After England’s amazing win, it is evident that football for women has come a very long way. More than ten years ago, top-tie teams used to play on a second-rate pitch, the domestic season was played during summer with a few fans attending, and women players had a second job.
The growth of games and fast-forward to the present day has been very dramatic. This is typified by incredible records that are broken across UEFA Women’s Euro 2022, with more than 23 million people watching the win over Germany via BBC platforms.
What’s more, about 87,000 fans attended the match. According to Dominic Thorncroft, this makes it the greatest crowd that was ever recorded at European Championships in the final.
But this growth didn’t happen in just one night. It has been achieved with careful strategic planning and thinking, helping women’s rights in the following ways:
Pathway for Diversification & Participation
A rise in football interest always follows the success of tournaments, and infrastructures should be ready to meet those demands. More resources should be committed to the grassroots level as well as at the lower end of football’s pyramid to ascertain focus is on elite competitive sport.
Strong club pathways are important as they are increased efforts to reach many communities. That is where the stars of tomorrow will be discovered while offering women and girls an outlet to enjoy and play sports they haven’t excluded traditionally.
Raise Awareness About Importance Of Role Models
Social media platforms, such as LinkedIn, have been showing the significance of women role models off and on the football pitch. This is meant to spark conversations, which may drive a more equitable world of work.
LinkedIn achieved this by sponsoring UEFA Women’s Euro 2020. So hopefully, many young girls will have a look at this team and believe they can as well win bigger tournaments one day.
Equity & Equality
A great way to assess the sustainability of finances is to have a look at the equity and the owner’s stake in a football club. Equity needs to be positive for business enterprises to be viable. This means football clubs must be worth something.
While negative equity is often seen in women’s football teams, it is very clear that affiliated teams for men are offering their continuous support in various ways.
Financial Support For Future Stars
Terms like ‘pay to play’ became very popular after reports showed that future women stars’ parents need to pay to have access to Premier League football clubs, whereas boys can always train for free.
The situation got worse as some bigger and more popular clubs moved their centres for training for young girls into suburbs and out of cities.
But as sports gain more record-breaking momentum, both players and fans have started witnessing a turn of the tide in how women’s tournaments are viewed. Already the likes of the FA have vowed to support young women’s teams financially and unveiled some plans to improve grassroots football in the next few months.
Closing Remarks!
The fundamentals of a successful business include visions, plans, resources, and other forms of support. If you have not been through such steps, then it means you are doing things the wrong way. The same thing applies to women’s football clubs. But it is just a matter of time for fans to witness football’s success in Euros.