The women’s professional game has undergone one of its biggest leadership changes to date and England veteran Fara Williams has outlined what must remain a priority moving forward to maintain equal opportunities at both a professional and grassroots level.
A new independent body known as the Women’s Professional Leagues Limited (WPLL), formerly known as NewCo has officially taken over responsibility of the Barclays Women’s Super League and Championship from the FA.
CEO Nikki Doucet confirmed at the time that each club in the top two tiers would become shareholders in the new company, as part of a wider mission to transform women’s football.
As a starting point, the WPLL took out a £20m interest-free loan from the Premier League, but must meet revenue thresholds to pay it off over a period of time.
Although Williams is “excited to see how the vision pans out”, she stressed the need for the WPLL to embody a similar mindset to the FA to ensure equal opportunities for all palying football.
“Under the FA, the league has always been secure and sustainable and that is crucial to the women’s game,” Williams told 90min.
“I’m heavily involved in grassroots football and children coming through, and if the league isn’t sustainable then they don’t get equal opportunities.
“It will be difficult to see that responsibility come away from the FA as they’ve invested so much time and effort into keeping a steady ship.
“But it’s exciting to see what these changes will do in terms of exposure and opening up the reach of the women’s game for investment, which in turn will help grow the game financially for players.”
Growth in the women’s game accelerated ten-fold when the Lionesses were crowned champions of Europe two years ago. Players were snapped up left, right and centre to be a part of lucrative sponsorship deals and named brand ambassadors which saw the sport receive a huge injection of cash.
And it’s not just WSL clubs that have been reaping the rewards. Championship side London City Lionesses were acquired by hugely successful American businesswoman Michele Kang at the end of last year, who’s earned herself a reputation for investing into the sport in a way that puts the development of females at the forefront.
After having success with NWSL side Washington Spirit and French club Lyon, Kang made her presence quickly known at London City Lionesses by bringing in manager Jocelyn Precheur and signing Sweden captain Kosovare Asllani in one of the most shocking moves of the summer transfer window.
Despite progress clearly being made, huge disparities still exist across all tiers of women’s football in the country and there’s a long road ahead when it comes to recognising the funding needed to ensure girls and women can play on a non-professional level.
Reading FC Women hit the headlines earlier this year after admitting a lack of finances meant they’d have to withdraw from the Championship. Williams, who spent some of her last professional playing days at the same club told 90min that although the women’s game has been “crying out” for investment, more needs to be done to highlight the struggle clubs are facing outside of the WSL.
“The women’s game is in a fantastic position,” she explains. “Investment makes the game more competitive which always helps. Winning the Euro’s fast-tracked the game into a position where brands want to invest and put money into it.
“This is great because brands don’t just invest at the elite level, they also invest also at grassroots. It’s difficult right now in terms of broadcasting though. The WSL is the only league that has their games shown with a handful of Championship ones being aired elsewhere.
“Underneath the top levels, there’s not much investment and nobody probably knows about what’s happening in the other tiers in the women’s game. We’ve seen how many women and girls teams are folding because clubs haven’t got enough funding. The difficulty is that you need money for all these things to run and without that it becomes difficult and I know that myself. Coaching is something I really wanted to do, but to get in there and earn a salary that can pay my bills is very hard to do without the right experience.”
Earlier this month, official partner of the England football teams Kind Snacks unveiled a 200ft mosaic outside Wembley Stadium, that featured England internationals and hundreds of members of the public showing the hard work that goes on behind the scenes outside of major tournaments.
Williams told 90min that it’s important to shine a light on these “unsung heroes” who “do so much at a grassroots level to promote the women’s game.”
