World Cup has shown there is a vibrant paying audience for the women’s game – now it is critical we challenge the status quo on stadia
We have seen again here at this World Cup in Australia and New Zealand that a global audience is willing to pay to watch women’s football, to attend the games and invest in this sport. It is now time for us to build on the success of this tournament and position our teams to succeed commercially, not just competitively. That means equal access to club stadiums for women’s sides.
This is not a debate about equal pay, it is about equal opportunities. And the next step for the women’s game is for clubs to have equality of access to facilities. They are not ‘men’s’ stadiums, they are ‘club’ stadiums – we women have as much right to play in those stadiums as the men do. And the potential benefits are vast, for everybody.
The legacy of England’s home European Championship win last year was making sure that we strengthened access at the grass-roots level but also an unbelievable rise in attendances, more than doubling the average Women’s Super League crowds in a single season. And that rise was sustained throughout the season.
The legacy of a World Cup final on the professional game will be unprecedented commercial investment. But most importantly, we now need a call to action, so that club stadiums become readily available for both men’s and women’s teams.