Equal in popularity or quality? Unfortunately, neither make a difference to their pay as they don’t exist in the same market. If we were both good web-developers of the same ability, but you worked for Google perhaps, and I worked for a start-up in my local town, then I’d expect you to either earn the same with the…

.... but it also generates a lot of revenue because it’s played to a very high standard and there is a wide competitive field. Serena is obviously the best, but all the others aren’t chumps compared to her. We’re on the same side, but a large part of revenue is generated by the presence of skill, spectacle,…

I’d say Scottish Premier League is a decent example. The SPL was on a downward slide before Rangers got relegated to the bottom of the footballing leagues, but it’s even worse now. I’d still say that Celtic would edge MLS, but I don’t think they’d be handing out thrashings. Teams below that? Probably competitive for…

Not really; iron sharpens iron does it not? The standard across the sport is poor, so you could lock them away in a Russian facility, Drago-style, and they come out playing like ninjas. Problem is, everyone else is shit and nobody wants to watch a non-competitive match.
There is a problem with funding, but that’s…

It’s not even similar to tennis, where I’d say the talent/skill gap is much closer. Men may edge it on power, speed and endurance (5 sets as opposed to 3), but you don’t watch ladies tennis and think “these girls are shit”.... it’s actually good! Women’s football is awful; there, I’ve said it. The goalkeeping standard…

So we can expect to see the same figures for when Portugal played Ghana, right?

You’re not getting it. The US may be the 30th best team in the men’s game, but it’s a men’s game that it competitive, awash with money and something that people want to watch. If my local pub team is the best in their league, and Bolton Wanderers are languishing at the bottom of the Championship, it doesn’t mean that…

But the men’s TEAM is in that SPORT, whereas the women’s TEAM are essentially in another SPORT; the two SPORTS are not equals.

I’d confidently say that Lacazette (Lyon’s striker) is better than any striker in MLS by some margin. Umtiti will be a big player and Valbuena would comfortably be one of the best players in MLS; they all play for Lyon. I’m less up on French teams at the moment, but the Lyon of 5-10 years ago would easily win MLS by a…

This is one thing that the European doesn’t get right I guess, but perhaps ties in with the working class roots of the game over here that doesn’t exist so much in the US. If you’re going to make it in the UK, then you’re already on the books of a team whilst you’re in school. Compulsory education ends at 16 and so…

I assume that that’s because a bunch of the nations that compete in tournaments don’t often need the money; they’ll have established clubs, with their own stadia, facilities and academies. This (other than the opportunity to fill pockets) is presumably why FIFA was able to extract so much support from Trinidad &…

Right, now your just being a contrarian or living in an idealistic world that doesn’t exist.

FIFA is swimming in money, but if anything, money should be pumped into those countries that don’t currently have many/any professional female players. As good as the US team is, and as much as Americans will undoubtedly get behind them, the sport is currently too skewed to just a few nations and everyone else is…

Sorry, I was under the impression that you’d directed that at me and were implying that it was an injustice.

Which is the harder achievement? Which has the most eye-balls on it? Which one has the bigger sponsorships, superstars and higher standard of play/spectacle?

I don’t have a thing against the ladies teams and I wish them well with whatever they can get, but my point was that I dont think they can expect to get the same as men.

I have eyes and I there are good reasons for why it’s an irrelevance. It coincides with the European Championships in the same Summer, and so would represent practically a full Summer without a break for a huge proportion of top tier players, and it also overlaps with the start of some league seasons and most of the…

To what degree? The olympics, in the grand scheme of football is an irrelevance.... most nations don't take it that seriously. It's not even that big a deal in the Olympics, let alone the football world.

It holds the same status as athletics, probably even less. Most people, if they ever give a fuck, only give that fuck during the Olympics. You root for your guy/gal jumping into the sand, or chucking a javelin, and then forget about it for another 4 years...

There's too much cronyism in the sport for a boycott to work. The English FA have used their profile to speak out against FIFA and corruption before, but now we're about as popular as a ginger step-child. As long as there's one vote for the Cook Islands and one for England/Germany/France then corruption will always be…