by James Nalton

WOMEN’S football received a huge boost this week after a TV deal was struck which will see Women’s Super League (WSL) games shown live across Sky Sports and the BBC from next season.

As is always the case when it comes to football’s relationship with TV, much of the focus was on the money and how useful the three-year deal worth £8 million per season will be for the development of the women’s game.

But the most important part of this deal is the BBC’s involvement and the fact that games will be shown on BBC1 and BBC2, rather than hiding games behind the red button as has often been the case previously. 

As a result, at least one game per round will be easily accessible on free-to-air TV, which in itself is a big deal.

It will bring around £8m per year into the women’s game, for three years, with 75 per cent of that going to the top-tier clubs in the WSL and the remaining 25 per cent being split among those in the second tier.

Sky has billed itself as the home of the WSL for the next three seasons due to the number of games it is showing, which amounts to around two per round and a potential total of 44 across the season.

The BBC will only show one game per round but the viewing figures will likely be much higher for a single game on terrestrial television than it would be for the two on Sky.

One of the reasons the 2019 World Cup felt like a significant moment in the history of women’s football was the coverage of the games, particularly those involving England, on free-to-air TV. 

It got people talking about the games and gave the players, coaches and those who’ve covered the game for some time a new, bigger audience and a louder voice. This new TV deal could do the same on a more regular basis.

Football is one of this country’s national sports but aside from international tournaments and the occasional FA Cup game, is notably absent on the TV channels of the national broadcaster on a weekly basis.

Women’s football, along with lower league men’s football, has always offered a chance to rectify this as rights should be easier to acquire and, in turn, these leagues benefit hugely from any extra income and coverage. This WSL deal sees this idea finally put into action.

When looking at the significance of such landmark developments in the women’s game, it’s important to put them in the context of the barriers it has faced throughout the last 100 years.

The game has long been played in the shadow of an FA ban on women’s football which lasted 50 years from 1921 to 1971.

It has been recovering from this ever since, but it now feels like bigger steps than ever are being made towards returning it to the levels it reached in the early 20th century when tens of thousands of spectators would regularly attend games.

The FA ban has echoes of the Vichy government’s ban on the sport of rugby league in France in the early 1940s. Vichy France were Nazi allies who saw rugby league as a socialist sport and as a result transferred all the funds, players and facilities to rugby union.

Similarly, the conservative, patriarchal English FA saw the women’s game as a threat. It brazenly stated in 1921 that the game was “unsuitable for females.” The game’s natural development was therefore hindered by an obstacle put in place by its own governing body.

Even though the ban on rugby league in France was lifted by the mid-’40s, it wasn’t permitted to use the word “rugby” in the name of the sport until 1991. It was instead referred to as Jeu a Treize (Game of 13). 

Rugby league in France was effectively razed to the ground, marginalised and, like women’s football in England, has yet to fully recover.

This context can never be emphasised enough when looking at the development of women’s football, and this is why these recent steps are so important.

The TV deal doesn’t match the men’s equivalent in terms of the money involved, but it means the WSL matches broadcast each week on free-to-air TV are now more easily accessible than the men’s equivalent in the Premier League which are all behind a paywall.

The FA Player will continue to run matches that haven’t been picked by Sky or the BBC. The broadcasting of games via this app has helped draw global interest in the WSL from around the world, especially from the United States, and the continuation of this is another positive.

But for the casual viewer and potential supporters of women’s football who may not be inclined to register on an app, find a stream online, or use the red button, there is no substitute for the ease of access offered by free-to-air TV.

The deal should also come with a warning though. As men’s football should now be all too aware, becoming reliant on TV money can be a dangerous game. It’s important to make sure women’s football is funded rather than bought.

The money needs to turn into an investment in facilities, fair pay and working conditions for players at all clubs. 

There can be a fine line between this and the game being acquired by the TV companies to do with as they please, often at the expense of supporters. 

TV money can also create an even greater gulf between the top clubs and those further down the leagues if it’s not distributed properly throughout the game.

While the 2019 World Cup had an instant impact on the women’s game, catapulting it into the popular sporting discourse for a few weeks, the next three WSL seasons could have a similar impact over a longer period of time.

Lessons can be learned from the men’s game when it comes to football’s relationship with TV, but with the insistence that a certain number of games are shown on BBC1, there are encouraging signs that women’s football will dictate its own terms to TV, rather than vice-versa.