May we soon see women's football on our TV screens to keep us company on Saturdays? Photo: PA/Tim Markland.
Saturday 3:00 p.m. is an «obvious gap» during which women's football could be regularly broadcast live on TV, according to an extensive government-commissioned study of the future of women's football. chaired by former England team Karen Carney.
Currently, no game can be shown live on a standard Saturday afternoon at the time due to a certain blackout period, but the review states that these rules «were not designed with women's play in mind», and while adding, that the football authorities should be the ones who decide what to do next, says they have the «opportunity» to agree to the exemption of the women's game from this ban.
Among the key recommendations of the 128-page review is a call for the FA, Premier League, EFL and broadcasters to «work together to carve out a new dedicated women's football broadcast slot» after collecting evidence from clubs, players, fans and other stakeholders.
Speaking at a press conference shortly before the review was published, former England international Carney said: “It was very clear that we needed to find a place dedicated to women's football. It's very busy at the moment and the timeslots don't really work.»
However, Carney added that she did not directly call for the 3 p.m. power outage to be canceled, adding, «I could be very, very assertive and go after a big headline, but there could be downsides to going and acting like aggressive when really the biggest issue for me that we want to address is the professionalization of the women's game and raising those standards because that's a big issue.» />Karen Carney led the government's review of the future of women's football. Photo: Getty Images
That the clear need for higher professional standards, conditions and contracts is a key part of the review's findings, and calls for the second tier of the English pyramid, the Women's Championship, to become fully professional and union funded among other key recommendations. representation.
In response to the review, PFA CEO Maeta Molango said: “Karen Carney's report is a bold, ambitious and detailed blueprint for the future of women's football, with players at its core. The report recommends that player union representation in the WSL and Women's Championship should now be fully and comprehensively funded by the Football Association, as would be the case in other countries where proper collective bargaining agreements exist between players and governing bodies.
«This is an important step forward, which, along with the recommendation that the women's championship become fully professional, will allow us to improve and expand the services we provide to players.»
FA should equalize prize money for men and women, the review says .
The review also calls for the FA to equalize the prize money of the men's and women's FA Cups, with the men's prize money currently standing at almost £20 million, while the women's prize money is just under £3 million.
“Equalizing prize money in the FA Cup is something the FA can decide and will send a powerful signal of equality,” the review says, which sees tennis as an example of a sport with equal prize money on its way. Grand Slam events.
The review also says the FA should hand over management of the WSL and Championship to a purpose-built subsidiary (NewCo), a process that is already underway but in terms of an independent women's football regulator that has been one of the largest. the recommendations of the related Tracey Crouch review on the men's game are not what Carney immediately calls for.
«Now we're saying, 'let it [the women's game] self-regulate,'» Carney explained. “That would be my position. I'm not saying [an independent regulator] is out of the question, I'm not saying there shouldn't be any regulation, and I'm also saying we should learn from past mistakes. But as long as something is new, as long as something is developing, it should be given an opportunity.”
Feedback and other recommendations include the call to:
- Government to deliver on its recent commitment to give girls equal access to sports in PE
- FA to «urgently address» lack of diversity in women's play , on and off the field
- All WSL and Championship Clubs to hire a Fan Relations Officer, allocate marketing resources and focus on increasing the number of matches they play in their club's main stadiums.
Now the review has been published, what's next?
It is not yet clear whether this review will result in a Government White Paper, or how binding Carney's recommendations will be and to what extent they can be strictly enforced. However, there has been a sense for many months in the women's game that this was a pivotal review that would be listened to closely based on how comprehensively the clubs, leagues and players were discussed during the evidence and research phase.
However, it is difficult to predict how quickly, if at all, a solution can be found in the search for a new regular broadcast slot for the women's game, and it is not yet clear if the FA will be ready to bring equal Cup prize money anytime soon England, and such a policy is likely to be perceived as controversial by many men's teams.
But in terms of the next steps for the WSL and the Championship, some wheels are already running: a new club company (NewCo) is being created, which from the next summer will take over the top two divisions.
The review is clear in that it advises giving NewCo a chance to show it can responsibly lead the elite women's game. This means that for now, figures like NewCo's future CEO, businesswoman Nikki Doucet, will be among the most powerful people in English football.
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