We have women over here….

Does the season ever finish….. We had the World Cup qualifiers, FIFA Club World Cup, Euro U21’s and the Women’s Euro in Switzerland and they were the first England side to win a major tournament on foreign soil.

Let’s be honest, women’s football divides opinion between regular followers of the men’s game let alone amongst many of my mates. I love watching football at any level and can easily go past a park on a Sunday morning and stop to watch a park game that I have no interest in the teams playing.

So, watching women’s football is no different for me and I have regulary watched it over the years. I remember going to my first women’s game in the 90’s at Plough Lane when they played the successful Doncaster Belles. The game is different in many ways. Yes, the aim of the game is still to score more goals than the other teams and the laws of the game are the same as the men’s game, but it is different!

Naturally, the game is slower than the men’s and the physical difference dictates that the game is more concentrated on the technical side of the game. Comparing the game to the men’s game is where the argument normally ends up for those who simply do not like watching a women’s game or accept there is a place for them.

The need for some people on social media to mock and take the piss out of the women’s game will never stop and they are easy to ignore, but when you dig deeper about the women’s game, there is so much to admire and also from a personal perspective how Wimbledon can benefit from the increasing eyes on the women’s game.

Many sides in the Women’s Super League [WSL] play several games at the men’s home stadium – Even this description as it being the men’s home stadium needs to change – and attract good attendances. Arsenal are a club that have embraced the women’s game massively and have a marketing strategy specifically to attract the fans to games. The supporter base for women’s football is different and whilst I am not sure of the split between regular fans of the men’s game attending women’s games, I would think it is probably around 50%, maybe lower. Families and girls/teenagers seem to be the target audience for women teams and it makes the atmosphere at games different but also engaging. I have taken my son to many Wimbledon women games over the years as I know its safe for him, he is amongst other children his age and the club provide things for him to do before the game to be entertained.

This could be the reason why some fans simply do not go to the women’s games as atmosphere can be a big draw for some and maybe a sound similar to when Blackburn Rovers had Shearer and Sutton in the 90’s along with loads of kids screaming there names, is the last thing they want to hear. I get that, but it should not mean that there is no a place for the women’s game, especially at Wimbledon.

I know many of the management team, players and volunteers of our women’s team and have a good understanding of the situation and the way they are trying to grow the fan base for more fans to attend games. The dedication needed from all of them is massive and let us not forget that at our level, the game is mostly amateur in our league and only a handful of teams in our league and the one above are either semi-professional or full time. They train on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and this will be after their day job and then they play games on Sundays, with many midweek games to fit in.

Season before last the women’s team won the Division One South East title and celebrated this by lifting the trophy at Plough Lane at the end of the season. This achievement was made after going so close for many seasons, but having the random team like Billericay Town and Hashtag United chucking loads of money into there teams, meant that it took a little while to get promotion. Of course, having only one promotion place available does not help and this is something the women’s game needs to improve for the competitiveness to increase and teams to have drivers to be better and progress. Last season they competed against teams with bigger budgets and comfortable secured their League status which is level 3 in the women’s pyramid.

Whilst I enjoy watching the women’s game, the frustration I have is how the game is run by the authorities and not just looking after its glamor and showcase league, the WSL. The WSL is a good league but its not overly competitive and is dominated by Chelsea and Arsenal, with possibly Manchester City starting to invest more in the women’s team. Whilst you can’t stop these big teams spending money, it's important that the rest catch up and can be competitive and not repeat the men’s game of the teams being relegated, the teams that come up next season. Promotion is a big challenge and they introduction of more promotion places and a playoff structure would increase competition and excitement for fans.

Those that mock the women’s game will regularly point out the big scores and the strange goals that are scored on some weekends. Goalkeeping in the women’s game has always been a weak area in my opinion and that is down to the size of the goals compared to the height of the goalkeepers. I have heard suggestions that making the goals smaller would help this, but I am not convinced that is needed as the standard of goalkeeping is improving year on year and this will continue as the gap between the leagues become closer.

The national team are selling out Wembley on regular occasions which is great to see, but the depth of the national game needed to improve. Even during the Euro’s there were some games that were not competitive as you would like with England beating Wales comfortably in the group stages and not breaking sweat in seemed. The further down the pyramid you go the gap gets bigger and there is nothing gained from team reaching double figures in league games, and as happened in recent seasons, those team struggling to field a team and quitting the league.

Wimbledon are playing their home games at Tooting & Mitcham United and will play some games at Plough Lane. As a club I strongly feel we need to capitalise on the popularity of the women’s game and invest time and funds into the team. This does not mean taking funds out of the men’s budget as I have often heard but understanding how teams in America do it and where it’s a game that attracts good attendances and the best players.

I have been fortunate to chat to some figures within the women’s game who understand it and also how America do it by understanding that the fan base is different, needs different marketing strategies and also targeting specific sponsors for the women’s game only and not thinking the only way to do it is to add on the sponsors from the men’s team which of course means it looking like the women’s team is being supplemented from the men’s team budget.

I would love over the next 5 years for the club to develop a strategy for the owners team to continue its growth allowing them to go semi-professional at first and aiming for promotion into the WSL. It will need funding by targeted sponsors and trying to get as many games at Plough Lane as possible, rather than it feeling like a treat to the women’s team, but a place they can call home and use to their advantage.

I am a realist and understand that the main focus and revenue stream are with the men’s team, but we have all seen the women’s game go from strength to strength and its something that we already gave a good set-up with, but its tough and is it sustainable without the club supporting them more than it current is able to.