Liverpool, Everton, Chelsea And Arsenal Set For Super League

A leading football finance expert has warned organisers of the English Football Association’s Women’s Super League that it may take decades for the league to be a commercial and playing success.

A year from now the FA Women’s Super League will begin with eight teams playing in the competition’s inaugural season. However, Professor Simon Chadwick of Coventry University is sceptical about the league’s short-term success due to England’s social history.

He says: “I think we live in a largely male dominated society and in social terms, women have only started to break down the barriers in the last 30-40 years so I wouldn’t say it is going to be a commercial or playing phenomenon overnight, it’s going to take decades to do it.

Following 16 bids from many existing women’s teams, only eight clubs made the cut for the new league after having to provide information on financial and business management, commercial and marketing, facilities, players and support staff. They are Arsenal Ladies, Birmingham City Ladies, Bristol Academy Women, Chelsea Ladies, Doncaster Rovers Belles, Everton, Lincoln Ladies and Liverpool Ladies.

Chadwick points to the lack of social and structural organisation currently in the women’s game as a problem the new competition will face.

He says: “I think in industrial terms men’s football has got first mover strategic advantage over the women’s game. The structures, culture, resources and organisation are there the organisation is there; women’s football doesn’t have that. It has to set up its own structures and organisation and it has to create an attractive commercial proposition. However, it’s not doing that in isolation, it’s doing it up against competition from the men’s game.

“I would love to see it prosper because I dislike many of the macho aspects of the game as we know it. There’s a strong need for there to be a greater female contribution for the development of sport in this country but I think sadly we are not going to get that any time soon. It will take decades rather than years.”

One reason why The FA developed the new league (under former chief executive Ian Watmore) was to compete with the USA in an attempt to get the best players playing in England. Chadwick believes that it is a completely different situation in the USA because the men’s game there doesn’t have the history that it does in England.

He says: “If you look at the development of women’s football in the USA it’s got completely different social cultural foundations. In Britain men play and women watch.

“Although that’s changed, that’s what it’s been historically. On Shrove Tuesday men always played and women watched. The gender DNA of football is based on that. We are trying to engage in genetic modification to change football from a men’s game to a family game but the cultural heritage is already set. In the USA they didn’t have that and that’s why women’s football in places like china Norway and the USA is taking off. Women in this country have had a subsidiary role in the last 150 years.”

According to The FA, 1.1million girls currently play football in England. Chadwick does see a positive future for the women’s game in and believes it could attract a good television deal and sponsors. However he thinks it will never run alongside the men’s Premier League.

He said: “I think what it will be is that it will become well established but it won’t be mass market it will be a very strong niche market. If you look at MotoGP and Nascar it’s incredibly strong commercially but its not strong in this country, it’s a niche sport. It’s not the NFL, it’s not the NBA - it appeals to a particular set of people.

“I think women’s football could become strong and vibrant and there could be some nice sponsors involved with good TV deals. The national team may prosper and win something like the World Cup but I don’t think it will become mass market like the Premier League has become.”

Britain’s Minister for Sport, Gerry Sutcliffe thinks the Super League will be a catalyst for more female participation in football.

He commented: “It’s fantastic that the Women’s Super League is a step closer to getting off the ground. Women’s football is one of the fastest growing sports in the country but there is still room for further growth. The Super League will shine the spotlight even brighter on the women’s game, encourage more young women to take up the sport and help develop stars that will represent the ever-improving women’s national team.”