Less than 24 hours after England had won Women’s Euro 2022 last summer, Baroness Sue Campbell was on the team bus headed for the Trafalgar Square victory parade when she felt a tap on her shoulder.
“We’d been at a party until whenever, and I’d had about an hour’s sleep”, Campbell, director of women’s football at the FA, tells Standard Sport.
“It was Leah [Williamson] and Lotte [Wubben-Moy], and they said to me: ‘Sue, we want to talk to you. We don’t want winning the Euros to be the only legacy we leave.’”
It was a moment that stuck with Campbell, and led to the Lionesses sending a letter to the Government insisting schools nationwide give girls and boys equal access to football. Rishi Sunak announced in March that everything they had asked for would be enacted.
It marked a significant milestone in a year of exponential growth for women’s football in England.
Campbell - previously chair of UK Sport, responsible for Team GB’s Olympic campaigns in Athens, Beijing, London and Rio - has led from the front throughout those transformative 12 months.
“I’m one of that generation that were denied the opportunity to play the game,” admits the 74-year-old. “Part of my passion comes from knowing in different circumstances I might have been able to achieve my dreams.
“We knew that England winning the Euros would turbo-charge our strategy. And now we have a really exciting World Cup ahead.”
The Wembley final last summer when England beat Germany was attended by 87,192 people. It was the biggest crowd for any women’s or men’s European Championships match in history, and the records have continued to tumble.
The Women’s Super League average attendance in 2021-22 was 1,931. Last season it was 5,222. All bar one of the 12 WSL teams broke a club or stadium attendance record last season, and the 77,390 turnout at the FA Cup Final was a new world record for a women’s domestic club match.
“Full credit to Arsenal, who got 47,000 people in for the game against Tottenham; Newcastle are in Tier 3 and got 23,000. It’s been a landmark year.
“One of our big challenges is facilities. We’re starting to outlive the small stadia but not quite at a place of always filling big stadia.
“Only 20 per cent of the fans coming in to watch the women’s game watch the men’s game. That’s 80 percent new people, all coming in with new expectations. There are a lot more opportunities for commercial partners to work with us to profile the women’s game.”
“The BBC did a magnificent job at the Euros, and we’re going for a new [WSL] broadcast deal early next year”, says Campbell. “We anticipate a really competitive deal with lots of interested parties. Sky Sports saw 495,000 viewers tune in for Liverpool vs Everton in September.”
Last week saw the publication of the 126-page independent review of women’s football. Commissioned by the government in September 2022, it was led by former Lioness Karen Carney, who called the women’s game a “start-up business” and insisted it could be a billion-dollar industry in the next decade.
The FA have been working with the chief executives of most WSL and Championship clubs as they plot the way to the two leagues separating from the FA to become a single independent brand in August 2024.
“Our responsibility now is to make sure there is a clear signposted route for girls who want to play for England.
“We’re doing a lot to make it a sport that everyone who wants to can reach. In terms of diversity, we’ve done work with refugees, [the charity] Football Beyond Borders, and other groups to make sure women’s football is for all.”
As many as 2.4million more girls and women are playing football at some level in England than this time last year, while from June to December 2022, there was a 15 per cent increase in the number of women’s youth teams.
“If we were in a race, I’d say we’ve made an incredibly good start, are heading down the home straight, but we’re nowhere near the tape yet”, says Campbell.
“I’m really conscious of all the work still to do - more facilities, more women volunteers, more women coaching, more women referees, more talent, professionalising the top of the game.
“We still live in a society where women and girls are constrained by that ‘well, women don’t do that’ expression. ‘Well, why not?’ is my answer.”
Campbell is more optimistic than ever.
“I heard someone saying the other day: ‘How many years will it be before women’s football is bigger than men’s?’ It’s evolving at such a rate that that’s a real question now. It’s not just a joke. There’s still so much to do, but that’s what’s so exciting.”
