Women's Football: Alive and Kicking in England!
With growing attendances, a new semi-professional league and a top performing national team, the popularity of women’s football in England is most definitely on the rise, writes Andy Greeves.
"I don't think I ever dreamed I might be playing a game at Wembley Stadium in front of a crowd of over 70,000," reflects England ladies captain Casey Stoney on her experiences of skippering Great Britain at the Olympic Games in London last summer.
The 70,584 turnout for the Great Britain v Brazil Group E match at Wembley on July 31, 2012 was a British record crowd for a women's football match and reflects the growing popularity for the female sport in the UK right now.
There are over 6,600 teams in the country currently and following the establishment of the FA Women's Super League (FA WSL) back in 2010, a number of professional contracts are available for players in England.
"Both the England team and women's football in this country have progressed massively since I made my debut back in 2002," reflects Lincoln Ladies star Stoney. "Never have we had better strength in depth in our squad as we have now and the women's game itself is in such a healthy state.
There will never have been a better time to have been involved in the sport that right now."
After a weather-affected star to the season, the FA WSL kicks off this month with Chelsea hosting Birmingham and Lincoln taking on Liverpool on April 14. For the first time ever, women's football will be broadcast on both terrestrial and satellite TV in the UK, with the BBC and ESPN sharing coverage rights for live matches and highlights. 30-year-old Stoney, who twice won the Women's Premier League with Arsenal in 2001 and 2002, is expecting an exciting season for FA WSL TV viewers and stadium spectators.
"We (Lincoln ladies) are very determined to break up the top three dominance of Arsenal, Birmingham City and Everton that we've seen over the last couple of seasons," she says. "I certainly think we will be a very difficult side to beat. Such has been the improvement across the other clubs, I don't think it could be impossible to have a totally different top three this season and obviously we hope that Lincoln can be a part of that.
"Sofia Jakobsson (Swedish international striker) is a massive signing for Chelsea and everyone will be expecting a big season from her. Toni Duggan has been in very good form for England of late, so you can expect to see that when she's playing for Everton this campaign. Jordan Nobbs of Arsenal is a fantastic talent and from a Lincoln and Super League perspective, it's great to have Karen Bardsley playing in the division… she is one of the best goalkeepers in the world for sure."
Also speaking exclusively to Soccerphile, Stoney's fellow England and Great Britain teammate Ellen White is excited about the return of the FA WSL and will be looking to win the title for the third successive season with the Gunners.
"It's great to be getting back into the domestic league," smiles White. "It feels like it's been a long pre-season. Getting together and playing again is great. We're hoping we can keep our hands on the title. We always have to be on our game, because Arsenal remain the big scalp in this division and we have to play well because teams often raise their performances against us."
"It's great to be getting back into the domestic league," smiles White. "It feels like it's been a long pre-season. Getting together and playing again is great. We're hoping we can keep our hands on the title. We always have to be on our game, because Arsenal remain the big scalp in this division and we have to play well because teams often raise their performances against us."
Like Stoney, White has also earmarked a host of stars for Soccerphile readers that she is expecting to take the FA WSL by storm this season.
"Jordan Nobbs is the name everyone at Arsenal and across the Super League is talking about at the moment," she says. "I expect her to have a very big season. Karen Bardsley is one of the big names from overseas that the league has managed to attract in recent seasons with her signing for Lincoln. Bristol Academy have signed Natalia de Pablos who is a Spanish international and she could do well also. (Sofia) Jakobsson is going to be big news for Chelsea and frankly, Liverpool have signed so many new players I wouldn't know where to begin talking about all them! I can see them doing well… they could be a dark horse to win the league, despite having essentially built a team from scratch."
On the international front, England ladies will travel to Sweden for the European Championships in July as one the favourites to win the tournament they reached the final in back in 2009. Their recent Cyprus Cup Final victory over Canada gave further substance to supporter optimism ahead of the tournament. It also gave players such as Stoney and White who represented Great Britain at the Olympics last summer the chance to get revenge for their painful defeat to Canada in the quarter finals on August 3, 2013.
"It was a big confidence booster ahead of the European Championships to have won the Cyprus Cup and I think all the performances we put in there were very positive," reflects Stoney. "It was also great to see so many of our squad get playing time, which will stand us in good stead for the future.
"Canada are a good team, but we got it tactically spot in the (Cyprus Cup) final I feel and managed to match them physically, which is how we'd struggled against them in the Olympics. It was quite a comfortable win in the end and it should and could have been more in the end."
During the Olympic Games in London last year, 660,986 tickets sold for 26 games with a peak TV audience of 3.9m tuning in for Team GB's memorable 1-0 victory against Brazil. While all would appear to be rosy in terms of both the public's appetite for the women's game in the UK and the progress the sport has made of late, there are still vast improvements that need to be made to its structure and financial support.
Women's football accounts for just 5% of UK football media coverage and 0.5% of commercial sponsorship and despite the formation of the FA WSL, only 17 contracts are available for female footballers a year and only four players per club are allowed to earn £20,000 or more per year. Indeed a pay rise for these professionals only recently came about with a £4,000 increase in 2012 from a salary of £16,000 to £20,000.
Professional Footballers' Association chief Gordon Taylor called their previous salary "embarrassing" and with only a handful of women earning in a year what some Barclays Premier League players take home in a day, it's clear more work needs to be done. The Football Association has set-up an objective called 'Game Changer', with plans to develop the women's game between 2013 and 2018 at grassroots, semi-professional and professional levels.
Getting young female players to embrace the game at an early age will be key to the sport's future prosperity in the UK and both Stoney and White are doing their bit to help this happen.
"I work as a development officer for Arsenal and visit schools regularly, both to promote our games and also participation in the sport at a grassroots level," says White. "It's great that so many girls want to take part in football, but just being healthy and active is great in itself. Carrying on work in the development side of the women's game is something I'd love to do even more after playing. I'm a massive advocate of the sport and the positive impact it can have on people's lives."
"Football changed my life and it could have been very different but for the fantastic opportunities it has provided," continues Casey Stoney, who is a former coach at the David Beckham Academy and who leads training sessions of Lincoln Ladies U17 side currently. "That's the message I want to get across to kids, that whether you make it as a professional or whether you just take part in football, indeed sport as a whole, for fun, it will have a positive impact for you. Sport carries with it good values - teamwork, trust, reliability, belief etc."
Both players are also promoting the Danone Nations Cup, which is a grassroots tournament geared at 10-12 year old children, with the final of the competition to be held at a professional venue in London this summer.
"It's a great opportunity for youngsters to have the incentive of possibly playing on a big stage," says Stoney. "Most importantly though, hopefully the tournament as a whole will encourage youngsters in this country to get into sport.
"The Danone Nations Cup is a grassroots tournament geared at 10-12 year old children and the final will be held at a professional venue in London this summer. It's a great opportunity for youngsters to have the incentive of possibly playing on a big stage like that. Most importantly though, hopefully the tournament as a whole will encourage youngsters in this country to get into sport.
Women's World Cup Trophy"The Danone Cup is fantastic way for youngsters to get involved in football," continues White. "I believe that over 4,000 schools teams have signed up to compete in it, which is great."
England and Great Britain internationals Casey Stoney and Ellen White were speaking to Soccerphile to promote the Danone Nations Cup, a global grassroots Football Competition to inspire children to get active and believe in their dreams.
© Andy Greeves & Soccerphile.com
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