Here come the girls.....

I'VE supported my beloved Sky Blues since the season they were relegated in 2000; I saw a handful of games that season and never saw them lose so I can't be blamed for ending the 34 year stay in top-flight football!

I missed out on the Premiership years so never saw those wins against Liverpool, Manchester United and Arsenal but I have seen us lose to Hereford, Rochdale and Colchester.

Sometimes being a girl who enjoys football and attends every Coventry City game is hard. You have to make sure your knowledge of the rules of the game is better than the majority of blokes (especially the offside rule) to justify the fact that you are at a game and that you have the right to be there.

Unfortunately there are still some people in the world and unfortunately some of them support Coventry who think a woman should be at home on a Saturday afternoon, scrubbing skirting boards and ironing shirts rather than stood on the terraces, cheering on her team and exchanging banter with the opposition.

That's why I hated the Sky Blue Soccerette competition last season, woman who many had their favourite player based on looks rather than ability. Football is still seen as a sport for men to watch and while clubs are trying to encourage more families and woman to attend through various promotional activities many men believe that the football is their time to spend with the lads and any woman that is there is there only to stop him having fun and not because she might, shock horror, actually enjoy it herself.

So boys, the girls are here to stay and if you actually listened to some of us you would realise that we do know about the game and have our own opinions and that sometimes when we open our mouths it is not just to nag.

Natalie writes for www.skybluetrust.co.uk