Women’s football coverage on the up but still work to do

Since the Women’s World Cup last year in France, coverage of Women’s football has risen significantly, mainly through television coverage with BBC and BT having the rights to broadcast the international fixtures and the Women’s Super League (WSL).

However, when comparing the coverage of women’s football in the United States of America to the United Kingdom, it becomes very apparent that the UK aren’t broadcasting anywhere near as much as women’s football as the US.

Former Chelsea Women academy midfielder and University of Pacific California player Beth Burgess was instantly able to notice the difference in coverage between the two countries, Burgess said: “Every USA women’s game would be advertised during the commercial breaks and was aware of when it was taking place.

“Not only that, all the games are broadcasted on one main sports channel which everyone can access, unlike in the UK where you’d have to pay extra for the channel to be able to watch the coverage of some of the women’s games.”

The Women’s Super League has helped with the improvement of coverage in the United Kingdom as now on BBC after the men’s Match of The Day on a Sunday they also do the women’s version.

Burgess thinks this kind of show is great for women’s sports in general. “Five/ten years ago the only bit of women’s football coverage you’d get on the television would be the FA Cup final.

“To now have an individual Match of The Day for the women’s game, being broadcasted consistently is massive. It’s a step in the right direction,”

Beth Burgess

Women’s football coverage in the UK is still something which cannot be compared to the coverage men’s football gets. For a few seasons now, men’s football in the UK has been broadcasted almost every day of the week, introducing coverage such as ‘Friday night football’ and ‘Monday night football’.

FA Chief Executive Martin Glenn does have plans to improve the coverage of the women’s game in the UK, he said: “We want to get the WSL more exposure, so by putting it on terrestrial TV and having the games played in men’s stadiums, we should begin to see improvements.”

In America, women’s football gets an equal amount of coverage as the men’s game. Burgess said “When living in the USA, the coverage of women’s football was on the same scale as the coverage of the Premier League in the UK.

“This may be because of how successful the national team is unlike the men’s national team and league in the USA.”

The rise of coverage in the UK showing women’s football is a process which has been slow but gradual in the last few years.

Although there is still a lot of work to be done in improving the amount of coverage being shown in the UK, year by year more women’s football is being broadcasted and new competitions like the WSL has helped increase the coverage significantly.

 It looks like the only way is up from here for women’s football coverage.