RETURN OF THE WSL: Are these impressive records enough?

The 2023/24 Women’s Super League season kicked off on Sunday, showcasing all 12 teams back in action. After a groundbreaking summer for women’s football, the WSL is on track for one of its most successful seasons to date.

Record-breaking audiences.

Liverpool beat Arsenal 1-0 in front of a record-breaking crowd of 54,115 at the Emirates Stadium. The biggest attendance ever in the history of the WSL. A surprising opening result for Liverpool after they finished 7th last season, unable to secure a win away from home.

The weekend also saw reigning champions Chelsea defeat Tottenham 2-1 at home, with Fran Kirby making her first appearance for the club since her knee injury back in February.

Despite an opening weekend of breaking records, the same question still remains: will women’s football ever break the barriers they continuously face?

TV coverage of WSL games still proves disappointing with the BBC and Sky Sports each broadcasting only one game a week. The opening weekend saw the BBC showing Aston Villa v Man United and Sky showing Chelsea v Tottenham.

Arguably there is greater interest for women’s football than ever before after the huge success of the 2023 Women’s World Cup. The historic tournament hosted by Australia and New Zealand recorded a significant attendance of nearly 2 million fans, trumping the 2019 attendance in France. Despite heartbreak for the Lionesses who suffered defeat against the Spanish champions, the final was watched by an average audience of 13.3 million in the UK.

Last year was record-breaking for women’s sport with 37.6 million people watching it in 2022. The WSL was a significant driving force behind these figures, attracting 16 million unique viewers. Notably, 8.4 million watched live WSL football but did not watch any live Premier League football.

These figures highlight the global impact of the women’s game and the ever-growing interest behind it. The numbers are there, so why is there still such underwhelming media coverage?

Similarly, there is increasing demand for more WSL fixtures to be played in bigger stadiums typically reserved for the men’s teams.

During the opening weekend, 4 of the 6 WSL games were played at football grounds where the clubs equivalent male teams play (Villa Park, Emirates Stadium, Ashton Gate Stadium and Stamford Bridge). Appearing like a promising change at first glance, this fantasy does not last.

Cut to the coming weekend, only 1 out of 6 matches will be played at a main football ground. This number portrays a far truer reflection of the treatment and discredit towards WSL fixtures and women’s football in general.

This season only two teams, Bristol City and Leicester City, will play all their home matches at their main ground shared with the men’s team. Many teams are moving in the right direction however, with Arsenal hosting 5 of its 11 home matches at the Emirates and Chelsea hosting 4 at Stamford Bridge. Arsenal are currently leading the way in this movement, advocating for women’s games to be played in front of larger crowds and creating a synergy between both their male and female teams.

Frustratingly, some clubs are still struggling to make any real progression with their women’s team. Last season West Ham United were the only WSL side to not host a match at their main grounds and unfortunately they have no games scheduled at their London Stadium this season. Earlier this year the women players criticised the club about their decision to play a Under 18’s FA Youth Cup semi-final in the main grounds, despite the women’s team being denied the chance to play there. It was decided last season that all WSL teams would host at least one home match at their main grounds, and the failure from West Ham only tarnishes the reputation of the club.

It is no longer a one-off for women’s teams to sell out stadiums and the more clubs utilise these iconic grounds, the more the game will continue to grow. The next step for women’s football is attracting larger audiences and hosting matches in their main stadiums will only facilitate this.

The likes of Bristol City and Leicester City have proven that permanent ground sharing between the men’s and women’s teams is possible. Now the sport needs one of the big teams to follow suit, and clubs such as Arsenal and Villa are not too far away from this reality.

With the right tools and support, women’s football will continue to flourish and playing at larger stadiums may eventually become the norm.