Scotland women’s final European Championship qualification game will be played at Firhill next month. The move to head away from the national stadium is down to the recent gigs that have been at Hampden with the Foo Fighters on stage last weekend and Pink next up as songs of a different kind take over on Glasgow’s southside.
It is not expected to be anything other than an isolated occasion with Hampden remaining the primary venue for the national team. It may not be popular but in some ways it may actually work in Scotland’s favour to be housed, however temp-orarily, over at Firhill.
Recent crowds have been dispiritingly low for the national side and across the women’s game in general with a better atmosphere generated in a smaller stadium.
Such sentiments are always shared with some trepidation for fairly obvious reasons. The optics of the team playing at the national stadium are important when it comes to striving for a promotion of the game and to amplify its reach.
But, equally, there can also be a conversation about the fact that right now the game needs to sell itself as a viable commercial product too. Playing at Firhill remains accessible for supporters and offers a more atmospheric environment than turning out at Hampden in front of 3000 supporters.
In a stadium that can hold 50,000, it feels echoey and weird when the voices of players and managers can be heard from the stands with little in the way of any genuine atmosphere generated.
In terms of taking a sensible view, there are compelling arguments as to why playing at smaller stadia can be beneficial.
There is also the financial cost to be factored in of utilising a stadium that is less than a tenth of capacity.
Of course, the ultimate aim is for Hampden to be filled and supporters to show the kind of fervour that we witnessed last week in Germany as Steve Clarke’s side compete in the Euros. Playing in front of a capacity crowd is the long-term objective but reaching it may not necessarily be a linear road.
Arsenal have been the example to anyone connected within the women’s game about broadening scope and encouraging people to back the team. Ten years on and they find themselves in the enviable pos-ition of utilising the Emirates next season as effectively a home ground.
Commercially, however, this is only a viable option when in excess of 50,000 are guaranteed at games. Nor did their success come overnight. It has been a long process of sustained investment and exposure with ample negotiation along the way.
The quickest way to encourage a raft of support would be to qualify for a major tournament. That is what will offer an immediate shot in the arm to support in the women’s side – and it has been a helpful PR exercise for many of them to be sighted joining in with the Tartan Army across the last 10 days.
Pedro Martinez Losa’s side are currently on their way to a play-off spot for next season’s women’s Euros in Switzerland. Making it there would surely play a role in needing a bigger venue with the expectancy that numbers and interest would be considerably bolstered.
AND ANOTHER THING Pedro Martinez Losa won’t be heading back to France after Lyon appointed Joe Montemurro as their new head coach.
The Spaniard had been linked with the job via reports in France and his homeland.
He had told the Scotland squad that he wasn’t going anywhere as speculation had started to build last month. Eyes will now be on the final two games of the European Championship qualifiers with
Martinez Losa naming his squad for the matches against Slovakia and Serbia on Wednesday. Scotland are top of Group B2, ahead of Serbia on goal difference. With a play-off spot secured, Scotland have won their last three games and are unbeaten in their last four.
The play-off route remains arduous but all the signs suggest that Martinez Losa will be there to oversee it.
AND FINALLY Rachel Corsie won a few new admirers last week as she swapped her boots for a punditry role on the BBC couch.
The Scotland women’s captain is no stranger to media work given her weekly BBC podcast with Leanne Crichton but she came across as an articulate and engaging pundit as she shared the sofa with Joe Hart and Davie Moyes to analyse Scotland’s draw with Switzerland.
It came on the back of a week in which Joey Barton decided that Twitter may not be a safe space for him after he ended up on the losing side of the legal case raised by Jeremy Vine.
There will be a body of the football community who incessantly rail against female involvement at any level of the game – the briefest glance on social media is instructive on such matters – but making it commonplace is the only way to challenge that culture.
Corsie and every other female pundit should not be judged on sex but on what their contribution on the matters at hand are.
In that respect Corsie has done herself no harm at all. In the winter of her playing career, there will be other avenues ahead for the veteran defender.
