THE RISING MEDIA COVERAGE OF WOMEN’S SPORT By Olivia Hughes
Illustrations by Jocey Neligwa
After such success for the England Women’s Football team at the Euros last summer, hype around the world cup has been growing amongst fans. Yet it is shocking to see that there is very little coverage or advertisement for the upcoming matches.You only have to look at the Men’s World Cup last Winter to see the disparity in coverage between the two tournaments. Impact’s Olivia Hughes reports.
sport
“The difference in coverage between the Men’s and Women’s game can be attributed to misogyny embedded in cultures all across the world.”
41
For the Summer Tournament, England’s games will be shown on either the BBC or ITV1 after the two broadcasters put in a joint bid to show the games. However, there was a potential media blackout surrounding the cup after the FIFA president, Gianni Infantino, threatened to boycott showing the event after what he believed were exceptionally low bid offers compared to the men’s cup.
The BBC and ITV’s offer came to £9 million which was just 8% of the cost of broadcasting for the men’s tournament. The division between the Men and Women’s football teams began after the world war when the FA banned women from playing football in December of 1921. The sport was becoming popular and attracting large crowds of up to 53,000 at the infamous Goodison Park match on boxing day 190, but the FA believed that football was unsuitable for women and should not be encouraged. Women could not play again until 1971 but support for women in the game was not the same until the 2022 summer Euros which England took by storm. This ban stunted the growth of the women’s game drastically and its effect is still felt today with the struggles of the likes of Mary Earps or coverage in general on the women’s game.
“... over 87,000 people flocked to Wembley to watch England v Germany in the Women’s Euros final last summer.”
The difference in coverage between the Men’s and Women’s game can be attributed to misogyny embedded in cultures all across the world. Often Women’s teams have to perform perfectly for their countries to take notice of their successes on and off the pitches. The same cannot be said for the Men’s teams who often have the unbridled support of their country despite their performance. By far the most popular Women’s Football Team (or Soccer Team) is the United States Women’s National Soccer Team. The team shot to international fame after their 1999 World Cup win over China. The win pushed the Women’s team into mainstream media and attention meaning that they secured a place in American history and a plethora of sponsors with their official sponsor being Nike. Following the success of the England Team at the Euros, surely they deserve the same level of accolade and support from sponsors, yet this is clearly not the case as demonstrated not only by the broadcasters but also by Nike themselves in the Mary Earps debacle.
