The XX

One thing that struck home during the World Cup was the noticeably gender-diverse demographic of the crowds that attended each game. For all the years that I have been going to football matches, it's always been very much the domain of the man - from the pub beforehand to the hilariously foul language, and raw impotent aggression throughout the game (impotent aggression = football hooligans shouting 'come on then' whilst backing off and checking that police are nearby) it is just Man Time. Grrr. Men. So the realisation that the reason the crowd seemed different at Green Point Stadium was due to the presence, prevalence even, of women, made me think perhaps the appeal of the game is expanding.

To test this theory it made perfect sense to conduct my own empirical study with a real-life subject, so below, in all their glory, are Gina Tomlinson's thoughts on football. Sadly for the aspiring football writer in me, she has pretty much nailed it...

What is your favourite thing about football? Once a squirrel ran on the pitch, that was brilliant. A squirrel on a football pitch!

What do you think the is worst thing about football? It's just a bit boring, if there were more goals (and animals running on the pitch) I might like it.

Who is your favourite player and why? David Beckham – Fitttttt!!!! Sorry Chris but even you think he is sexy.

What is your abiding memory from the recent World Cup? It was in South Africa and we didn’t win. I liked the South African fans, they all looked like they were having a lot of fun.

How would you improve football? 1)No football hooligans. 2)Footballers always have to do a fun goal celebration, like the man who pretended to be a fish – amazing!

One word to sum up football: Boring

As you can see, the responses elicited a fairly negative view of the Beautiful Game, but it was in free mode where Gina's feelings really came to the fore:

"I know there is a goal keeper called David Seaman, and I used to like someone called John Barnes, I even know he played for Liverpool.

I know there is a man who looks like a fish and Chris doesn’t like him, but his son is fit and his wife is even fitter!

I believe that football is a beautiful game that brings out a loyalty and devotion from it's greatest fans. It's a game that unites the world, the rich and the poor.

Also however, I think that footballers are overpaid, soft girls who jump on the floor when they worry their skills won't win the game.

I think my boyfriend spends too much time thinking about it, talking about it and relating all life experiences to it. And sometimes football fans get very angry and aggressive."

So, there we have it. Difficult to argue with many of the points, and clearly it is not just me who thinks that Harry Redknapp looks like a fish. If you'd like to hear more from Gina, let me know via the comments below, and we'll see if we can get her to become a regular guest contributor...