Women's football alive and kicking into a new era

Δημοσιεύθηκε: 3 Μαΐου 2015 - 12:23

When Preston North End, the legendary English football club, first opened its turnstiles to women for free in 1884 more than 2,000 female fans turned up. Ever since, women's involvement in football has endured, reaching fever pitch in the 1920s when more than 50,000 fans watched Dirk Kerr Ladies beat St Helens.

Now it is making a comeback.

Twenty-three per cent of the supporters at Premier League games last season were women, up from 19 per cent in the 2008-09 campaign. In the German Bundesliga the figure is 27 per cent - up from 18 per cent two years ago - while more than 40 per cent of the TV audience for games of the national World Cup winning side are female.

With Premier League clubs often charging in excess of £50 for tickets and Sky billing their customers for £25 a month to add sports channels to TV packages, women's interest in the sport is far more lucrative now than when Preston North End last won the league in the 1890s.

Clubs have increasingly tried to appeal to women. But many have scored own goals with their core female support in the process, who view attempts to sell them pink scarves and rose as crass to women who have been attending games for decades.

"I don't want to wear a pink scarf, I want to wear a Spurs scarf," says Kat Law, a fan of north London club Tottenham Hotspur. "We're not going to football to wear frills."

Anna Burgess, a Liverpool supporter, says: "I don't want football to change. You accept it for what it is, warts and all."

Clubs argue pitching their merchandise at women has appeal beyond the core support. They view it as in line with the model of US sports teams, which have much higher female attendances and have made much more blatant attempts to appeal to this audience.

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>Serena Gosling, director of retail and licensing at Premier League champions Manchester City, says a Nike clothes line aimed at women, unveiled at a event at the club's stadium replete with champagne and cocktails, sold out within the first week. However, it would be a mistake to lump all female fans together, just as it would be with men. "There are a lot of different groups of female fans. It's offensive to suggest all female fans want to be treated in the same way," she says.

Female fans' increasing interest in football partly reflects the renewed popularity of the women's game, which is now much more regularly televised in the UK. But it is mistaken to separate it from what has happened to football more broadly since the Premier League's arrival in 1992.

As the players have become more cosmopolitan, so too have the crowds - not just in terms of gender, but in race, nationality and sexuality. The people's game has been claimed by people from all walks of life.

In the 1970s and 1980s, British football had an image problem. The demise of hooliganism, a switch in the UK to safer, all-seater stadiums, and a shift in the media's coverage of the sport since then have been important in changing public attitudes towards the sport. "Football has traditionally been seen as male, working class and macho. That's never been strictly true, but it has been packaged in this way," says Carrie Dunn, sports journalism programme leader at the University of East London.

Sky has repackaged top-flight football in the UK and other top European leagues for the masses, while club players are now present not just on the back pages but in glossy magazines and gossip columns. "Football's global news. It's at saturation point now," says Ms Law.

In Germany, where tickets are more affordable than in the UK, the rise in women's attendance also reflects greater children's attendance.

The broader appeal goes beyond savvy marketing: it reflects social trends. "It's no longer acceptable to not be inclusive," says Ms Gosling.

Football grounds are not yet bastions of tolerance. A laddish element to a portion of the sport's coverage persists. But Sky's sacking of presenter Andy Gray in 2011 for sexist remarks towards lineswoman Sian Massey displays a desire to move with the times.

"My seven-year old daughter thinks it's ok to play football. I'm not sure that was so for girls 20 years ago," says Christian Pfennig, director of corporate and brand communications at the Deutsche Fussball Liga. "This is not just a question of promoting the game - there are a lot more women in prominent positions in society now too. The main thing that has changed is the mindset."

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