Carrie Dunn and her latest book ‘Woman Up’. Photo credit: Steve Williams Photography via Carrie Dunn (No copyright intended)
Carrie Dunn has examined the progress and potential of women’s football in her new book Woman Up. Sporting Her’s Jeff Cheshire caught up with the esteemed journalist, to discuss where she feels the sport needs to head in the coming years.
Progress has been there for all to see. Viewership numbers are up, as is the far wider-spread popularity of women’s football across society. The game’s superstars, at least here in the United Kingdom, have sky-rocketed into the mainstream-celebrity stratosphere over the past 18 months. Stadiums have been packed out the world over, as far away as Australia and New Zealand at the World Cup, and as close as the record Women’s Super League crowds.
If this is a rocket ship hurtling towards its final destination, it has well-and-truly reached full throttle. That final destination remains light-years away Perhaps so far it remains somewhat unclear exactly where it is heading. Equality is the buzz word in women’s sport and perhaps the theoretical end point. Yet with a men’s game, while wildly popular and beloved, increasingly having its own flaws exposed, it poses that key question: does women’s football have to look like the men’s game? Would you even want it to?
”I think it’s an error a lot of people make, thinking the way to improve women’s football is to make it more like men’s football,” Dunn said. ”Using the model in the Premier League and trying to make the WSL run like it. I think there’s a distinction to be made between equality and equity, which is a slightly different term.”
She points to a graphic showing people of different heights being given different sized boxes, to see over a fence and into the game.
“They’ve got different things, but they’ve all got the same access to watching the match. That’s equity. That’s how I would like to see women’s football progress, looking at this idea of equity, rather than equality. The same opportunities as male players have from grassroots upwards.
Make sure women have somewhere to play the game. Make sure women’s clubs have access to facilities.
Make sure top flight players have the same facilities, the same rehab, the same sport science.
Make sure the very top players are having the same research in terms of sport science and physiology, and all those things that the men have as well.
I think that’s what I’d like to see. That kind of infrastructure being equal. Having what these players need to make them successful. And that might not be the same as in the men’s game.”
Getting there? Well that is something Dunn is more cautious about, in terms of the end product, at least. She admits she runs against the grain in some respects there. Many would jump at the chance right now to see an expanded WSL, or a fully professional Championship league. She worries about the impacts the current depth of player pool would have on both of those leagues if it were to progress too quickly. But even more so, she is an advocate for the entire pyramid – all nine tiers – and beyond. That focus on the top-level, and the top clubs within that, is something she feels the men’s game has perhaps been guilty of. Creating a sustainable environment and making sure all those clubs are doing alright, and ensuring they are equipped for women’s needs, needs to be a priority, Dunn said.
The past 18 months have provided the platform to attract new girls and women to the sport. Keeping them in the game, and ensuring they all have somewhere to play, is just as important.
”It’s difficult,” Dunn said. ”I’m not saying it’s something that you can wave a magic wand and it all happens. It’s difficult to have football facilities. Particularly if you’re in a city, the green space just isn’t there. But there are pitches, there are facilities and we know boys have that access.
I know some councils have been doing things where they’ve rejigged their booking system, so at certain peak hours, only girls and women’s teams can book them. I think that’s a fantastic thing to do, just to show this is a space that’s open and welcoming to girls women.
But that’s going to be a challenge the different FAs are going to have to grapple with over the next few years. Because what’s the point in attracting so many girls and women to play football after the World Cup and the Euros last year, if there’s nowhere for them to play. If they’re going to get put out six months down the line. We need to make sure we’re including these people and retaining them.”
It is a key measure of growth, perhaps not as immediately visible as the packed stadiums and the throngs of fans flocking to celebrate the Lionesses’ success. But Dunn feels the number of women and girls playing the game, and not just those with the intention of playing at an elite level, remains as important as anything over the next decade.
“I think it’s something that we get a little bit too side-tracked thinking about Women’s Super League, or the Lionesses, and if we win a World Cup in the next decade everything’s great. Obviously that’s fantastic… [Participation is] going to be one of the key indicators. We want to make sure the popularity of football remains and increases over the next 10 years.
We need to get these girls who are coming into the game now and retain them. Make sure they’re not getting put off and they’re getting the support they need. And, I always bang on about this, it’s not just about the elite player pathway. It’s about the little girls who are never going to be playing for a WSL side, but they want to have a kick around with their mates on a Sunday morning.
That recreational football is important. Boys and men have always had this, so I want to make sure girls and women also do. It’s the best sport in the world. We want to make sure everyone can play it, whatever standard they want to play at, whenever they want to play it over the next few years too.”
While she hopes to see that infrastructure continue to change and improve, she hopes the game retains its accessibility and family-friendly vibe at its top-end. Tickets remain vastly more affordable than to an equivalent men’s game, which in some cases are difficult to obtain, even if you are prepared to fork out the money. Likewise the crowds carry a distinctly positive and welcoming vibe, in contrast to the tribal nature of a men’s crowd – both in terms of their interactions with the players and opposing fans. It is something she feels has attracted fans to the game, notably those that may have been put off men’s football.
While admitting she would ”hate” to reach of point of needing to segregate fans in women’s matches, she acknowledges it might become a necessity as crowd numbers increase. The demand on players from fans, however, is something she feels needs to be re-looked at. She said the accessibility of players has long been a selling point of the WSL. However, as crowds and popularity have increased, that demand has become increasingly difficult to satisfy. Dunn points out that when there was 300 fans turning up for games and 10 selfies to take, that was easy enough to do. When you have 50,000 people turning out to the Emirates Stadium, well that is just not going to be possible to get around everyone.
“It’s something we really need to start thinking about,” Dunn said. “These women’s job is to play football. They owe nobody anything more than that. There’s an expectation we have more from our female athletes than our male athletes, that they’ll be nicer and more welcoming, If they’re tired or grumpy they should put a smile on and get on with it anyway. They owe us nothing. It infuriates me when I see those signs that say ‘can I have your shirt? It’s just a football game, it’s not Ebay.”
Check out Carrie Dunn’s latest book ‘Woman Up: Pitches, Pay, and Period’.
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