AuthorJeffEyesRimmer For years now women’s football has been growing fast. In Australia the W-League has grown to nine teams and had the highest attendance at a W League game this season when Brisbane played Adelaide, with 4515 people going through the turnstiles. It has also been the fastest growing sport in Australia at grass roots level, with over 100,000 participants being women and girls. The growth in Europe has been just as fast, more of the large broadcasters, like the BBC, are devoting more coverage to the women’s game. So I have to admit it seems odd to me that a club that so often bills itself as the biggest club in the world, Manchester United, do not have a women’s team. Research compiled by UEFA for women's football in 2016/17 shows that the total number of registered female players now numbers over 1.270 million. The number of registered players under 18 now standing at over 827,000 and the number of youth leagues (under-6 to under-23) has grown from 164 to 266 between 2012/13 and 2016/17.
Six countries - England, France, Germany, Netherlands, Norway and Sweden, have more than 100,000 female players. A total of fifty-two countries have a women's national league, and the number of national teams in Europe, including youth teams, has risen from 173 in 2012/13 to 233 in 2016/17. There are now 17,553 qualified female coaches in Europe’s national associations. What this all means is that there is has been and is a dramatic increase of young girls playing football throughout the world. Recently Real Madrid president Florentino Pérez announced that Real will finally have a women’s team. The Real Madrid women’s side will be given a $15million budget, far more than current champions Atletico Madrid. I think it’s more of a pride thing is Perez who wants to compete with his neighbour’s and of course Barcelona in the womens game as well as the mens. While we have this increase in participation the English Womens Super League has become more competitive, with Manchester City, Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal all aiming to compete for the title. As you can tell there’s a distinct lack of a big name there, Manchester United. It seems ludicrous that a team that is known to market everything under the sun has not jumped at the chance to market to women and young girls, especially given the huge increase in participation over the past 5 years as shown by the numbers stated previously. The funny thing is that United did have a female team for a while; from 2000 they assumed control of a team called Corinthians but then promptly dropped them after the Glazer family took over in 2005. The Glazers indicated that it wasn’t part of the core business, which just seem like buzz words to me. United have the highest female fan base in the world so it seems illogical to not provide further opportunity to them to support a female team as well as the men’s. They also run a successful under 17 women’s team but those players are lost to other clubs after this point with no senior team to move up into. This seems at odds to United mens team which has traditionally been all about the progression of youth from the academy into the first team. The commercial opportunities seem limitless for a side like United and so it seems commercially negligent not to take the opportunity that a senior womens team represents. Manchester United is the last big side in the world not to have a women’s team too and this is to their detriment. It all rather seems like backward thinking, we are in an age when women’s sport is growing exponentially and to not provide means to be left behind. Manchester City on the other hand has gone completely the other direction, splashing the cash and actively attempting to develop their women’s side. It has been successful too, with Manchester City being the current English League Champions and in the hunt for the Champions League this season too. Last season saw them have the highest attendance ever for a Super League game, over 4000 people, and they have the World player of the year in Carli Lloyd playing for them. It all amounts to terrific marketing opportunities for Manchester City owners with them having female football stars on the books only provides for young women and girls their own role models and heroes. It’s a shame that the owners in the red half of Manchester can’t see the potential. |
AuthorsJust Some Fans Writing About Football. Archives
June 2018
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