Yes, it's always like that. Male coaches (and womens team coaches are mostly men) have their heads in their hands. They don't coach the players to play dirty, it's entirely player-generated. The vendettas go on all game, too. Once a girl gets a one-on-one dispute with another, it will last until the final whistle and I've even had to restrain a player from walking over to her rival's dugout after the end of the match.
Womens paybacks are mostly verbal though, and can be quite funny. One team we played 'stacked' their side with Premier league players (we were a div 3 side) to ensure that their team got through to the finals series. Even so, they only beat us 3-2. Afterwards, Karen, our captain (and the head of womens football in SE Queensland, incidentally) decided they would all walk over to the opposition bench and applaud them ironically, shouting 'well done, Pine Rivers DIV THREE...yah, right!'
I suppose it worked, the Pine Rivers team all sneaked off hurriedly, tails between their legs.
Some of my girls were tough, though. Kelli took a ball full in the face, from about four metres away, and kept on running to score a goal, something I've never seen in the mens game. I also had four asthmatics in the team who had to have their 'puffers' sitting on their kitbags so I could throw them during games.
I've had a year back coaching my son Aidan in the Under 14s (we won the grand final, thanks for asking) and this year I've been asked to take over the U11 development at the biggest club in our region. It's an age group which I think is particularly important, and as I won't be coaching my sons in 2010, I'll take it on, but I've also brought womens football to my own club for the first time in a long while. Some of my former players have made the switch and are now playing at Capalaba, and a mate who is an ex player and who has three daughters will take on that team, so I'm still committed to promoting womens football.
One final note as regards that video: It went viral, it's been seen all over the world, millions of hits, etc, and I hope it doesn't affect player behaviour, as some impressionable ladies might think that's how the game has to be played if you want to get on telly.
