Memorandum submitted by The Women's Sports
Foundation
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Football has an enormous amount to offer.
It stands in a uniquely privileged position with regard to financial
power, media coverage, infrastructure, participation and national
affection. This powerful position makes football ideally placed
as a delivery mechanism for a whole myriad of public policy priorities
ranging from social inclusion to literacy to health. To that end
it has already contributed a great deal however it is within women
and girl's football that the full potential has yet to be realised.
1.2 As the figures in this paper illustrate
women and girl's football is growing and is now the number one
sport for females in England. It is easy therefore to assume that
all is well and that no changes are needed. It is important to
note however that this growth comes against a backdrop of poor
and falling participation amongst women and girls across sport.
Furthermore it is also a level of growth far short of its potential.
1.3 We therefore believe that football has
a critical role to play in maximising the opportunities for women
and girls to get active. A survey of 2000 young people in 2002
found that as many as one in three girls want to play football.
As things stand they will not all have the chance, and that needs
to be addressed.
1.4 Football has already delivered many
layers of benefits for boys and for men. If it is to do the same
for women and girls more work is needed. This paper will outline
what we believe to be the priorities for moving forward:
— Fair and equitable investment
in women and girl's football, at the very least comparable to
that given to other minority sectors in the sport (eg disability
and BME) and ultimately on a par with boys;
— An increase in the quantity
and an improvement in the quality of facilities;
— Commitment from England's richest
football clubs to invest in community and in particular women
and girls football.
1.5 We strongly welcome the Committee Inquiry
and believe a thorough review of the investment into women's football
is timely. Our perspective has been compiled from consultation
with colleagues and other sports organisations, individual grassroots
participants and from desk research. The following is our written
evidence in accordance with your stated terms of reference.
THE WOMEN'S
SPORTS FOUNDATION
2.1 Founded in 1984, the Women's Sports
Foundation is the national independent organisation committed
to improving opportunities for women and girls in sport and physical
activity in all roles and at all levels. We work across the UK
through a combination of advocacy, information, education, research
and training.
2.2 Despite a perception that gender inequality
is no longer an issue, women and girls still continue to fall
behind in all aspects of sport and physical activity; not only
in participation but in funding, media coverage and in all aspects
of management and professional development:
— Even by the age of seven girls are
expressing negative attitudes towards physical activity and sport
[Sport Engand 2002].
— 40% of girls have dropped out of
sports activity by the time they reach 18 [Youth Sports Trust
2001].
2.3 We believe that all women and girls
should have the chance to experience the myriad of benefits that
sport can bring:
— Young girls who play sport have
a more positive body image and higher self-esteem;
— Playing sport enhances an active
lifestyle and encourages a healthy approach to diet;
— Girls who participate in sport
are less likely to have unplanned pregnancy, or to smoke or use
drugs;
— Sport is an effective tool for
girls to reduce the symptoms of stress and depression;
— Playing sport teaches girls
to be assertive, confident and strategic;
— Sport teaches girls leadership
skills as well as teamwork;
— Playing sport generates energy
and improves work and educational achievement.
SECTION A
The development of women's football at all levels
and the resource requirements to support wide participation in
amateur and elite women's football
3.1 In summary
— While one in three girls want
to play football, there is a postcode lottery of actual opportunities
to play.
— Funding and investment in football
leaves women and girls by far the poorest relation, receiving
less than one tenth of the ring fenced money allocated to BME
and disability football through the Football Foundation.
— Facilities across the country
are of irregular and often extremely poor quality. Women and girls
are more likely to be put off sports participation by poor playing,
changing and showering facilities.
MODEL FOR
SUCCESS
3.2 More women and girls are playing football,
record crowds are watching the elite game (29,000 attended the
England versus Finland game) and Women's Euro 2005 was an unprecedented
success. This success has come through specific investment in
the infrastructure of women's football and programmes such as
Active Sports. It is a model for development that is without a
doubt working as far as it can. There is however enormous scope
for improvement.
3.3 According to FA figures there were 132,000
affiliated female footballers in England in 2004-05. However this
is still only 9% of all affiliated footballers (male membership
is around 1.27 million). By contrast, in Germany there are as
many as 860,000 female German Football Association (DFB) members.
Furthermore a comparison with Sweden reveals the extent of the
imbalance of female to male player registration in England (as
of December 2005 there were 56,328 registered female players in
Sweden compared to 187,042 registered male players. This equates
to 30% of all registered players).
3.4 Furthermore, there is little doubt that
girls want to play football. A survey of 2,000 young people in
2005 found that more than one in three girls list football as
their favourite sport to play and that 83% of children believe
girls should be "allowed" to play "boys" sports
such as football or rugby. [6]Research
by Sport England has also found that the proportion of girls taking
up the chance to play football in school at least once a year
has increased from 24% in 1994 to 37% in 2002. [7]
3.5 However for far too many girls the
opportunities do not exist to play football at school or for a
local club. Unlike boys and men's football where a breadth and
depth of football opportunities exists for all levels of ability
(from pub team to semi-professional), in women and girl's football
there remains a postcode lottery. Access to football depends heavily
on luck, individual teacher attitudes and on parental ability
to travel long distances. Furthermore where clubs do exist there
are limited opportunities across a diversity of experience and
aptitude resulting in the exclusion of girls of lower confidence
and ability who are far less likely to try football, stay playing
football or to return to it later in life.
FUNDING AND
INVESTMENT
3.6 Over the last 10 years the financial
injection into football as a whole has been astounding—football
has never been wealthier. It is well documented however that,
even when the investment comes from the public purse, not everyone
in football is getting a fair share of the riches.
3.7 In the period following the Taylor Report
millions of pounds of public money has been invested in football.
Women and girl's football has not seen their fair share of that.
For example, each year £2.5 million of National Lottery money
is given to a Youth Development Programme running centre's of
excellence that only cater for boys. The Football Foundation has
a budget of £45 million to dedicate to the grassroots of
football each year of which £15 million is derived from the
public purse. However while they have specific investment targets
for funding into disability football (£2.794 million invested
to date/target £3.4 million) and ethnic minorities (£4.055
million invested to date/target £3.9 million target) they
do not currently have a target for women and girls football. Their
current investment into women and girl's football via the Active
Sports Programme is a paltry £450k.
3.8 Football itself (eg the FA Premier League
and FA) has made a significant contribution to grassroots football—amounting
to community projects worth £200 million over three years.
We would like to see more of that invested in women and girl's
football. We also believe that more can be done directly by central
government to facilitate further football participation amongst
women and girls. Figures from the CCPR indicate that central government
investment in sporting infrastructure is the lowest per capita
of the major countries in Europe. In 2003-04 it equated to a mere
£2 per head of the population; less than half that invested
by France.
3.9 Women and girl's football remains the
poorest relation with regard to investment in football. We believe
that even a small increase in funds could make a significant difference
in stabilising the infrastructure of women's football. This is
a straightforward issue of parity, in particular through organisations
such as the Football Foundation who are charged with distributing
public money.
FACILITIES
3.10 In 2002 the FA and Football Foundation
conducted an audit of football facilities in England. This survey
found a need for an investment of over £2 billion to bring
current facilities up to an acceptable standard for existing levels
of participation alone, before any desired increases.
3.10 WSF research highlights that women
and girls are particularly likely to be put off by poor playing,
changing and showering facilities.
3.11 The lack of football pitches is of
particular significance to women and girls. Too often pitches
and training facilities are simply not available and women's leagues,
even the National FA Premier League, are confined to the least
desirable time allocation available—Sunday's at 2 pm. This
means that women's football is almost universally exiled from
the mainstream of football participation. At this time pitches
are of a poor quality having been played on all weekend, many
families and potential spectators use that time for other activities
and the opportunities for publicity and reporting of games is
limited. What's more, as all women's football is played at this
time, recreational players are denied the opportunity to watch
the elite players perform. Women's football is therefore caught
in a viscous cycle in which it is marginalised and unable to fulfil
it's complete potential.
3.12 We will be examining the potential
impact of the Public Sector Gender Duty on the allocation of local
authority sports facilities however we would also like to see
greater investment in modern football facilities such third generation
pitches. [8]
SECTION B
Availability of opportunities for young players
to develop skills, stamina and performance.
4. In summary:
— Elite women's football has improved
however it's existence remains fragile.
— While the FA has invested in
51 centres of excellence funding for girls academies is still
only one tenth of that for boys.
— Too many of the biggest football
clubs in England are letting women's football down.
4.1 The England team are improving steadily
and have a real chance of qualifying for the Fifa World Cup Finals
in China in 2007. They are currently ranked 12th in the world.
4.2 The establishment of 51 licensed FA
Centres of Excellence has supported this improvement, however,
as is highlighted above there remains a postcode lottery for starting,
staying and excelling in women and girl's football. While player
affiliation as a proportion of the population is increasing in
England, it still falls a long way short of other successful football
nations. Greater choice and a diversity of opportunities through
an increased number of clubs, increased number of female coaches
and improved facilities is critical for building upon progress
made to date.
ESTABLISHED PROFESSIONAL
CLUBS
4.3 As with men's football, professional
football clubs provide a focus for the elite of women's football.
However with little inducement or specific incentive for them
to invest in their women's and girl's football there is a very
thin layer of elite level competition and development. Arsenal
FC and Charlton Athletic FC lead the way in the women's game and
their dominance in all competitions is evidence of that. Other
clubs have started to invest however over the last two seasons
a number of big professional clubs have withdrawn all funding
from their women's teams. Premiership clubs such as Manchester
United, Birmingham City and Fulham have all recently taken this
decision. This leaves a fragile league structure. It inhibits
competition, professional development and supporter loyalty and
therefore seriously limits media exposure and marketing potential.
Again women's football is caught in a vicious cycle.
4.4 We would like to see a greater proportion
of the wealth within professional football (eg the recent £1.7
billion Premiership television rights deal) dedicated to community
development and women and girl's football.
4.5 With a relatively small but consistent
injection of public investment each year a stable and competitive
women's elite league could be established. We believe this foundation
could be the springboard for the future of the game. If football
can achieve this and establish women footballers as role models
for future generations of women and girls it could be the start
of a revolution in how women's sport is perceived across the UK.
ARTIFICIAL AGE
BARRIER
4.6 There has recently been a considerable
amount of media attention with regard to the lack of opportunities
for girls to play mixed football beyond the age of 11. At present
the FA rule stipulates that from the age of 11 boys and girls
must play football separately.
4.7 We believe this is an artificial barrier
to the potential development of 11 years plus girls and that the
separation of young players in coaching and matches should be
based on more sophisticated criteria such as weight, height and
ability. The separation from age 11 accentuates the perception
that women and girls play an inferior version of the sport and
prevents young women and girls developing to their physical and
technical peak.
SECTION C
Women's participation in all aspects of the
game including coaching and management.
5. In summary:
While progress is being made there are still
far too few female coaches across all sports, including football.
Women's football is either entirely unrepresented
or extremely poorly represented in the decision-making structures
across football.
COACHING
5.1 Women fall desperately short of their coaching
potential. As the table below illustrates, while the situation
is improving, there is still a very long way to go.
| Figures for numbers of qualified football coaches at each level in 2004
| Total | Female
| Proportion of |
| female to total | |
| |
| Level 1 | 27,716 |
3,072 | 11.08% |
| Level 2 | 5,768 | 404
| 7.0% |
| Level 3 | 814 | 31
| 3.8% |
| | |
|
This reflects the poor situation across sport where, for
example, only 10% of the British Olympic coaching team for the
Athens Games was female.
MANAGEMENT
5.2 Women's football needs more champions in places where
decisions are made and funds are allocated. The women's game is
poorly represented across the decision-making structures of football
with, for example, the Football Association having no direct representatives
of women's football on its Board of Directors and no women in
its senior management team. Likewise the Football Foundation has
no formal representative of women's football at Board level or
on its respective Panels.
5.3 There have always been exceptional women that have
found there way to the top levels of football hierarchy. In 1994
for example, Pat Smith was appointed as Deputy to the Chief Executive
of the FA and Vicky Oyston, the then Chair of Blackpool FC, was
once famously banned from the Tranmere Rovers boardroom because
she was a woman. Progress for women is easier in 2006 but they
are still vastly out numbered by men.
5.4 Women's football should be considered a valued component
of the national game. It should therefore be given formal representation
at the highest level of the game's governance.
SECTION D—MEDIA
COVERAGE AND
SPONSORSHIP OF
WOMEN'S
FOOTBALL
6.0 In summary:
— WSF research indicates that as little as
5% of sports media coverage is dedicated to women's sport.
— Women's Euro 2005 proved that there is a
national appetite for media coverage of women's football.
6.1 Football dominates media coverage of sport above
and beyond all other sports put together and this dominance is
unlikely to subside. However the media success of Women's Euro
2005 provided a real watershed for time and space committed to
women's football.
6.2 The England versus Finland game attracted a peak
audience of 2.9 million and 8.9 million people watched England
across the duration of the tournament. The BBC coverage brought
women's football into homes and work place discussions like never
before and along with the work of The FA, the marketing of the
team and players meant that names like Karen Carney and Rachel
Yankey became topics of everyday conversation. Furthermore the
FA investment in media liaison meant that the tournament was covered
by every English national daily on at least one occasion - unprecedented
for women's football. This success really did prove that it is
a myth to assume there is no interest in or desire to watch women's
football.
6.3 This support for the women's game has made a real
impact on public perceptions of women's football however it was
a one off event. There is still a very long way to go before the
entrenched culture of sports journalism accepts women's football
and gives it the consistent coverage and support that it needs
in order to flourish.
SPONSORSHIP
6.4 In line with other governing bodies such as the ECB,
the FA have kept sponsor investment in the England men's team
and FA competitions closely linked with their female equivalents
in combined packages. This innovative use of contractual obligations
has made a significant difference. The challenge will be to ensure
growth in this area and attract further independent sponsorship
for women and girl's football.
SECTION E
Conclusions
7. There is an opportunity within football to capture
a huge growth market. Women and girls could and should represent
the future of supporters (at least one in seven Premiership club
season ticket holders is now female), players and coaches.
7.1 The transition is not happening organically however.
Strongly gendered cultural attitudes still prevail from parkland
pitches to powerful Boardrooms and distinct and direct interventions
and specific investments are still very much needed to ensure
that the momentum of the last 10 years is not lost, wasted and
forgotten.
7.2 Women's and girls' football is on the threshold of
a potential revolution, while it also lies precariously on the
edge of liquidation.
7.3 Therefore we are specifically calling for:
— Open, transparent and equitable funding of
grassroots and elite level football with women and girl's football
at the very least on a par with other "minority" funding
streams and ultimately comparable to that for boys.
— A solid foundation for the development of
elite women's football, bolstered by public investment and supported
by commitment across England's biggest and richest football clubs.
— An increase in the quantity and an improvement
in the quality of safe and accessible football facilities.
— Local and regular opportunities for women
and girls to play and enjoy football regardless of their ability
and experience and to train to be the coaches and officials of
the future.
7.4 As stated at the beginning of this report football
stands in a uniquely powerful position. No other sport has access
to such vast finances, media coverage and public affection and
it is within football that huge opportunities exist to get women
and girls fit, healthy and engaged in life changing levels of
activity. We commend the Committee for its decision to examine
the state of women's football and hope that this can indeed be
the threshold of a transformation in the women's game.
8 June 2006
6
6 Tesco's Sport for Schools and Clubs, 2005. Back
7
7 Young people and sport in England 1994-2002, Sport England. Back
8
8 Third generation pitches are synthetic turf pitches that are
low maintenance and allow for multi-sports, all year round use. Back
| 
