THE RISING MEDIA COVERAGE OF WOMEN’S SPORT

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.

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.

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.

The question of why there is little coverage especially when compared to the men’s game is unanswered. Critics might say that the public don’t care about Women’s football as much as Men’s football but over 87,000 people flocked to Wembley to watch England v Germany in the Euros final last summer.

Additionally, England are second favourites to win meaning that media coverage could rally more fans behind the England squad.

In recent media post, the men’s team have been getting behind their women counterparts, with the likes of Mason Mount posting to Instagram showing his support for the women and dawning an Ella Toone football shirt.Many would believe that men showing support for the Women’s team would encourage more of the staunch men’s game followers to support the Women in their world cup efforts, but the progress is slow to seep into the actual game.

Impact spoke with an avid football fan who revealed they had not in fact watched any of the ongoing womens matches and were waiting until ‘something big happened’ to tune in. A feeling that is perhaps shared amongst many in the public who are not big Women’s football fans.

More matches than ever are being held in the Men’s stadiums with a bigger audience capacity meaning more opportunity for fans to get into the sport.Even smaller teams are taking women’s football more seriously with Nottingham ForestWomen’s team committing to operate a professional hybrid model next season after winning FA Women’s National league Northern Premier Division.

It is evident that momentum is growing in the sport, but broadcasters are clearly not keeping up with demand demonstrated by fans. This could be harming the progression of the sport further. The disparity between the Men’s football coverage and other football teams runs deeper than just between Men and Women. England’s Amputee National Team won the inaugural Nations League in Krakow taking home their first major trophy in 34 years. Yet there was little to no media coverage about this massive accomplishment.

Social media platforms like TikTok and Twitter are helping spread smaller teams to bigger audiences, with dedicated pages to discussing Women’s Football matches, transfers, and drama.

Yet this is still nowhere on the scale of the attention the Men’s teams get on the same apps.

Undoubtedly, change doesn’t happen immediately, and no one was expecting the Men’s and Women’s team to be on an equal platform immediately after the Euros. However, it is fair that fans are disappointed with the lack of progress made for this Summer’s World Cup.

Now is a better time than ever for sponsors to be involved in Women’s Football. Perhaps it is even too late for some. With this in mind, It’s not just in coverage that there is a vast difference between the men’s and women’s game. Mary Earps, England and Manchester United Goalkeeper is in current disputes with Nike as for the second tournament in a row they will not be selling her goalkeeper shirt for fans.

Earps herself offered to fund the production of shirts, however she has instead been forced to produce a limited-edition T-shirt for fans to purchase.

As Ex-England Player and Professional Pundit Alex Scott said “if you’re not involved [in Women’s Football] you’ve missed the boat, you’ve missed the train. Because look at this, it has finally left the station and it is gathering speed”.