free match tickets with Issue 58 of Popular Stand. The fanzine is proud to announce a tie in with Doncaster Rovers Belles, which means each copy of Issue 58 of the fanzine - on sale at the Ipswich game on Saturday 28th April - will contain a FREE ticket for the Belles FA Women’s Super League home game against Everton the following day. Your town. Your teams. Back the Belles.
Interesting stuff; this is part 1, here are parts 2, 3, 4. There’s also a good write-up on the show at 200%.
I knew I could count on Youtube.
The BBC presents: Sexism in Football
Gabby Logan explores sexism in football, hearing stories from influential women working across the men’s game.This is why we need more women in soccer—not just playing it, but coaching it, writing about it, promoting it. We need more female refs, managers, owners, administrators. The sad reality right now is if you’re gonna work as a woman in soccer, you’ve got to be the absolute best at it or else if you fail, the jerks and sexist douchebags out there will hold that failure up as an example why all women should be kept out of football. The more of us there are repping the sport, the better it will get.
In this week’s newsletter, a GFOP enlightens us to the First World War Poetry Digital Archive. It’s a treasure trove of prose that even includes a few photos, like the above women’s munitions workers’ football team from the AEC Munitions Factory at Beckton, London.
Women’s soccer in Brazil: The current situation and the expectations that lie ahead
Good piece on how Brazilian women’s soccer seems to be surviving the loss of its biggest club, Santos (whose women’s division closed down last autumn).
Damesvoetbal / Women’s soccer
Spaarnestad Photo, SFA002004116
Damesvoetbal in Portsmouth, Engeland, 1917. Tenue: heuplange truien, kniekousen en baretten.Women’s soccer in Portsmouth, England, 1917.
A selection from an upcoming PI post on the excellent match day posters produced by non-League Lewes FC (“The Rooks”) in Sussex, England.
"The Los Angeles Sol were the flagship franchise of Women’s Professional Soccer (WPS) when the league launched in March 2009. The Sol had the best of everything during the league’s debut season – the best record, the highest ticket revenue, WPS’ wealthiest and most experienced owner/operator in Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG), a world class venue in the Home Depot Center, and the sport’s greatest player in three-time FIFA World Player of the Year Marta of Brazil. But the best of everything comes at a price. The Sol’s estimated $3 million loss was among the highest in the league and led to the demise of the club in January 2010 after just one season of play."
- From an excellent piece on the short life of WPS’ Los Angeles Sol.
