Maybe it’s because I’m old and boring but the idea of the United Arab Emirates, in general, just doesn’t appeal to me. Maybe it’s the human rights violations or criminalisation of homosexuality, who knows, let’s just say, I’m not chomping at the bit to go. But I seem to be in the minority.

Britons have been flocking to the Emirate in their droves over the last few weeks. Pandemic? Who gives a crap?

2020 was… well, it was a hard year for everyone. Everyone found themselves affected by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and it’s understandable that every single person would feel like they needed a holiday. Which would be fine if the virus was under control and not claiming more and more lives with each passing day.

When the last round of WSL and Championship testing was conducted and the results released before the winter break, women’s football fans were left to balk at the numbers that had skyrocketed. With 48 total positives returned from the period from the first week of the July through to the start of December, 32 positives in one round of testing was harrowing. Outbreaks were on the rise and the south of England was heading into Tier 4 as female footballers were heading off to the East.

Under the guise of visiting Dubai on business, players justified the trips to their clubs, either before they went or after they had been caught.

Whilst it’s true that footballers can’t work from home like so many others have been implored to, jumping on a plane to fly three and a half thousand miles around the globe in the name of business seems… unlikely, shall we say.

So disappointed. pic.twitter.com/AjfOU6onnM

— Ellie (@elliesaysthings) January 4, 2021

But we already know this, their indiscretions have been written about. From Katie McCabe and Alisha Lehmann last year to the unnamed players at Arsenal and Manchester City who’ve tested positive on their return.

Through the pandemic, football has persevered in England – albeit not as usual, and not at every level, but for those who are classed as “elite”, they have continued to play. For those across the top tier of women’s football who are full time, football; their passion and their job has continued.

It wasn’t so very long ago that women’s football wouldn’t have been classed as elite, and such a pandemic would have caused a complete shutdown of the women’s pyramid.

In the past, it’s been easy to laud women who play and have played the game, their value almost weighed in their sacrifices. The old guard who juggled multiple jobs along with their part-time playing, who’d traverse the length of the country just to train and play.

Yes, the overwhelming majority of players still pursue degrees and further education to ensure they have a career oven-ready for the day they hang their boots up. But the top of the game has lost some of its grit with the growth – which isn’t to say that any footballer just phones it in. The women’s game aping the men’s game more and more with each passing day, the Christmas calamity the clearest way to see the parallel paths.

Arsenal manager Joe Montemurro says the team will follow government guidance which means they will be unable to travel home for Christmas. Says they discussed it before the game as players understandably anxious/disappointed

— Molly Hudson (@M0lly_Writes) December 20, 2020

Jetting off to Dubai whilst the country of your residence is grappling with a mounting death toll and struggling to contain a mutation of the virus isn’t particularly clever. But, and this is the part that hammers home the collective lack of intelligence of those who’d do such, plastering your trip over social media… to quote Blackadder, “Your brain for example; is so minute, Baldrick, that if a hungry cannibal cracked your head open, there wouldn’t be enough to cover a small water biscuit.”

Of course, not all those who nipped off for some sun… er, “business” were stupid enough to share their hol… business snaps in public but the damage has been done. Not just staining the league and [because that’s how it works], all of women’s football but of causing ructions at their clubs.

Whilst some were nipping off for a quick bit of business, their teammates and fellow professionals across the league, stayed in club accommodation, up to thousands of miles away from their friends and family. It’s unlikely, Arsenal’s Australian contingent were overly thrilled with their teammate’s winter business.

As for the bubble that the WSL tried to create to keep its players safe; it’s equally as unlikely that those with immunocompromised and higher risk family members in their homes are happy at the trips their teammates have taken in recent weeks.

The behaviour on show irresponsible and reckless. Regardless of prior club clearance (as in the case of the Man City quartet), the conduct was, at best, morally ambiguous, so I guess it’s only fitting that Dubai was the destination.

For many, there is normalcy in attending football matches, the type of normalcy that people around the world have been crying out for this year. As we’ve all been driven into our homes, with our time spent outside limited, 90 minutes at a ground, getting lost in the foibles of 22 people kicking a ball around a patch of grass is the type of desperate distraction we’ve all needed.

The frustration is that we’ve been allowed to congregate indoors, in areas that will help the economy, social distancing a cute term that has often meant very little. There has been the repeated question of why fans haven’t been allowed at matches, in limited numbers, masked up and letting any nefarious germs disperse and nullify themselves in the atmosphere.

The matches, without fans, are – as we’ve been told – lesser. But for those who’ve frequented women’s football matches, we’re well used to sparsely filled stands and punctuated lulls in volume. Yes, the FA Cup final at Wembley has seen handsome attendances and under normal circumstances – remember those? – the handful of press allowed at the stadium wouldn’t be able to hear such clear shouts coming from the pitch below.

Yet, when the ball began to glide across the velvety pitch, the absurdity of the showpiece match, taking place at a ground that can hold 90,000 spectators but that had nothing but empty red seats, dissolved away.

Football and fans exist in a symbiotic state and the presence of a crowd can have an impact on those on the pitch but having warm bodies in the stands on hand to show their elation or displeasure isn’t paramount to the actual football.

Tucked up on the back row of the spacious Wembley press box, listening to the BBC Radio Merseyside commentator repeatedly mispronounce Hayley Raso’s last name, the miserable realities of 2020 melted away. The starkly empty stands became little more than a frame for the action, the eyes drawn to the plush lawn and those on it, trying to get their hands on some flashy silverware.

Yes, football needs fans and fans need football, but matches can take place with empty stands. From the non-professional rungs of the pyramid to the cup finals that players dream about. For those who come from the men’s side, it’s undoubtedly a stranger experience but even at Wembley, at a final that had seen attendances in excess of 45,000 and 43,000 in the last two years, the lack of spectators did little to hinder the actual football.

Of course, it’s farcical that [outside of lockdown] football fans can pack themselves into pubs to watch matches taking place down the road. It makes no sense that you can have so many in an enclosed space but that you can’t have distanced, masked bodies outside. As I’ve said before, there is a wider picture to be seen when it comes to fans attending games, to the travelling and stewards, and the potential flashpoints for the spreading of COVID-19.

As we’ve been forced back indoors, back under lockdown, we’re more desperate than ever for escape and normalcy, but trust me when I say, football (as long as it has an adequate revenue stream), can exist without fans in the stands.

The Twitter account would have (and has) done the same for male pundits, surely this is the feminist’s dream of equality?

Instead of talking about equality, maybe we should talk in terms of social equity instead.

Football may well be the beautiful game, but football Twitter can be one of the ugliest places on the internet. Some fans delight in the anonymity of social media, of the ability to hide behind a username and unleash a torrent of abuse directly from their fingertips. As we have seen over again, with increasing frequency, players of colour are favoured targets for hateful comments. And so too, women who live and work in men’s football – which isn’t to say, women’s football doesn’t get its share of abuse too, as it absolutely does.

Trolling

There is nothing surprising about the deluge of hate women in men’s football get on social media, the tired comments have all been seen before. Comments about kitchens and sandwiches the mild end of the scale that goes all the way up to wishing cancer and rape upon an individual.

So why have Leeds come out and said they were surprised by the reaction they incited in fans? After all it was just a few years ago that senior staff at the club were ordered to take part in equalities training after the club was found to have unfairly dismissed Lucy Ward on grounds of sexism [under former owner, Massimo Cellino].

Even if current owner, Andrea Radrizzani wants the club to embrace the “Dirty Leeds” tag and use it as fuel on the pitch, does the official Twitter account really need to rile the fans up? Indeed, after Bielsa’s side clinically and ruthlessly took apart West Bromwich Albion last night, the 5-0 dismantling was cast aside as the Twitter storm rolled in off the horizon.

? “Promoted because of Covid”
? Won the league by 10 points
? Hi @primevideosport pic.twitter.com/Ctz18sksZA

— Leeds United (@LUFC) December 29, 2020

To insult the team a person supports can be akin to casting aspersions against a family member. Football takes its fans to the limit, pushing their emotions as far as they can go, and for some, no love can ever be as sweet or as intoxicating as that of a football club. Carney’s comments weren’t lashed out with a spiteful tongue, she, as a pundit, gave an opinion based on historical evidence relating to the coach. Her words weren’t intended to sting, they didn’t drip with disdain, yet an 18 second clip of her, which started with a compliment, whipped a sizeable group of fans into a furore.

Just banter

Official club accounts aren’t banter accounts, and let’s be honest for a second here, most football banter accounts are a poor attempt at humour to begin with. And if you follow enough, you’ll be forced to scroll past the same iteration of a tired joke several times in as many minutes. No, humour (re:banter) doesn’t always have to be good clean family fun, but for the most part, we lack the requisite footballing culture in England to have official club accounts successfully engaging such banter.

But let’s talk about social equity and what it was Leeds were encouraging when after their match last night, they shared a video uploaded by fan account @Punjabi_whites. Equality is parity, that is often the ideal of most, be it parity across gender, race, sexuality or anything else. However, equity looks to fairness, to understanding [historical]  imbalances and adjusting the scales accordingly.

??‍

Yes, pundits should be criticised (not abused) but by fans not official club accounts.

No, it’s not just because she’s a woman but obvs use your common sense – she’s going to be abused more because of it.

No, it wasn’t acceptable all the other times either.

— Emma Sanders (@em_sandy) December 30, 2020

Sexism exists, women in male-dominated sport are unfairly targeted for their very presence; no one is asking Leeds United to fix sexism, but to understand just what happens when you engage your fanbase. To understand that for every ten clips of a male pundit saying something Leeds fans don’t agree with, all it takes is one clip of a female pundit offering an opinion, to garner the same amount of vitriol in the comments. To understand the value of not just putting out a statement commending the abuse but actually sharing it on their Twitter, of making their words seem like anything other than lip service.

Many will argue that the issues they took with what Carney said, had nothing to do with her gender, and whilst that is undoubtedly true, there is no question that her lack of y-chromosome played a part for others. Women don’t need you to walk on egg-shells around them, they don’t want you to put on a pair of fuzzy pink gloves to handle their comments, but they do ask that you understand they’re rarely given the same level footing of their male counterparts.

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Morgan’s signing has been firmly touted as the biggest in the history of the Women’s Super League. And for over 50 days, most everyone has hovered just behind the 31-year-old with bated breath, like Lenny and cohorts behind Homer nervously whispering, “Get ready everybody, she’s about to do something…”

To be completely fair to the American international, she is a very good footballer. Unfortunately for Morgan, a good amount of her fame and unofficial tag of, “The face of WoSo” has come from her aesthetics, making her the poster girl for the sport, her ability too often playing second string to her looks. As such, Morgan’s metrics usually go far beyond her goals and land on her social media reach and endorsements.

As a player, Morgan didn’t quite come into the league like a wrecking ball but as an idea, the attacker walloped out a narrative that has been lapped up by the media. In her early thirties, still on the way back from giving birth to her first child and not having produced the goods at a domestic level since 2018, it’s confounding that just so much attention has been given to the player.

“Alex Morgan getting her water bottle and making her way out of the stadium…” Gabby Logan begins to narrate as the cameraman follows Morgan around.
Look, I get it but c’mon man

— Sophie Lawson (@lawson_sv) September 26, 2020

Not to sell Morgan short, she is – when fit and in a functioning team – a very talented player, who not only finds the back of the net but willingly does an all too easily forgotten amount of grunt work. Clearly far more than a one trick pony, the iconic number 13 can’t get away from her own brand. Teams who’ve signed her in recent times are more than happy to cash in on her market value as a face, and hey, if they get some goals out of her too, all the better.

When she signed for Olympique Lyonnais on a short-term deal back in 2017, the club went as far as to track her flight on the club’s Twitter account and make a mini-series about her time in France.

Morgan can never just be a footballer, can never just be one of 11 on a pitch, her fame comes with different pressures and while most of those who report on WSL for the bigger outlets would rather not devote more time to MorganWatch there is always the pressure from higher ups. Morgan’s fame will always drive clicks and so we had found ourselves locked in Ramis and Rubin’s initial draft for Groundhog Day about a football writer forced to live out the same day in Barnet over and over again. Alas, it looked as if Morgan would never site her own tail.

Predictably, when our protagonist finally did get to feel the pitch under her boots once again, her outing was an unspectacular one. And with 442 full days between her debut and her last competitive match, it was far from a surprise. Yes, she managed to avoid any major incidents and did try to affect play in a positive way but was too isolated to do much. But the narrative refuses to fit; it was the moment we had waited so long for so why did it feel so pedestrian?

#BarclaysFAWSL debut.

See @alexmorgan13 pitchside! ?? pic.twitter.com/Y6SJpfq3gW

— Barclays FA Women’s Super League (@BarclaysFAWSL) November 7, 2020

Morgan is but one woman, just as Sam Kerr (the previous BIGGEST SIGNING IN WSL HISTORY) is. There will always be excitement around certain players and moves, just as many will excitedly jump up and down, breathlessly telling you that the league is growing and is now the biggest in the world (an article for another day). But the way some players are built up and fawned over is a nonsensical natural detractor and makes way for glamourising the unremarkable and watering down the entire sport.

Alex Morgan’s league debut was, for any other player, a non-event and yet the official WSL Twitter account felt the need to make a highlight reel for the attacker. Just as each touch of the ball by Tobin Heath and/or Christen Press in a United shirt gets the star treatment from the same account.

It’s fine to be excited, for fans to get behind their new signings but the sycophantism got old fast – in this case, about two months before Morgan made her debut.

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This is a strange hill to take residence on, but as women’s football continues to grow – not overlooking the expanded World Cup tournament that will require more stadia and accommodation – it has a duty to do so in the most environmentally conscious way possible.

When we talk about women’s football, we often argue about why it needs to be compared to men’s football and why it doesn’t have to make the same mistakes as the men’s game. It can forge its own path, learning from the errors of the men’s game and looking to be a better sport. A more inclusive sport, a more tolerant sport, one that doesn’t start by gobbling up every bit of dirty revenue possible.

So, as Australia and New Zealand get underway with planning to host the 2023 World Cup, making plenty of history in the process, we have to think about the environmental impact.

South to North to South and North again

Whilst the 2015 World Cup in Canada (that stretched 2,650 miles – again, as the crow flies – from Moncton to Vancouver) saw most of the group games clustered in one place, the 2019 World Cup in France as more stretched. Indeed, as most English fans will tell you, the Lionesses’ group schedule had them traveling from Nice to Le Havre and back to Nice again. Meaning the team started the tournament on the blisteringly hot French Riviera (Nice, the southernmost venue for the tournament) to the considerably cooler La Havre before going back to the south coast.

Whilst having a well-enough served airport, Nice is a little more tucked away than other cities along the coast and travel by train can lead to a detour through Marseilles to get back to the North. Over 500miles from Le Havre, there was little rhyme or reason as to why the match (in this instance, England vs Argentina) wasn’t played in one of the more southern cities (Montpellier and Grenoble the more obvious options).

This was, of course, not a problem that was unique to England, the hosts had a match in Nice sandwiched between ties in Paris and Rennes, Cameroon bookended a match in Valenciennes with clashes in Montpellier.

Although the tournament was northern-heavy with more host cities comfortably north of the Swiss border, most nations found themselves boomeranging from north to south at some point during the group stage. Which didn’t just mean the team and all the support staff schlepping from one end of France to the other, but often the healthy number of fans who travelled to France, as well as all the media. Planes, trains, automobiles all spitting out excess pollution. The carbon footprint of a major tournament will always stamp down into the soft earth with gusto but, arguably, the tread didn’t have to be quite so deep last summer.

Sprawling

Admittedly, in Canada, the group matches were double-headers and there were still anomalies, like Edmonton-based Group A playing their last two matches in Winnipeg and, unfathomably, Montreal.

When it comes to the 2023 World Cup and Australia and New Zealand’s winning combined bid, there is the acceptance that the expanded tournament boasting more teams and matches than ever before, will require more. More pitches, more hotels, more flights, more everything. But when looking at the maps of the 13 proposed venues, spread out across the length of New Zealand and largely confined to Australia’s South Eastern quarter, it’s easy to imagine the emissions going up and up.

Africa pictured for scale

The hope is all involved will be sensible about the distribution of games and teams won’t find themselves bouncing from one country to the other during the group stage, but rather be able to base themselves around one area. Even moving forward into the knock-out rounds, there is a logical path that could be taken en route to the final to keep the tournament’s carbon footprint as small as possible.

As already stated it’s a strange hill to climb atop, especially when there’s a veritable mountain range of issues regarding football at the present but is nevertheless an important one. Even if we are still three years out from the start of the tournament.

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I don’t care about seeing football fans react to moments in matches.

This isn’t a new thing born of virtual watching parties, but rather a long-standing, “why?” sighed into the ether at every cut away to stands and terraces. Other than watching a footballer completely whiff a free kick or shooting drill during the warm up, resulting in the ball shanking off into the crowd and smashing someone in the chops, I don’t need to spectate the spectators.

Now that the stands are filled with cut-outs, I don’t need to see the two-dimensional faces blankly staring at the pitch, limply placed against the folded seats. I definitely don’t need to see the clutch of fans watching the match with their live faces in front of webcams, waiting for the cut away to loft a scarf or emphatically grab and shake the badge on their shirt.

Making their voices heard. ?@CourtofRoyals are loving this match in our @SecretDeodorant Virtual Watch Party, Powered By @Google Meet!#HOUvUTA | #NWSLChallengeCup pic.twitter.com/ZwpwGR0pSQ

— NWSL (@NWSL) July 18, 2020

It exists in the same bracket as the fans who go to matches (or went to matches, 89 years ago when it was still safe to) and film themselves, documenting their own reactions to – for reasons unknown – share online. Fans who spend half the match double-checking that their face is perfectly caught on frame so when they throw their hands against their foreheads at every missed chance, the footage will be perfectly framed.

Community

You’re a fan, you support your team, you might wear a shirt or scarf, hat or any other paraphernalia, you might not. But the need to clutch at the badge should a camera pan to you, to react for the lens thrust in your direction feels so emphatically hollow.

There is a community and a sense of belonging that can come with supporting a team or club, which isn’t something I begrudge or wish to deny anyone. Just as I don’t want to refuse fans their own watching party to keep that sense of togetherness. But so much of the behaviour we see on our screens feels so forced, so put on; people reacting to the cameras rather than the match.

Unnecessary

The need for virtual watch parties to be broadcast at every goal or significant miss is an unnecessary one. Yes, it’s normal for the camera to cut away to the crowd during a football match that boasts fans in the stands – again, I don’t care for such in normal circumstances anyway – and there is a logic to trying to ape similar during the times we’re in, but it’s surely not needed.

During the NWSL Challenge Cup, not only were there the standard virtual crowds; a chequerboard of faces ready to react, but the screen was additionally broadcast on the jumbotron at the Zions Bank Stadium where the majority of matches were played. It made for a bizarre image, like a live stream from the top of Mount Olympus; Zeus and co’ watching over a football match.

Now, I’ll let you get back to complaining about the entirely too high volume for the fake crowd noises.

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Traditionally, European football has been for the select few US Women’s National Team stars, and it has never been a long-term option for anyone who gets their wages from the US Soccer Federation.

Unlike most players around the world, American internationals draw their salary from their federation and as such, are contractually obligated to play in the NWSL. Those who have a spell outside of NWSL, such as Carli Lloyd at Manchester City or Alex Morgan at Lyon in 2017 were able to as it was a non-tournament year for the USA, and both had a certain amount of clout.

Other US internationals in the past – Megan Rapinoe at Lyon and Christen Press, during her first trip to Sweden – have rather different stories to tell.

Ticking over

In recent times, some American players have opted to double-head an NWSL season with a W-League one as it gives a full year’s worth of football, but as many Australians will tell you, it can make for a gruelling year. It is also vitally, an option that keeps the players in the NWSL and available for selection for the national team without too much hassle. Being able to be called into a USWNT camp and suit up for their country remains paramount. Again, it’s crucial to remember, US Soccer is the sole employer of these players, which is an oddity to most football fans, especially those in Europe who are used to club clout.

The problem facing the USWNT, US Soccer and players is the NWSL Challenge Cup has come and gone, and when and where football will be played again in the States remains a large question mark.

With the US national team eyeing gold at the rescheduled Tokyo Olympics next July-August, it’s of high importance that the players in the current pool get some more football under their belts before next Spring. If we are to assume that the 2021 NWSL season will run a normal course (a high assumption given what is happening in the world right now), it will be kicking off in mid-April and even an extended pre-season would leave most players twiddling their thumbs until February. Hence why we’re seeing NWSL players and US national teamers looking to Europe.

Sources: #USWNT/#NWSL‘s Sam Mewis signed, Rose Lavelle weighing an offer from Manchester City Women.

New at @TheAthleticSCCR https://t.co/YWvxliHYfH

— Meg Linehan ? (@itsmeglinehan) July 23, 2020

A half – or full, if their federation is willing – season on the continent, be it in England, France, Spain, Germany or anywhere else that strikes the fancy will keep the players in the best condition ahead of the Olympic Games.

Status quo

For some commenters, hearing Sam Mewis and Rose Lavelle strongly linked with moves to Manchester City, has prompted suggestions of a seismic shift in women’s world football. The truth of the matter is, Europe is still only as viable for USWNT players as US Soccer will let it be.

It is again, prudent to remember that members of the US women’s national team are routinely pulled away from their league commitments to take part in USWNT camps and friendlies outside of FIFA windows. Even if (and it is a big if), European teams were willing to give up their players at the request of US Soccer, having players flying thousands of miles back and forth across the Atlantic so frequently during the season is far from conducive.

So, whilst some will tell you that Mewis moving to City is the start of a new dawn in women’s football, I’m here to tell you that the status quo is unlikely to change.

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The opinions (and that is all they are, opinions) within this article are mine alone, and even though I don’t expect everyone to agree, I do hope you at least consider what I’m about to say.

Patriotism

For many, not all, hearing their national anthem can be a stirring thing. The song, usually sung in view of a flag, is never just a collection of words but something intended to celebrate the land it represents. Often there is, at the bare minimum, an allusion to conflict, to war and lives lost in pursuit of freedom. Whether it be the calling to arms of France’s La Marseillaise or Argentines crying, “¡Libertad! ¡Libertad! ¡Libertad!” during the Himno Nacional Argentino, a national anthem usually speaks to the collective consciousness of a nation. Anthems are something citizens can rally around, to hark in respect of their homes as they remember the fallen and strife that their forebearers toiled through.

Although patriotism exists in every country around the world, no land seems to do it quite like the United States of America. The archetypal image of an America is a loud and proud one that gets in your face, unironically hollering about freedom. No country in the awkwardly so-called Free World does patriotism quite like the US.

From the near-indoctrination of the daily pledge to the muddling and mixing of what is and isn’t American, culminating in so much symbolism in the flag. The stars and stripes coming to stand for a physical representation of what it is to be American, yet something that is perceived by so many of those who stand for it as something militaristic. For those who see themselves as the great liberators, those who closes ears and eyes to the oppression all around them as they open mouths to speak the gospel of the land of the free.

The military

Not standing for the flag; the image is one that is violently anarchistic, one that besmirches the preconceptions about the USA, one that spits on the graves of those who’ve died in the name of protecting American freedoms. Those who’ve wantonly given their lives in far flung lands, fighting political and money-grabbing wars, all whilst bearing the stars and stripes on their uniforms.

America is a young nation but one with a history plagued with conflict, both at home as well as way, it is therefore, not at all surprising that that specific American patriotism is so prevalent, or that it is indeed, so militaristic. But through it all, the flag isn’t a beacon for the military, yet that is how it is seen by many.

As Marcus Thompson explained during Meg Linehan’s Full Time podcast earlier in the month, “Sports have made the anthem and the flag synonymous, almost exclusively, to military. [] The flag is just: honour the troops.”

A reminder on today’s holiday that kneeling during the anthem as a protest has absolutely nothing to do with the military.@ThompsonScribe joined me this week on Full Time with Meg Linehan. Listen on Apple: https://t.co/NMms5DeIC9 pic.twitter.com/AMmXk6Fhi5

— Meg Linehan ? (@itsmeglinehan) July 4, 2020

For those in NWSL who’ve opted to stand for the national anthem, we’ve been quick to single out and vilify, it is the talk of the military that has repeatedly been the reason. As for those who’ve taken a knee only to stand at the start of subsequent matches? A confused message that is, at best, perceived as hypocrisy and wilful ignorance.

Origins

As you’ve likely read more than once recently, the origins of the US national anthem (before it was official the national anthem) being played at sporting events go back to a World Series game played during the First World War. During the first game of the 1918 World Series, the band at the match broke into an impromptu version of the tune that would become known as the Star Spangled Banner.

With the country at war, the song roused the crowd so much so that the band opted to play it at the remaining games in Chicago and the Red Sox owner decided to bring in a band for the remaining games in Boston.

The song would pop up at subsequent baseball games, but only for special occasions rather than every outing, with it not becoming more commonplace until the Second World War and eventually spreading to other sports.

The simple solution, and the one I would generally side with, is to stop playing the anthem before domestic sporting events as there is simply no need for it. This isn’t a position I hold exclusively with the USA either, as I pointed out after the league cup final earlier this year, God Save the Queen had no place at the match. And when juxtaposed with the four English players over the 22 starters, it only became more incongruous.

I can stand a national anthem at a game that features, you know, a national team. That’s a normal thing. Cup finals are not.

— Sophie Lawson (@lawson_sv) March 1, 2020

Vital platform

There is, however, a further nuance to the discussions surrounding taking a knee before NWSL matches and whether or not the anthem should be played. In their statement on the matter (released at the end of last month), the league lead with the line that players would be free to stay in the locker room for the anthem. A muddled message that managed to hide the intentions behind their stance and way that they had reached such an idea.

As NWSL commissioner Lisa Baird said in her statement, one of the goals of the tournament is to, “support and empower players to use their platform to make the world a better place.” And that was indeed the nuance that was so missed.

If the NWSL were to stop playing the anthem, they would be depriving players their right to take a stand – or rather, a knee – they would remove the platform from the individuals and teams.

There is no question that racism is a hugely prevalent issue in the USA – which isn’t to say that other parts of the world aren’t as bigoted, as they are – and indeed, American society has been built on keeping minority groups down. This is not a part-time fight, nor is it a fight that only black men and women should be fighting. But as one by one, NWSL players opt to stand for the anthem, the solidarity and message in taking a knee, seems to fade, looking more and more like a token gesture.

pic.twitter.com/ppxkQtLKqF

— Jessica Clarendon (@jessicadolan) September 5, 2016

It’s been three years and 10 months since Megan Rapinoe first took a knee in solidarity with Colin Kaepernick, and three years and four months since US Soccer retaliated by making it mandatory for all footballers to stand for the anthem. The policy, which has subsequently been repealed, stands as a reminder as to how tone deaf many can be.

It’s been over half a century since the accepted end of the American civil rights movement, but the systems of oppression still march on in the land of the free. As the NWSL Challenge Cup goes on, the impact of those involved taking a knee may become more abstract for some fans but there is undoubtedly, power in what those who kneel are doing.

For some fans a merger or a buy-out, won’t changer their love for the team who they’ll still view as the same just with a different name and kit. For others, it takes time to adjust as others will never be able to convince their hearts to accept the “new” team. Even though these moves aren’t as extreme as the type of franchise moves we see in the USA, where teams completely up sticks and move states, there is the sense of loss.

There is an identity to be found in supporting a football team, a community to become part of if you wish. And depending on the club you were and the club you become, that community can be lost. For CD Tacon, a young club that rose up to the Spanish top flight in little to no time, the official shift over to Real Madrid is likely to see a swell in fan numbers as Madridistas welcome the new part of them club. Yet for FFC Frankfurt, one of the most successful teams in European women’s football history, it feels like the club is losing a part of itself.

Heute nehmen bei Eintracht Frankfurt gleichzeitig vier zukunftsträchtige Umstrukturierungsmaßnahmen offiziell Fahrt auf. Eine davon ist der Frauenfußball ?#SGE #EintrachtFrauen

— Eintracht Frankfurt (@Eintracht) July 1, 2020

As women’s football marches on, happily laying down more professional roots around the world, we can expect to see more independent teams being squeezed out. Either to be bought out by men’s team who lack a suitable women’s arm or simply as teams that don’t have the financial clout to compete with those in the higher echelons of the men’s game.

Although I’ve only been in women’s football for five years, there has always been a sense of regret about the inevitable loss of clubs as it will often be the pioneers. Those around who put in the hours and love to grow women’s football, those who respect and believe in it wholeheartedly. Women’s football runs on that honest-to-goodness passion, from volunteers to fans to players (and their long-suffering taxi services, err, parents). Women’s football would be nowhere without those who went before, who soldiered on in miserable weather in front of dismal crowds, bearing the dismissive scorn.

The future of the sport is a professional one, one with the Real Madrid’s, Manchester United’s and even the Borussia Dortmund’s (one day at least). Clubs that invest for various reasons: good PR? Having their hands forced? Regulations from their federations? Or the actual desire to have a women’s team that prospers? Maybe a little of everything, maybe not.

In all the ruckus of having football clubs that are more brands than teams involved to increase the viewership and investment, let us not forget about those who went before.

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Spain’s autonomous Basque Country will play host to the last eight team still standing with games split between Athletic Club’s San Mamés and Real Sociedad’s Anoeta Stadium. Instead of two-legged ties as are custom in the UWCL, the quarter and semi-finals will be single ties to expedite the tournament with all three rounds of matches snuggled within a ten-day window.

The last eight teams left are French duo Olympique Lyonnais (current holders and D1F champions) and Paris Saint-Germain, Bundesliga double VfL Wolfsburg (who won the German title this week) and FC Bayern München, Spanish representatives Barcelona and Atletico Madrid and British pair, Arsenal and Glasgow City.

Glasgow City are the clear outliers in the pack, not just as the only team that doesn’t come from a full-time standing but as the one that has only played one competitive match in the last seven months.

If we put the German duo to the side for a moment, we have another five teams that haven’t played competitively since the end of February. Whilst Arsenal, Atleti, Barcelona, OL and PSG can lean on their parent clubs and get back into training sooner rather than later – Lyon, for instance, are already back at it – Glasgow is again, the team with an obvious disadvantage and aren’t likely to be back in training until next month.

? Premier jour au Groupama OL Training Center pour nos joueuses ! pic.twitter.com/7e1TK7MThC

— OL Féminin (@OLfeminin) June 15, 2020

I have often argued there is a world of difference between being match fit and being match sharp – the best explainer for this is when a back-up goalkeeper is called upon. There is a clear mental sharpness that comes from those who have played consistently and would go some way to explaining the rash of late goals we’ve seen in Germany since the restart of the Frauen-Bundesliga.

With this is mind, it’s hard to see the UWCL mini-tournament (scheduled for 21-30 August) as anything more than a bizarre pre-season competition. And exactly not what one of the most prestigious competitions in women’s domestic football should be about.

My feeling for a long time has been that Lyon – the perennial favourites to lift the crown – wouldn’t retain their title this season. Should they stubble (and remember, they’ve won the last four finals), there are plenty who will fall back on the simple fact that their last competitive game was on 23 February, instantly cheapening it for whoever does win. Of course, I’m already talking in hypotheticals.

As I said earlier in the month, there is no overriding need for the last ties to be played out, there is no need to crown a champion. Although it would be a kick in the teeth to the players who’ve worked hard to reach the last eight, the exceptional circumstances surrounding what’s gone on in the world this year and how its affected women’s football, should allow for some mitigation. No matter what happens and whoever lifts the shapely trophy in San Sebastián at the end of August, there will always be the asterisk, the Corona caveat.

So, my simple question is: do we need this mini-tournament, must we force a conclusion of this Champions League season?

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