Quick mention of my new logo (that I’m OBSESSED with) courtesy of my dear and brilliant friend Lizzie Watts, who is also one of the two geniuses behind the Cathkin Blazes designs (which you can shop here) <33
What came first, the chicken or the egg? If you were to summarise the age old problem of women’s football broadcasting, it would probably sound something like this …
There is not a lot of women’s sports in the media (2018 statistics from UNESCO reported that women’s sport only represents 4% of sports media content, and that only 12% of sports news is presented by women) and there are people who want to change that. Let’s use football as an example. There is a saying that goes “if you can’t see it you can’t be it” that goes into a two-pronged interpretation: firstly, it’s difficult to have role models and something to aim for if you can’t see them. Secondly, this goes for future fans as well. Difficult to become a fan of something that you can’t see and don’t know exists. This puts the onus on the broadcasters and federations (national and international), who are the ones with power, to work together to put more money into the game, at better hours and in better stadiums, with good media coverage before and after. Make sure people have access to it and knowledge about it.
The opposition make the point that they cannot put more women’s football on the television, or accommodate the needs, because it doesn’t bring in enough money and that it’s on the women to enhance the product and bring in the fans (and, subsequently, the money).
The proponents then say that that’s because the fans are not aware of the product - sports fans are like cows who have to be led to the water and told to drink it!! How are people supposed to tune in or come to the games if they don’t even know that they are happening? But once you get it in front of their eyes, they will engage with it and like it. Furthermore, in order to enhance the product, adequate resources and investments need to be made.
Then the opposition, in a way that reeks of un-earned confidence, will say that the quality of the women’s game is not the same as the men’s game, or that a woman’s voice is more annoying to listen than a man’s voice on a broadcast: that it probably is an inherent thing and really they should stick to doing their thing. It’s not always explicitly said, but implied.
The proponents will argue that without money being invested in the game and women being given the proper resources and environment/chances to thrive, how are they going to improve? They might even use the example of the US women’s national team - solid fanbase, record-breaking levels of success, yet having to fight FOR YEARS to get payment that is equal to the men from their federation, and more money from FIFA.
Depending on who they’re talking to here, a few things might happen. The opposition struggles to concede any points here, because when they do they will quickly see how it all unravels so fast. Most likely they will dig their heels into the ground and circle: repeat that no one cares, bring up money, and physiological differences.
The proponents will likely feel like throwing eggs at them.
‘The future of football is female’
- FIFA general secretary (later president) Joseph Blatter, 1995
This is where we’re currently at. Stuck in a rut, just going round and round in a circle. Joseph (Sepp) Blatter said: ‘the future of football is female’ after the women’s World Cup in 1995. He went on to reign at FIFA for another 20 years after that statement, 17 of those as its president. Yet he never took any action that in any way shape or form showed that he believed that statement. He had the audacity to dub himself ‘the godfather of the organisation of women’s football’, the same man who had suggested that women should wear tighter shorts to increase the attractiveness of the game. Current president, Gianni Infantino, is no better.
One place where he, and his predecessor, could’ve looked to implement change would be in their own house, yet there are few women in decision-making roles at FIFA. There’s Fatma Samoura, who is the secretary general of FIFA, but she is stepping down at the end of the year, and there are currently women in five out of 37 positions in the FIFA council. Then there’s the appointment of Adriana Lima. The supermodel is the official fan ambassador for this year’s World Cup, something which has caused a lot of controversy considering that she is not very connected with the football world in the first place. She’s also got a questionable history of body image promotion, and has not previously been standing behind women’s right to choose what to do with their body.
Another thing that could be expected of an organisation with leaders who are self-proclaimed advocate of women’s football is an assurance that the game is accessible, especially when it comes to the biggest tournament in football. Deals for broadcasters in some of the biggest markets in Europe - the UK, Spain, Italy, France, and Germany - came into place a mere 36 days before the tournament is set to start, and after much drama. Before, the women’s tournaments would come as an add-on when they were selling the rights for the men’s tournaments, and this is the first time they are on their own. FIFA president Gianni Infantino described the low-balled offers as “disappointing” and a “slap in the face” of the players and “all women worldwide”. He said that broadcasters in Europe had offered FIFA $1m-$10m (£800,000-£8m) for the rights, compared with $100m-$200m for the men's World Cup.
"Should the offers continue not to be fair, we will be forced not to broadcast the Fifa Women's World Cup into the 'big five' European countries," Infantino threatened at a World Trade Organization meeting in Geneva.
Yikes. Hearing the words ‘fair’ and ‘women’ in the same breath from this guy, I wonder what he would then call the prize money numbers that FIFA have been offering the women for the previous eight editions of the World Cup …
Japan does still not have a broadcaster, which has disappointingly not been widely reported on either. We’re talking about a big footballing country - the only Asian nation to have won the World Cup, in 2011, and they were in the final again in 2015 - but without the games being shown on TV it’s going to be hard to engage people. The games will still be available on the FIFA plus app, but it’s less than convenient. That, and the lack of Japanese commentary, sees the Nadeshiko team stand to lose a lot of viewers, which would be unfortunate considering that they’re in a good time zone to follow the games as well. Japan’s manager Futoshi Ikeda came out and remarked how a potential TV blackout is going to hurt the long-term development of the game in Japan.
When we talk about these things it often comes back round to money. The one area you’d expect FIFA to get right, if nothing else so because that’s the only thing that drives them. Efforts already had to be made to shut down a burgeoning sponsorship by Saudi Arabia tourism, Visit Saudi, driving individual players like Alex Morgan, and federations like Australia and New Zealand, to speak out against it. The country has a bad track record of violating women’s rights, and as late as 2018 they banned girls from participating in sports in school. They also violate the rights of the LGBT community. Questions that are at the heart of the women’s football community, constantly campaigned for and spoken up about, which they would understand if, you know … they cared.
We still don’t know where the decision is going to fall in terms of the use of rainbow captains armbands. Players have already come out and said that they're willing to take a yellow card for wearing the armband, and unlike at the men’s tournament, I believe that these players are a bit more serious about it, and willing to take the consequences. Different kinds of solutions to avoid sending offs have already been discussed as well, like switching the armband around - what are they going to do, send off a whole team?
It’s nothing that women’s football is not used to. Former Swedish national team legend Nilla Fischer revealed in her new book that FIFA, at the women’s World Cup in 2011, forced all the players to show their genitalia to a team doctor to prove that they were female. At the 2015 World Cup FIFA the team doctors had a meeting to discuss the procedure around treating a cardiac arrest happening on the pitch. The protocol was that the doctors would run in, gather all the players up to surround the player who was down to make sure that no one could see in and then, but only then, could the doctor start treating the person dying on the pitch. The reason for this was that they didn’t want to expose the sports bra, or -god forbid - a boob! Because obviously, when choosing between treating a cardiac arrest, where every second matters for the survival of the person, and accidentally exposing a bit of boob, some things matter more than others and it leaves you wondering, for who?
We’re stuck in a patriarchal rut, and when we keep getting slammed with these outrageous headlines, keep having these experiences, it can feel hopeless. What makes me really furious is that the chicken and the egg discussion is such a distraction and while we’re being gaslit to believe that it’s the ‘underachievements’ of women’s football and its community that is keeping us here, FIFA get away with appearing like fumbling clowns. Falling over themselves as they’re trying to be seen as supportive and subsequently dismissed as incapable. This suits them perfectly. They are not dumb: they’re just playing incapable on purpose. Because then they cannot *really* be held responsible, right?
The illusion of progress is that there’s real work being done by these men, at all. All the evidence is pointing towards them being more preoccupied with being seen as doing the work than actually affecting any change. They’re the biggest obstacle to any real progress being made in the women’s game. FIFA perpetually shit the bed, excuse the expression, and they get away with it because the rest of the world is ultimately misogynistic too.
In reality, we are only here because of the accomplishments of the people who came before us, the women who came before us. Marta reminded us of this as she painted bright red lipstick on her lips before the games at the 2019 World Cup, to remind herself of the blood she and her teammates are ready to leave on the pitch. Brazil ended up losing against France in the round of 16 and Marta was crying in the post-match interview as she’s saying
“there’s not going to be a Formiga forever, there’s not going to be a Marta forever, there’s not going to be a Cristiane. Women’s football depends on you to survive. Think about it, value it more...”
Marta has been part of women’s football history during such formative years for the game, which means that she’s seen through a lot of progress as well as a lot of bullshit. Yet she’s not standing in front of the camera addressing any men. In this interview, she does not pretend that this concerns the men in power (because they don’t care).
She’s talking about our game. She’s calling on us. She’s asking us to make sure that the legacy lives on and that we act on the momentum to continue taking the game forward. That’s in the actions we take now: strapping on that rainbow captain’s armband, supporting our teams, supporting the star players boycotting the biggest tournament in football to make a point, showing up for each other. We might be stuck in a rut at the highest levels of decision-making of football, and it’s our actions on the ground that define us. It’s what we do, not what we say we’ll do, that takes us closer towards a future in which the players are financially backed (and don’t have to take time off work to play World Cup qualifiers, like last year) and clubs can offer adequate resources and create an environment in which the players can develop. A future in which fans have access to the games, as well as interesting and informative content about it.
It can feel daunting to know where to start. I will remind myself: to no longer entertain the ‘supply and demand’ conversation because it’s a distraction, to keep lifting up and engage with the beautiful parts of our women’s football community,
and to use red lipstick a bit more often.