The Observer from London, Greater London, England • 61

THE OBSERVER SUNDAY 4 JUNE 1995 16 before going off to the world ball Cjnderellas of the national game enjoy a glimpse of fame WW- WZ of 42-li; also deserve respect while Germany, who beat England 6-2 on aggregate in the semi-finals of the European championship this year, again, like the men, carry the main threat from this side of the Atlantic. England, whose first game will be against Canada on Tuesday, are quietly confident of qualifying for the quarter-finals from a group which also includes Norway and Nigeria, even if a recent reconnaissance trip to Sweden did not go too cleverly, England losing 4-0 after a goalless first half. 'We tried a lot of Taylor said. 'Our Christmas tree one wilted quite a bit in the second Taylor is not party to the criticism of Copeland, which centres around the selection of six players from the less-successful Croydon club of his captain, Debbie Bampton. 'I think he's very good and technically excellent.

The way he puts it over I know a lot of the girls find a bit boring but they're the ones who've got short concentration spans, anyway. They just want to play football and blast it. Whether you like him or not, you can see players and teamwork Even with the backing of the FA's resources, England are at a serious disadvantage when it comes to preparations for a championship like this: the Americans, for instance, have been in camp since January with jobs secured and salaries paid for by their federation. 'We can't compete with said Copeland. But he remained confident that England would do 'very well', without making any of Graham Taylor's outlandish promises.

If the grilling he took last week from the media before a ball had been kicked was anything to go by, he would be well advised to steer clear of the Swedes and Yanks. They -were happy enough just to be training at Bisham in their Umbro England kit. 'You'd think it was Christmas when all the gear was handed said Clare Taylor, a goal-scoring defender who was also a member of the victorious World Cup women's cricket team in 1991. 'It's like two ends of the spectrum. I'm not bitter or resentful because I realise that women's football is a different game and I've played long enough to know you're hot going to turn it around There was a time, though, when the women's game was indeeda threat to the men's.

Seventy-odd years ago there was a women's team which played before huge crowds, once attracting a gate of 53,000 at Goodison Park before the men blew the whistle' on them, banning them from using League grounds on the basis of the spurious argument that football was 'unsuitable for females and ought not to be encouraged'. Gail J. Newsham's In A League of Their Own (Pride of Place, 14-99) records that Dick, Kerr Ladies raised over 00000 for charity and, with an all-time record at home and abroad of played 437, won 424, goals for 2,863, against 207, felt entitled to call themselves the world champions. One Lily Parr was said to have 'a kick like a mule, once breaking the arm of a male companion "who wanted first-hand evidence of her shooting power' Dick, Kerr Ladies were almost certainly the pioneers of the modern game, which has seen a shift in power, as with the men, to the Americas. The first world championship in China which also attracted attendances was won by the United States.

Brazil who, typically, qualified with a goal aggregate from four games Kissing match: Carmen Pomfes and Florrle Bedford off er captain's courtesies in the England-France International at Heme Hill in 1925 Clive White contrasts a grey present with the once golden past of soccer's i staff side IF WOMEN'S football enjoyed a higher profile, the tabloids would be dusting off their Swede-and-turriip headlines this week in eager anticipation of a recall: England are going back to Sweden, scene of one of the nation's great sporting disasters of recent times, to contest the second women's World Cup finals in (allegedly) some turmoil. Comparisons between the men's and women's games were difficult to ignore last week when the two sexes met up for a photocall at the men's Bisham Abbey training camp. As if returning this week to the scene of former England manager Graham Taylor's humiliation wasn't evocative enough, the women do so with their own manager, Ted Copeland, also under fire for his selection and for chopping and changing his formation. Shades of the vacillating At least this England manager, unlike Taylor, can call on the services of a former Lazio player; but any other similarities between Kerry Davis and the one with the dyed hair cease right there: Davis played for the female equivalent of die Serie A club for expenses and accommodation. The women's game dreams of moving out ofhe shadow of Big Brother, yet since coming under the umbrella of the Football Association two years ago it has indisputably moved forward.

It sees qualification for these finals as a chance to grab a share of the spotlight, hence last week's photo session with the rich and the famous. Alan Ball: Much-capped manager of Southampton, 1 005. -tfeKi How an old passion became a whole new and Halifax, all of whom have been forced Out of full-time professional football since 1 970 and, with the exception of Lincoln, Darlington and Colchester, not got back. The same could be said for the similarly small clubs who have replaced them; Cambridge, Hereford, Wigan, Scarborough, Barnet, Wycombe even Wimbledon, who were fifth from the top of the Southern League in 1 970 and whose present position represents possibly the greatest achievement by any club in the last 25 years. But, as Ball points out, what is liable to happen to Wimbledon if they run out of miracles does not bear thinking about.

'In 1970, 1 do not think anybody can have envisaged the pressure to remain in the top flight would be as intense as it is he says. 'Money has become the be all and end all. It's frightening. If any Jason Tomas hears about the changing face of football from a man at the heart of the sport WHEN England face Brazil at Wembley next Sunday, Alan Ball will be reminded of a period when his life was as well nigh perfect. It was around this time 25 years ago that the 50-year-old Southampton manager gained his first championship medal with a vintage Everton team, and helped England reach the World Cup quarter finals in Mexico.

England's performances arguably brought them, and English football generally, even greater respect than when they won die trophy four years earlier. Indeed, for a man with Ball's passion for the game and pride, the fact that even the breathtaking Brazilians, the 1 970 World Cup winners, did not fancy the prospect of having to face England in the latter knock-out stages represents a compliment to be savoured for ever. But the memories take on a deeply poignant edge for Ball when he ponders what has happened to English football since. Today, with the mind-boggling amount of money swilling around the highly commercialised Premiership scene and the increase in the number of big name foreign stars playing in England, it is clear that the game has been taken onto a totally new plateau. But when Ball says that it is 'going to the moon' it doesn't necessarily mean he is finding the trip enjoyable.

The best way to raise the decibel level of that high-pitched Ball voice is to remind him that as we were all trying to get our breath back after the display of attacking skills from the likes of Pele, Tostao and Jairzinho, his Everton manager, Harry Catterick, pronounced that Brazil would have difficulty winning the First Division Catterick's point, relating to the physical nature of English football, is not entirely dismissed by Ball. But he insists that, compared to today's top flight game, most First Division players of his generation were at least comfortable on the ball. 'The mind and heart can play tricks on he admits. 'But whereas I can appreciate that the game has got quicker and more physical because of teams pushing up and squeezing the play I don't think the quality of the players has improved. The players of my generation learnt the basic ball skills as small boys, practising in the street.

That hunger to master the ball is not there any more. Because of the way the game has gone, tactically, it has not been necessary As a figure who epitomises the traditional heart and soul of English football, and one involved with a small town club like Southampton, it is perhaps inevitable that Ball should be bothered, too, about the growing financial gap between the clubs in the top division and the comparative wilderness of the Ehdsleigh League. No doubt, one aspect of this new financial ball game, the probability of Stan Collymore moving from Nottingham Forest for 8 million will be particularly disconcerting to Martin Peters, Ball's 1970 England colleague. That spring, Peters' move from West Ham to Tottenham produced a British record transfer fee of 200,000. A similar rise has taken place in the turnovers of the major clubs especially at Manchester United, whose 1994 balance sheet revealed an income of almost 44 million.

No less than 14 million of that came from merchandising and around 12 million from catering, sponsorship and TV. Eat your hearts out Bradford Park Avenue, Barrdw, Workington, Southport, Lincoln, Newport, Darlington, Colchester, Aldcrshot HOME WW pWOLFAWDLF APIs. Everton 42 17 3 1 46 19 12 6 A 26 IS 60 UodsU, 42 15 4 2 50 10 0 11 .4 34 30 57 Che1a 42 13 7 1 30 10 0 0 7 34 32 55 3 3 45 14 7 0 0 10 23 53 Uvorpoo. 42 10 7 4 34 20.10 4 7 31 22 51 Top talc: Football's loading lights MAY 0 it, a 64 2M0 6 6 20 (fl flQ i 42 13 ''wn 13 0 3 33 ,0 7 0 0 242373 In 1 970 and how thoy stand now.