Why women's football is not more popular would seem to be a perennial mystery.
Notice I said that the lack of popularity for women's football seems to be a mystery, not that it actually was. My model of reality is not so unrealistic that I can't come up with any good reasons why this might be so.
Likewise, why pin-up posters of the top players aren't emblazoned across the bedroom walls of every young football-loving heterosexual male in the country is equally perplexing. It's certainly not because of their looks - many of the players could surely make a second career of modelling if they needed to. It would be tempting at this juncture, to turn to the familiar feminist narrative that women just aren't valued as much in society as they should be. I think this is probably true, however, I also think there might be something else going on as well.
Firstly, it may partly be simply because posters of any type depicting women's football are pretty hard to come by. I've certainly struggled to find many, and believe me, I've tried. Feminists, one might think, may even want it this way - if the depiction is viewed as objectification. I would argue this is not the case - the players are choosing how they are imaged and they are being viewed strictly within the football sphere. They are football players first and women second.
This may explain part of what's lead to the lack of interest from many men towards women's football. There is an underlying sense of disapproval about anything that goes against the standard model of a straight relationship. Men must remain committed to their girlfriends/wives and not engage in extra-curricular activities with other women (and vice versa). There is a huge stigma about "cheating" and jealousy often wins the emotional war. I am a big critic of this outdated and rigid doctrine by the way. But it would be difficult to prove that even if more men wanted to go see WoSo, their other halves might be suspicious and not too happy about it. This goes partway to explaining the supporter dynamics of WoSo clubs - there are several groups of fans usually present.
-Friends and Family members of the players
-Women and girls (e.g. mother/daughter)
-Teachers and school groups / coaches and developing junior players
-Fathers and sons/daughters (notice that families have been heavily featured so far)
-Single men - I hate to stereotype, but these often seem to be the geeky or anorak types with cameras, often bald and ageing, who often sit or stand alone.
Unfortunately many would class me into this latter category (although I don't bring a camera to football). Now, one major group who attend men's football in their droves but who are conspicuously absent from the women's game, are groups of young to middle-aged males, the type who might sing or chant profusely at their local ground. Take from that what you will - but this shows why the WoSo attendance problem exists. My provisional conclusion is that WoSo is not masculine enough for the main attendants of football to be drawn away from their routines. They already probably go to 1-2 matches per week and simply don't have the time for more. Especially if there is any hint that it might appear "dodgy" for them to do so in their current relationships. And I don't just mean with their wives - as I'll discuss later, there is a perceptible stutter involved in admitting your appreciation for WoSo to male friends.
As an interesting aside, I noticed that due to the summer nature of women's football in the UK, there is a period at the end of May until about the end of July (the main close-season) where women's football is sometimes the only game in town, so to speak. Here, we see a small boost in attendances (I would gather the figure is around 10-30% based on a few anecdotes - believe me this is fairly small, 10% of not much is not much) notably from groups of young males who bring along noisy support like singing, and musical instruments. Not that these things weren't already there at times, but there is an increase in them. Now, if it were the case that WoSo were completely unappealing to the average male fan, I doubt this increase would be observed. Likewise, if the reason for low attendances was simply that men's football was on at the same time (a point sometimes espoused as very significant by more muddled commentators), or simply that some fans wanted to attend but didn't have enough time (a point I made earlier as part of the equation only) then we'd expect to see a massive increase in off-season attendances. Rather, we see a small increase as some of the more progressive, or at least inquisitive, fans of local clubs (often the associated men's team) take advantage of the chance to shake things up at the end of a long season and have a bit of fun. I would submit that although this is welcome and can certainly do no harm, it's not the boon that some commentators would make it out to be. There is some doubt in my eyes that these extra numbers are genuinely interested in WoSo long term. Finally, note that even the observed small increases are often predicated on free entry to season ticket holders of the local men's teams.
Most men would rather stick to what they know unless given express reason to do otherwise - having a interested daughter, for instance, is enough of an excuse to break the stigma of admitted WoSo support. Likewise, most men (I for one) would rather not bring up in casual conversation the fact that they are going to see Watford Ladies play this weekend. It's not right I know, and I can't really explain it, but there you are. My only thought is that It could perhaps be that because our disposition towards feminism is not something commonly discussed between men, we are not willing to show our hand first. There's nothing that screams "pro-feminist" like saying you're going to see the ladies' team play. Being exposed like this is a huge risk to a relationship if your friend happens to be a member of the philosophical opposition. People don't like losing friends. Hence, I hope you can see the problem. The desire to be accepted by your friends is often too great.
If you require further evidence to believe that a problem exists in the perception of parents concerning young children, you need look no further than the ridiculous situation that has emerged at certain nature reserves in recent years. Here, single men or small groups of 2-3 men who wanted to walk round and photograph the wildlife are denied entry by jobsworth park staff. The argument given, in a strange and a bit perverse reflection of the common meme, is that adults must be accompanied by children. The clear connection being made here is that if you're a parent, you're not a paedophile. Therefore they don't need to worry about supervising you. The logical analog being that single males are more likely to be paedos. This is why I sometimes scoff at MRA arguments - if ever there were a risk to men's rights, it's here right in front of us at our local nature reserves. But I get the feeling that we're not a million miles away from this in WoSo either. It's not that I don't feel welcome at the grounds I've been to though.
To complicate matters, with many players being so very young, under 18 or 19 years of age, we need to be very careful about how we think about them. It's no good saying the star striker is your dream girl if she's 17. I for one cannot simply switch from one type of thought about a very attractive female player to another over the course of her 18th birthday, for example. I've always found it best to compartmentalise these spheres of activity from personal or sexual thoughts entirely. This, in large part, explains why I have little interest in the players' Instagram accounts, and indeed shy away from, for example, seeing Alex Morgan in a bikini. My overriding emotion about the players in general is one of great admiration and respect.
Let's perform a thought experiment. Two young male friends go round each other's houses (and each other's rooms) and need to put up some posters, that their friend will inevitably see and comment on. Do they put up the Eni Aluko poster or the Danny Welbeck poster?
At the end of the day the Welbeck poster is more likely to be chosen simply because it is just considered more normal, more socially safe. It shouldn't be of course, and on top of this I see no reason for people to try and be "normal" above trying to do what they think is right. Again, the desire to be accepted by your friends is often too great. I submit this is a problem with relationships as much as anything else. I'm going to see women's football and to my shame I deliberately avoid mentioning it to anyone. I won't lie about it if pressed, but equally I won't volunteer the information unnecessarily.
The fact that if promoted properly, and seen by many people, this post would get downvoted and any negative comments would get upvoted (or even if as a male reader, you disagree with me), are reflective of many men's intransigence to change things, tacit celebration of the status quo, and proves my point that the UK is a relatively backwards and unsupportive environment for women's sport. That's not the fault of everyone, of course, there are thousands of wonderful, generous and committed people who go out of their way every week to make the games happen around the country for little or no reward. And that last part is the problem.
It is especially true compared to for example the US, where men's and women's football are on a much more equal footing, having been introduced relatively recently and close together. Top US women's players like Alex Morgan (look her up if you've not heard of her - you'll not be disappointed) are treated like absolute superstars. They are marketable brands in their own right that attract much interest from sponsors. The NWSL is live streamed on YouTube for free - something tells me the FA would never even consider that for the FAWSL, despite their claims to be wanting to promote women's football. And the arrogance of the FA and many British football commentators to think the Americans could never do anything in "soccer" better than us.
News flash: they just did.
All this means, of course, that those of us who do support women's football, have to work even harder against the current to make any progress.
There have been some recent negative events and a troubling tendency that need to be discussed. These events threaten the philosophical attraction of WoSo. Particularly at Manchester CIty WFC, two of England's top players, Karen Bardsley and Jill Scott, were recently sent off for violent conduct, previously thought unbecoming of women's football. Some argued they brought the game into disrepute. I disagree - although they needed to have the book thrown at them so to speak, I do not have as much of a problem with WoSo becoming more physically aggressive. It has never been MY claim that women's football is cleaner with less bad tackles and fouls. Indeed, the claim that it is, should become more dubious, as the game become more competitive and players find themselves being more frustrated, more often against more taxing opposition. Still, it is unfortunate to see this violent play as these two players are supposed to be role models with exemplary behaviour. And normally, they are. What actually worries me more is the very recent tendency for play-acting to creep into the game. I've seen it a couple of times in WSL2. If the worst aspects of the men's game keep creeping into women's football, what will be the basis for its particular attraction? It will just be a less popular version of the men's game with much lower wages.
Maybe though, such a statement could only come from a purist. Maybe things like diving, play acting and arguing with the referee are the things that actually need to happen to advance the game, as they will mean it is becoming more competitive. Or, put another way, signs of these features coming through mean that the matches are simply more competitive - they are emergent features of sport and are not unique to men. Such a scenario has its advantages, minimising the gender differences as it does.
I hears it said on a WoSO podcast quite recently that celebrated England international striker Kelly Smith was such a good player "because she played like a man". I always wondered what was meant exactly by that, and I was puzzled by it at the time, but now I think I might finally be starting to get it. My immediate reaction was "what the hell is that supposed to mean?". I had assumed, even after some careful thought, that he just meant she didn't pull out of tackles; but it's more than that. I think he might have meant that she exemplified the competitive spirit we see in men's football. Maybe he had something of a point. It's an interesting philosophical consideration, certainly, and goes some way towards easing concerns that the changes we're seeing in WoSo will be bad for the game.
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