I definitely don't think it'd go over well if you went in and said "but I know better than you, I'm older and have been in this longer so really, I'm right and you'll realize that someday." (Which I'm not sure is actually true, I know people in this fandom who have been around at least as long as you have.) Actually, I'm not sure I really like the "evolutionary" model you're putting out here, of how there's this linear progression of what fandom and fanfiction is, and you move through the stages in order to be a...better person? Better at fanfiction? More like what you want the fandom to be? I know you say you're not judging, but, well, you are. And it feels smug rather than conducive to actual "improvement" in the fandom.
Having voiced my concern with that, sure, I do think there should be a better system for het within football fandom. I do think the problem is, as mentioned, who are people going to write about? The handful of noteable female players? (Who might be decent-sized names in the US, but this isn't really a US-based fandom despite everything, and even these names seldom interact with their male counterparts. I notice you focus on het, and not femmeslash, which would be the more likely development, especially with the Olympics coming up. Fanfiction develops itself on interactions.) WAGs who may or may not have public personas of their own, which some people might have problems with (Alex Gerrard is one thing, but Olalla Torres? Claudia Lahm?). The issue with het in football fandom isn't a fandom issue, it's an issue of wider football culture that has no room for women. There's not even a Uhura or Chapel for us to give better backstories to, to use a classic fandom example. (Interestingly, in "classic fandom," het was by far the norm and people 'moved into' slash, which was much rarer- you had to be seriously vetted before you got access to it.) I think there should be more het in football fandom, but there will never be much of it until the wider football culture changes. That's the problem, really.
And I tried with the touchline prompts, but no one even responded to mine, so...
no subject
Having voiced my concern with that, sure, I do think there should be a better system for het within football fandom. I do think the problem is, as mentioned, who are people going to write about? The handful of noteable female players? (Who might be decent-sized names in the US, but this isn't really a US-based fandom despite everything, and even these names seldom interact with their male counterparts. I notice you focus on het, and not femmeslash, which would be the more likely development, especially with the Olympics coming up. Fanfiction develops itself on interactions.) WAGs who may or may not have public personas of their own, which some people might have problems with (Alex Gerrard is one thing, but Olalla Torres? Claudia Lahm?). The issue with het in football fandom isn't a fandom issue, it's an issue of wider football culture that has no room for women. There's not even a Uhura or Chapel for us to give better backstories to, to use a classic fandom example. (Interestingly, in "classic fandom," het was by far the norm and people 'moved into' slash, which was much rarer- you had to be seriously vetted before you got access to it.) I think there should be more het in football fandom, but there will never be much of it until the wider football culture changes. That's the problem, really.
And I tried with the