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Glenn Moore is World Soccer’s women’s football columnist, who has reported from the Lionesses’ last four tournaments. He is also the first regular columnist on Prost International, kicking off our new series earlier this year.
Hard though it is to believe it was suggested in the euphoric wake of England’s 2005 Ashes victory that cricket could be ‘the new football’.
That never seemed likely and when asked the question on a sports new programme, I countered it was more likely to be the new rugby, referring to the union code’s trajectory after Jonny Wilkinson kicked England to 2003 World Cup glory.
There would be occasional headline moments, but for the most part the sport would remain within the confines of the already converted.
So it has mostly proved. The national team continues to attract attention when things go well (or very badly), but the domestic game drifts along in the shadows, to such an extent it often seems the national governing body are attempting, in their desire to find a new audience, to kill the county game off.
[Annie Chave: Skyscapers hover over county cricket/]
Can women’s football, its star shining brightly after England’s triumph in the Women’s Euros, break this pattern? Or is it the new cricket? Reappearing in the spotlight when a major international tournament comes along, but otherwise restricted to the margins while the travails of Manchester United absorb the columns and airwaves?
“The product has been good enough for some years now, full-time training having raised technical, physical and tactical standards, especially in goalkeeping which had previously been a weakness.
What I had underestimated was the level of misogyny”
Parity with the men’s game is clearly out of reach, but there is reason to believe women’s football will become relatively mainstream with coverage outstripping that of men’s rugby and cricket.
That there are some matches on terrestrial television will help (with most others free-to-air on the FA Player). That avoids cricket’s error in restricting itself to subscription coverage. More significant is that the country is already in thrall to football, and most fans dedicated to individual club ‘brands’.
Having first watched a women’s international in the flesh in 2009, an England defeat to Italy in the Euros in Finland, I have always felt that once the product was good enough people would want to watch it.
The product has been good enough for some years now, full-time training having raised technical, physical and tactical standards, especially in goalkeeping which had previously been a weakness.
What I had underestimated was the level of misogyny.
Many, many football fans were simply not prepared to countenance women in football, especially talking and writing about or playing it. And plenty of those within the game were not keen either, from the traditional wing of the Football Association downwards.
It has taken success to break down that barrier; success and exposure.
England’s run to the semi-finals of the 2015 Women’s World Cup in Canada was the start, despite the difficult kick-off times. Another two major semi-finals followed, each adding converts, before this summer’s triumph created an explosion of interest in print and on the airwaves.
With the BBC throwing their huge resources behind the tournament, and newspapers and websites jumping aboard, come the final most people in England knew the Lionesses were playing – and more than 20 million watched them win.
Now comes the hard part, turning that interest into bums on seats in the Women’s Super League.
Average WSL attendances last season were below 2,000 compared to above 3,000 in the season before Covid-19. That can be partially, but not fully explained by a reduction in usage of parent (men’s) club grounds which in 2019-20 attracted some big attendances. But even stripping those out gates were down.
“Harnessing the passion fans have for the parent club could also lead to a rise in aggressive tribalism. Rather like the Hundred in cricket that could drive away existing fans, for many of whom women’s football represents a safe space.”
Early signs for this season are promising with clubs reporting a big uplift in season ticket purchases and advance sales for matches such as Arsenal-Spurs at the Emirates. The question is can this be sustained as winter bites and inconvenient TV-dictated kick-off times – a problem in the women’s game as much as the men’s – take effect?
Hopefully. The WSL has been laying foundations, developing rivalries, traditions and support-bases. It also increasingly resembles the Premier League, for good and bad, in participant clubs.
It is also very cheap compared to watching men’s football and much easier to get tickets. Now fans have seen the quality of elite women’s football will many of those priced out by the men’s game be tempted to watch the women, both in the WSL and second-tier Championship?
The FA and the clubs will hope so, but there is a risk. Harnessing the passion fans have for the parent club could also lead to a rise in aggressive tribalism. Rather like the Hundred in cricket that could drive away existing fans, for many of whom women’s football represents a safe space.
Supporting a team does not have to mean denigrating and threatening the opposition. I went to Bristol v Bath in rugby union’s premiership last season. A local derby with plenty of rivalry, but more than 23,000 fans mingled without aggro.
Women’s football is like that at present, but can it remain so as it draws in more fans of the men’s game?
The key to becoming a mass audience sport is ensuring it does.
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