In March this year, a handful of professional female footballers assembled at the Olympic Park to pose for photographs, take part in interviews with the media and shoot promotional videos.
By Malcolm Cox
The players were invited to a specially convened event at BT Studios to promote the new season. This kind of thing goes on all the time in the men’s game, but the event heralded a huge breakthrough in women’s football.
Just a few years ago, the prospect of a professional women’s league with its own international sponsorship deals and TV contracts was unthinkable. Yet in 2015, the best players are earning base salaries in excess of £60,000 a year, as well as lucrative endorsement deals from leading sportswear manufacturers.
A clear indication of the growing popularity of the game in England came in the form of a 45,000 crowd for England’s match with Germany in November 2014. The rate at which the domestic game in England has grown has allowed the FA and the Women’s Super League (WSL) to plough much needed funds into player development recently, and evidence of the success of this strategy will be apparent in June when the Women’s World Cup kicks off in Canada.
After a relatively slow start, the WSL has gone from strength to strength. Growing interest from broadcasters, burgeoning attendances and a sharp spike in sponsorship have made the inception of a Division Two an economically sound reality. Most commentators and professionals associated with women’s football agree that relegation and promotion every season will make English players far more competitive on the world stage.
When WSL champions Liverpool kicked off their 2015 title defence with a match against Sunderland, BT Sport made history by beaming the match live to a subscribing audience. Finally, the women’s game was getting the same treatment as the men’s – albeit on a completely different scale.
For many years, there was a concern that the dominance of Arsenal in the women’s game would ultimately be detrimental to the sport. For more than a decade, Arsenal swept all before them – operating as a semi-professional team in a largely amateur league. But since the inception of the WSL and the introduction of a wage cap, the playing field has been levelled considerably.
Liverpool in particular have been quick to embrace the new professional era of women’s football. As well as signing several established England internationals, the Merseyside club has hired a team of dedicated backroom staff – and plans for a new stadium are in the pipeline. Manchester City have since followed suit, and their women’s team are to play in the new 7,000-seater academy stadium in the club’s £200million training and development complex.
Despite the fantastic progress that has been made in such a short space of time, there is still a long way to go before women’s football truly maximises its huge potential. The new rules and set-up have led to the development of the game’s own transfer market, and a number of talented foreigners have moved to England as a result. But despite the growing popularity of the England national team, average match attendances at club level still languish well below average gates in League 2 of the men’s professional football pyramid. The fact that there are only two coaches in both divisions of the WSL is also a cause for concern.
But issues aside, there can be no doubt that the progress made in the women’s game in just five years has been nothing short of remarkable. And while many of the teams in the WSL are still amateur, the approach to the game by all 18 teams in the league is every bit as professional as that adopted by Premier League clubs. It is also important to remember that the game is progressing from an almost standing start, so teething problems are to be expected.
While the success of women’s football has taken many outsiders by surprise, the momentum behind the game can’t be allowed to subside. More needs to be done, both by the FA and the 18 WSL clubs, if this growing sport is to fulfil its undoubted potential.
Malcolm Cox is a journalist, copywriter and blogger with a catalogue of work in both the online and offline world. Specialising in sport, entertainment and politics, Malcolm writes for The Soccer Store on a range of issues related to grassroots football and football coaching.
Photo – Catherine Etoe
SHE KICKS – the online community for women’s football
