The short length of contracts in the women’s game in Egland is a major concern. This is because at bigger clubs like Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester City, three-year deals for key players, often internationals, are becoming the norm but for the bottom half of the table, where budgets are decided on a piecemeal basis, one-year contracts are still given.
Women footballers in England have reported increased anxiety levels as they live their life from year to year. At the end of every season, they approach the last couple of months of their contract uncertain if it will be renewed.
Some clubs may have an option to extend the player’s deal for a longer period. At times, the player is left in limbo: their contract may have expired but the notification period in a standard WSL contract grants the club another week to decide if they want to keep the player or not. In the men’s game, clubs issue players advance notice, allowing them to plan ahead.
There is also concern regarding youngsters who can join first-team setups at the age of 16 but are left in an awkward period as they cannot sign a contract until they’re 18. “They have no money coming in, they just have their expenses covered. How, as a 16-year-old, are you supposed to afford to live in this current climate without relying on others?” questions one WSL player.
The treatment players receive feels very much like a lottery depending on the club’s infrastructure.
Look at the difference between Chelsea’s care for midfielder Melanie Leupolz during her pregnancy – specifically bringing in a pelvic floor specialist – and the experience of Emma Mukandi, who criticised the lack of support from her club, Reading. Mukandi said she faked injury to hide her pregnancy. Reading, for their part, said they would learn from that situation and pointed out they gave Mukandi eight-and-a-half months’ full pay, something they were not obliged to do.
“It is at the discretion of clubs, who directly employ the players, if they choose to go above and beyond the regulations set out in our policy,” said an FA spokesperson.
That’s exactly the problem. “There needs to be a blueprint,” says Bouchier. “The basic minimum standards of what that looks like need to be put in place.”
Fern Whelan will often conduct club visits and her findings are at times worlds apart. “I see one and think, ‘Amazing, you’ve got everything you could need to be a professional athlete’,” she says.
For example, Arsenal, Brighton, Chelsea and Manchester City share club resources and invest in elite infrastructure. But those standards are not consistent across the board. Liverpool have just announced their women’s team will move into the men’s former training ground at Melwood, which they left in 2020 following the construction of the AXA Training Centre, but it took some time.
Players in the top two tiers have cited being treated “like second-class citizens” by their clubs as “everything revolves around the schedules of the men’s teams”, according to the government review.
“We need to make sure that with the success of the Euros, we bring in quality infrastructure, access to facilities and elite staffing to players,” says Whelan. “They should be treated exactly the same so as not to feel like a bit-part of the club.”
When asked about this, Simmons says: “There is obviously a gap between top and bottom as there is in the men’s game. Tottenham Hotspur were an amateur club six years ago. It takes time to build an elite performance environment, investing significantly in the training facilities, building your player pathway, starting to build the women’s brand, drive attendances. We will see that gap close.”
The disparity between the top and bottom half of the WSL was most evident when Reading were relegated last season. The club could not commit financially to the women’s team and announced they would go part-time. There was a mass exodus of players – 13 released upon the expiry of their contract – and staff, including manager Kelly Chambers.
When asked about how the FA reconciles the success of the Euros and a club unable to maintain professional status, Simmons says: “If they had stayed inside the WSL, they would have to have been fully professional. It’s disappointing to see the announcement and I feel for Kelly Chambers, players and the staff. Reading Football Club overall is in a difficult period. That’s a decision they feel that they have to make at this time.”
The issue is the success of the WSL rests on how committed the men’s teams are to support their women’s team. Every club that has been relegated from the WSL over the past three years (Reading, Birmingham and Bristol) are all men’s Championship clubs or, in Reading’s case, now League One.
“Despite the fact it’s a fully professional league and one of the best leagues in the world it still has to pander to the men’s game in terms of finances and third-party stadiums,” says one source with knowledge of the situation who was speaking on condition of anonymity to protect relationships.
“Will it just be this cat-and-mouse of those teams falling in and out of the league?” asks Whelan. “I’ve heard stories two years ago of WSL coaches rummaging through skips that the men’s team have left cones in to try to get cones for their training session because they didn’t have the equipment to be able to put out. It’s making sure that things like that don’t happen again should these clubs come back up.”
The government review points out there are no mechanisms in place to protect the women’s team financially if the affiliated men’s team suffers a financial blow such as relegation.
“There are clubs in the Championships that are still so vulnerable to being on the edge, you could be a club one minute and the next minute you’re gone,” says Whelan.
“I’ve seen Championship clubs that are training at awful facilities, pitches that have barely any grass, you go into the changing rooms and there are men’s urinals, the showers are dirty, they don’t have women’s-fit kits. That’s what I mean by the term ‘professional’. Would we offer those same standards to a men’s Championship team or to a men’s Premier League team? No. Professional is a standard that we’re working in on a day-to-day basis.”
The government review notes “bin bags being used as curtains in changing rooms” at one WC club and at another, it was “so cold in their unheated facility that players needed to wear a winter coat indoors to do match analysis”.
It’s not just about finances or facilities either. In the Championship, there have been issues with inappropriate behaviour and how female players have been spoken to in the workplace. When those managers have been dismissed, however, the reasons have not been made public, which allows them to continue working in the game.
Bouchier is concerned the players’ voices are not being heard, especially with NewCo, a new entity established to enable the league’s transition from being fully integrated in the FA to a fully independent club-owned entity, akin to the Premier League. A Professional Game Working Group will devise a vision and business plan for how the game will look. It has consulted players as and when needed but the protagonists are not part of the group that will shape the future of the professional game.
In response to the points raised in this article, an FA spokesperson said: “The women’s professional game is progressing at an exciting pace, and we remain focused on working with the leagues and the clubs to ensure its growth and development is supported, both on and off the pitch. We work with the clubs across the Barclays Women’s Super League and the Barclays Women’s Championship to establish and maintain the mandatory requirements outlined in our club licences and competition rules. This includes ensuring that the clubs provide their players with appropriate medical, welfare and performance support, as well as having the required standard of facilities and infrastructure in place. We continue to work with the clubs across the top two tiers of the women’s game to support them in this important area.”
It is too soon to measure the long-lasting impact of the Euros. It is clear there has been a seismic shift in society’s perception of the elite women’s game from one year ago but there is a lot that has remained at a standstill within those past 12 months.
The women’s professional game is at a crossroads. It will be up to the NewCo and FA to decide where to prioritise investment and how it looks but as one WSL player says: “There is still so much that needs to get better before the Euros is considered a big success.”
- The Athletic report
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