Women’s sport. Oh yes, I’m going to tread extremely carefully with this one.

Women’s sport has been the subject of plenty of air-time and column space in the past few weeks, with huge strides taken to promote the coverage and stature of the sports and those taking part. A worthy venture, no doubt.

The women’s football World Cup kicked off this week in Canada, so what better time to get something off my chest about the women’s game?

You’ll almost certainly have heard someone try to explain that women’s football is not as good because the players are not as fast, strong and generally athletic as their male counterparts. The claim was possibly followed by “No hard feelings, luv, it’s just science.”

Now with a few notable exceptions – congrats to Kent’s Dina Asher-Smith on her meteoric rise in the global sprinting rankings, by the by – those suggestions are completely and utterly... true.

However, that’s not the point. The players in the almost fully professional Conference National, the fifth tier of men’s football, can’t hold a candle to those elite stars playing in the Champions League.

Those inexperienced young ‘uns playing in the under-19 version of the Champions League would almost certainly be turned over by a lower-league pro team in England.

What am I getting at? Yes, on paper, this is all football but they are all different types of football and as such can’t be compared like for like and should all be celebrated in their own right.

A women’s football match is just as much a game of football as a Champions League final. Sure, the quality might be different, goal-kicks might not make halfway, there might be more mistakes and a slower tempo but the game will have a flow and intrigue all of its own. Every match writes its own story.

To coin the old joke, could Arsenal Ladies beat Spurs’ men? Probably not, although I suspect they could keep Eric Lamela quiet but it’s unfair to compare the two anyway. They are whole different ball games.

For all the cut and thrust and physical demands of the top-flight men’s game, women’s football boasts its own identity.

For all the likelihood that England’s women would be torn apart playing a men’s team playing men’s football, there is every chance the men would come unstuck should they somehow be tasked to play women at their own game, no longer able to rely on physicality and pace, more focused on technique, guile and perseverance.

Don’t get me wrong, this is not me getting on an equality soapbox.

Do I think women should be paid equal prize-money as men at Wimbledon? No. Not unless they want to play best of five sets, too.

But neither do I think men’s prize money should be the same for three-set challenger events as it is for five-setters. That’s the only equality for which I can see an argument.

This is already a long summer, bereft of a World Cup or Euros and it’s still two months before we’ll see the Premier League back. However, you can fill the void, in a way, by opening your mind and checking out some of the action from Canada.

These games should not be viewed as poor-quality football – they should be considered high-quality women’s football and enjoyed as such.