It was with some trepidation I opened the 128-page report from the Review of Women’s Football chaired by the former England international Karen Carney. How would she and her team respond to the many and varied challenges facing the women’s game at what is a critical juncture?
The answer in a nutshell: comprehensively and sharply. It is just over a year since Carney was unveiled as the review chair and the report comes before one of the most critical years in the development of the professional women’s game in England. In that sense the timing is perfect.
The Football Association set up a Women’s Professional Game working group in February as part of the process of moving the Women’s Super League and Women’s Championship towards independence. The working group was established to discuss what the women’s professional game should look like under the NewCo (new company) that will run them, likely to be launched in 2024.
Carney’s review makes a number of strong recommendations to the FA, the NewCo, the government and to clubs aiming to ensure the game’s short-term and long-term health and growth. Minimum operating standards (tackling everything from the dearth of mental and physical health provision to a need for elite training facilities), a salary floor from the 2025-26 season in the WSL, opposition to closed leagues, a dedicated broadcast slot, full union representation, enhanced parental rights, a need to address the lack of diversity in the game and a demand for the government to fulfil its commitment to equal access to school sports for girls. Carney’s review pulls few punches and recommends significant and welcome improvements across the board.
One of the cornerstones of the review is financial sustainability. It makes it clear “this may initially mean a slower growth trajectory than that in the men’s game”. That is a bold step, one the custodian of the game, the FA, has seemed to ignore, unwilling to sacrifice the pace of growth and change in order to ensure the financial foundations are solid.
However, a big question remains over the financial implications of the review’s proposals. Where will the money come from to ensure improvements such as the WSL salary floor and urgently needed minimum standards, while the league and clubs try to become more financially sustainable?
One answer in the review is “in order to provide the necessary infrastructure and product, clubs, the FA and NewCo must unlock additional investment and funding streams”. What does this mean though? There is the option of increased revenue from ticket sales, sponsorship, FA Cup prize money and through the sale of broadcast rights but the review also nods to “a route to accelerating investment in the elite game via external investors, owners or – in the case of many tier 1 and 2 women’s clubs – affiliated club funding”.
The risks attached to external investors and owners are tackled to an extent in a recommendation for learnings to be taken from the enhanced owners’ and directors’ tests expected from an independent regulator (while the review argues that at this stage an independent regulator of the women’s game would not be beneficial).
“The need for financial rigour around the custodians of a sporting asset are vital to the financial sustainability of any sporting entity,” it says.
This is a really important area though, that perhaps requires attention. Discussions about the ownership of the leagues as well as the club ownership, and where investment comes from, may prompt moral as well as financial questions.
The FA director of women’s football, Sue Campbell, has denied previous reports that private equity firms were interested in investing in the leagues. However, there is no doubt that as the profitability and potential of the game increasingly attracts attention, more interest will come, and potentially not just from private finance.
The Saudi takeover of Newcastle has already prompted questions for the women’s game as well as the men’s. Heavy investment led to the announcement that Newcastle’s women’s team will become a full-time professional side in the third tier. They attracted 24,000 fans to St James’ Park in April. This is all admirable, but at what cost? While the Saudi-owned club invests in the women’s team in England and celebrates its successes, the World Economic Forum’s global gender gap report 2022 ranked Saudi Arabia as 127th out of 153 countries.
There is a real risk the gloss of what is being done with the women’s team masks the extreme level of sportswashing taking place.
Carney sidesteps the issue regarding the need for a strategic partner for developing the talent pathway and whether they would consider accepting money from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund to do that. She said the decision would be the NewCo’s and that the review is to make recommendations to stakeholders in the women’s game.
That is true, but it also highlights the key problem with the review. While it is excellent in its recommendations, there is no onus on the clubs, FA, NewCo or government to enact any of them. “You’d get a very angry Karen Carney,” she said when asked what happens if nothing comes of it. “I can’t force people but what I would say is there is an urgency, and it can’t be ignored. The more people have conversations about it the more people will respond to it.”
That is why no fan of women’s football should ignore this review, but should instead arm themselves with it, and use it to hold the old and new custodians of the game accountable.
