Niamh Charles: Women's football has a diversity problem — needs to be addressed at every level

Niamh Charles (second from left) says women's football has 'failed'; When it comes to diversity Photo: Bradley Collyer/PA

England defender Niamh Charles hopes women's football will become «more representative of society» in the future and says she believes changes are being made to tackle diversity. the problem of diversity in sports at the grassroots level.

Has the women's game been inclusive enough of late, with England naming an all-white team under previous interim head coach Hege Riise in February 2021 and the debate reignited this month after Arsenal came under criticism. for publishing an all-white photo of the women's team.

Releasing a statement on the matter earlier this week, Arsenal admitted they had a problem and vowed that addressing diversity to better reflect its community was a «key priority» for the north London club.

Asked if she believed there was a diversity problem in women's football, speaking at a press conference ahead of the Lionesses' Women's Nations League match against Belgium in Leicester on Friday, Chelsea's Charles said: «When you look at times gone by , yeah, we we probably didn't have access and we probably failed at some point, but I think right now, those things that were created, you may not be seeing them right now , progress, but I believe that there are things that — hopefully in the future — will mean that it will be more representative of the society we live in.

“I hope that in the future with FA things created, but also clubs across the country, in terms of access at the grassroots level, we hope to show that the level of the first team, hopefully in the future it will be more representative.”

In February of this year In this This year, the FA unveiled plans to revamp the player development pathway for girls, partly in an attempt to tackle diversity by trying to make the game more accessible to girls of all backgrounds, especially from inner-city areas.

And Charles hopes improvements will be made for everyone levels of the game, adding: “You can't just make one [mainstream game] without the other [professional game], and I think they're all related. At each level, this problem kind of needs to be solved, and I think it is being solved, and I hope that when one improves, the other will improve at the same time.”