tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8770341086445997547.post9136067087278995363..comments2023-10-07T22:37:49.244+13:00Comments on The Hand Mirror: FIFA u17 Women's Finalkatyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15742280289613450293noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8770341086445997547.post-75763748601020610442008-11-25T08:23:00.000+13:002008-11-25T08:23:00.000+13:00Thanks for writing this up EE, it's great to read ...Thanks for writing this up EE, it's great to read something positive about women's sport :-)Juliehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08977150346842277994noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8770341086445997547.post-82548999669134294932008-11-22T11:53:00.000+13:002008-11-22T11:53:00.000+13:00I was was blown away by the skill level of this cu...I was was blown away by the skill level of this cup. Went to the semifinals in Christchurch, great crowd, and great entertainment, the crowd was well behaved, no idiots.<BR/><BR/>I was cheering for the USA, and that semifinal was a classic game of football.<BR/><BR/>FIFA is over the moon at how we ran it, they wanted total attendance to be around 50 thousand plus and they got 216 thousand.<BR/><BR/>So its looking good for future cups in this country.<BR/><BR/>I thought the whole cup sent a great message to young girls and boys to take up a sport. To see the cameras focus on the players on the bench and the girls were eating fruit was a great advertisement on healthy living.<BR/><BR/>A big congrats to our girls for playing wonderful football, and a big thanks to the USA teams who were great ambassadors for their country and their sport.A Bloggerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03105316259803893464noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8770341086445997547.post-8978451812993107172008-11-22T07:02:00.000+13:002008-11-22T07:02:00.000+13:00The play was very skillful though the defence is l...The play was very skillful though the defence is lacking. But that will come. I'd encourage people to check out the highlights (e.g. search for u17 Women's World Cup on YouTube), it's worth it.<BR/><BR/>I was banned from playing soccer from one school I was at, so it does my heart good to see something like this.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8770341086445997547.post-15046534450328707232008-11-21T11:34:00.000+13:002008-11-21T11:34:00.000+13:00Great post, E-E. From what I saw of the U17 highl...Great post, E-E. From what I saw of the U17 highlights, the play looked really skillful (to someone who knows nothing about soccer).<BR/><BR/>I suspect soccer has been a beneficiary of the so-called 'white flight' from rugby. When I was at primary school (in rural Southland), kids quite openly said that soccer was for 'fags', a view which mixed derision for the game with homophobia in a way that adults in the community didn't bother to counter. <BR/><BR/>I heard somewhere or other that NZ made a great job of running the U17 women's tournament, and there's a chance we'll also get the rights to host some other major tournament (U17 men's?). That would be brilliant for the game - but here's hoping the associated hooliganism won't also travel to our sunny shores.Annahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06076244041878300351noreply@blogger.com