On Friday The Football Association announced that following the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, all fixtures across English football due to take place between September 9 and 11 would be postponed.
In keeping with action taken by the Premier League and the Football League, as a mark of respect, The FA decided to postpone fixtures in all its competitions, including the Barclays Women's Super League.
Her Majesty passed peacefully late on Thursday afternoon at Balmoral Castle, Scotland. While attitudes and feelings towards the Royal Family and the concept of monarchy vary greatly across the United Kingdom and the rest of the world, the mass outpouring of grief following her death has made it abundantly clear how much the Queen meant to many millions of people.
READ MORE: Women's Super League postpones opening weekend fixtures following the death of Queen Elizabeth II
However, in pausing the launch of the new Women's Super League season, The FA are directly damaging and undermining a cause the Queen herself was a supporter of.
Before looking at the impact the postponement of this weekend's fixtures will have on Women's football, it is important to question why The FA decided to take the action it has.
The FA's decision came hours after the UK Government issued guidance that while recommending the cancellation of sporting events in the days following the Queen's passing, made clear that the final decision would be left to organizing bodies. The official statement said: "There is no obligation to cancel of postpone events and sporting fixtures." The guidance even offered ways that events could be held in a respectful manner, such as holding a minute's silence before events or participants wearing black armbands.
Shortly afterward the governing organisations of sports including rugby league, golf and cricket all confirmed that events and fixtures scheduled for this weekend will go ahead as planned; football's rulers chose a different path.
While stakeholders across the football spectrum will be affected - media freelancers who will go unpaid, fans who have paid for travel and accommodation, non-league clubs who will miss out on much-needed revenue and supporters who desperately need the tonic of football during the worst cost of living crisis in generations - the future of women's football in this country could suffer the biggest blow.
Interest in the women's game is at an all-time high following the Lionesses' Euro 2022 triumph. Sarina Wiegman and her players inspired a nation with their achievement, but more importantly, they showed a generation of girls that despite what some may tell them, they can pursue careers in football or any other traditionally male-dominated industry for that matter.
The public - and to its credit The FA - responded, propelling the visibility and status of women's football through the roof over the past two months.
Participation in grassroots girl's football skyrocketed in the weeks after Leah Williamson lifted the Euros trophy at a sell-out Wembley Stadium; WSL clubs reported huge increases in ticket and season ticket sales for the new season; media outlets made pledges to boost their coverage, recognising the need to put women's football on a level plane with men's.
This weekend the 2022/23 WSL season was to kick-off with three fixtures hosted at men's Premier League and Championship stadiums, something unimaginable just a few years ago but that reflects the growing popularity of the sport.
Spurs were to host Manchester United at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in Saturday's curtain-raiser, Chelsea were to face West Ham at Stamford Bridge and Reading were to take on Liverpool at the 24,000-capacity Select Car Leasing Stadium.
Given the postponement of men's football this weekend and the packed fixture schedules going forward, it will be difficult to reschedule those matches at the vast arenas female players deserve to play in.
Manchester City vs Arsenal - the sides that finished third and second respectively in the WSL last season - was shaping up to be the perfect advert for the league. Media events - such as the WSL launch event at the City Football Academy in Manchester - and press conferences due to take place on Friday were cancelled, vaporizing important media coverage in an instant.
Of course, people have every right to mourn a public figure who has been a constant throughout the lives of most people in the UK. But is forced mourning the right way to 'show respect'? Is pulling the plug on what should have been the start of the biggest, most important domestic season in the history of women's football the right thing to do?
In her message of congratulation sent to the England Women's Football Team after July's Wembley final, Her Majesty wrote: "You have all set an example that will be an inspiration for girls and women today, and for future generations."
The FA, through its desire to make a gesture, has diluted that very cause.
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