Women鈥檚 Football in England - Elizabeth Dann
With the Lionesses鈥� triumph at the 2022 Euros, it鈥檚 easy to see why women鈥檚 football is growing in popularity. After years of the men鈥檚 national team鈥檚 nearly鈥檚 and knockouts, we finally have a team who did it, and they were pretty convincing too.
The footballing schedule has been packed over the last couple of seasons, and it isn鈥檛 stopping this year. July sees the start of the Women鈥檚 World Cup which will be played across Australia and New Zealand, and we see if the Lionesses can bring it home again.
Despite the growing interest in women鈥檚 football, the start of the year hasn鈥檛 been without difficulty. The cold weather has seen multiple postponements caused by frozen pitches, even in the Women鈥檚 Super League - something largely unheard of in the men鈥檚 Premier League. While women鈥檚 football is on the up in 2023, historically there have been many challenges.
Women鈥檚 football is likely to have existed just as long as men鈥檚, and official teams and leagues began popping up around the same time. The reception for the women鈥檚 game however, was not the same positivity as that of the men鈥檚. Instead, press coverage ridiculed them, making sure football was seen as masculine and unladylike - sentiments that can still be seen today.
Men were strong and athletic, and the idea that women could do what the men do was rejected. Women鈥檚 bodies were supposedly unsuitable; the clothing unacceptable; and women monetising sport? Unheard of.
At the start of WW1, men鈥檚 football ground to a halt, but the enjoyment of football for those at home did not. Women began to play competitive matches again and the popularity was so great that the Football Association allowed women to train and play at the empty football grounds. A record crowd of 53,000 watched Dick Kerr 鈥檚 Ladies take on St Helen鈥檚 Ladies on Boxing Day 1920, with reports of a further 10,000 hopeful spectators being turned away!
By 1921 women鈥檚 football was everywhere - and profitable too - but the men鈥檚 teams were back and feeling threatened. Under the guise of financial misdeeds - using money raised for charity to pay players - the FA banned women鈥檚 football. A move detrimental to the women鈥檚 game.
It took until 1971 for the FA to lift the ban, and while men鈥檚 football was on an upwards trajectory of 50 years of international success, women had to start from scratch. With only recreational football available during the ban, the infrastructure the men benefitted from was nowhere to be seen.
Twenty years after the ban was lifted saw the first Women鈥檚 World Cup in 1991, the same year the Women鈥檚 Football Association launched a women鈥檚 national league. In 1993 the FA began to take an interest in the women鈥檚 game, and took over the WFA leagues; developing elite women鈥檚 football only became a priority in 1997.
From 1997 onwards the women鈥檚 game saw many successes on the pitch:
- 1999 the USA hosts the FIFA Women鈥檚 World Cup with a sold out final
- 2006 England qualify for the Women鈥檚 World Cup
- 2011 England reach the quarter-finals of the World Cup
- 2012 Team GB Women make the quarter-finals at the London Olympics
- 2014 England play their first match at Wembley Stadium
- 2015 England come third at the World Cup
- 2017 England reach the semi-finals at the European Championships
- 2019 Team GB qualify for the 2020 Olympics
- 2019 Stephanie Frappart becomes the first woman to referee a major men鈥檚 European match
- 2020 3.4 million women and girls are participating in football
- 2022 England win the European Championships
- 2022 Stephanie Frappart becomes the first woman to referee in a men鈥檚 World Cup
Off the pitch however, women still have hurdles to overcome:
The Women鈥檚 Super League only became a professional league in 2018. It took a further four years for women to receive 14 weeks of maternity cover at full salary. Alongside personal considerations, the Covid19 pandemic saw women鈥檚 leagues cancelled, while the men鈥檚 were only suspended. Even now, women鈥檚 teams very rarely play on the same pitches as the men鈥檚 teams; despite the fact both WSL and PL are deemed as elite sports.
Access issues to football for women and girls also remain. The women鈥檚 game is less well-funded, and sponsorships not nearly as lucrative. Opportunities are often less accessible as girls鈥� teams are less widely available.
Of course, it is hard to provide opportunities if there is no interest, but interest in women鈥檚 football can be said to show no signs of stopping. After record attendance and viewership at the 2022 European Championships, WSL games available on free to air channels and the 2023 FIFA World Cup moving games to larger stadia due to ticket demand, the future is looking bright.
The newfound appreciation for women鈥檚 football in England especially, is not without hard work from the players themselves. Recently crowned Queen of the Jungle Jill Scott shone at the Euros and is now a regular face on TV. Beth Mead became the first women鈥檚 football player to win the BBC鈥檚 Sports Personality of the Year in 2022 after firing her way to the Euro 22 golden boot and is a fierce advocate for LGBTQ+ rights. Alex Scott, a retired Lioness, is now one of the most sought after matchday broadcasters in the country, with an MBE to boot. She continually proves her critics wrong: football and the industry around is not just for men.
Understandably, there is still a long way to go for women鈥檚 football, but with the FA鈥檚 commitment to women鈥檚 football, the sky is the limit. A 50-year ban left women鈥檚 football with a lot to figure out, but with one major tournament win under their belts, the Lionesses aren鈥檛 going anywhere, and nor is women鈥檚 football.