England

The Football Association Women’s Super League, the highest level of competition in English Women’s soccer. Image reference: [a]

Published May 1st, 2015

Back to Women’s Professional Leagues in Notable Countries

FIFA Rankings of National Team: 

The English Women’s National Team is ranked #6 as of March 2015. Of the six FIFA Women’s World Cup tournaments prior to 2015, the English Women’s national soccer team has qualified for three of the FIFA Women’s World Cup tournaments. On all three occasions the team lost during the quarter final stages of the tournament, losing to Germany in 1995, the United States in 2007, and France in 2011. [1] For comparison, the English Men’s National Team is ranked #14 as of April 2015, have qualified for 14 FIFA World Cups of the 17 after their inaugural appearance at the 1950 FIFA World Cup, and won the World Cup in 1966. [2]

History of the League:

The history of women’s soccer in England has been interesting and has fluctuated significantly since its introduction over a century ago. One of the earliest European teams to form was the British Ladies’ Football Club, formed by activist Nettie Honeyball in 1894, the club’s first match was in March of 1895 and pulled in approximately 11,000 spectators. [3] While this shows some of the first inklings of interest in women’s soccer in England, it wasn’t until World War I that the women’s game really began to take off. During the war women would often play with men casually at the factories at which they worked and would also play games for charity events. At one of these factories; Dick, Kerr & Co., “kick arounds” were fairly common among factory workers, and, at the suggestion of someone, the women playing formed a team to play charity games . Although Women had generally been discouraged from playing soccer before the war, it was deemed acceptable as it was for charity and would boost morale. Between 1917 and 1921, Dick, Kerr’s Ladies F.C., played many games, some attracting up to 53,000 people and crowds for women’s games that often outpaced those for men’s games. [4] However in 1921, the Football Association, the governing body of football in England, banned all women’s teams from playing on grounds affiliated to the FA because football damaged women’s bodies. Some women’s teams were able to find other venues at which to play their games, however many teams disband and spectators dwindled and essentially ceased to exist for several of the following decades. The ban was reversed in 1969 when the UEFA forced the Football Association to lift its restriction on women’s soccer. In 1993, the Football Association took all women’s soccer under its control, and the sport has been growing ever since. [5]

Dick, Kerr Ladies F.C. in 1921. Image reference: [b]

The Football Association Women’s Super League, FA WSL for short, is the highest level of Women’s professional soccer in England and began in April 2011. It is the successor to the Football Association Women’s Premier League, which was, between the 1992/93 season and the formation of the FA WSL, the top tier of Women’s football in England. Between 2011 and 2013, the FA WPL was the second tier of soccer in England, but was replaced by the FA WSL2 in 2014. The FA WPL is now the third tier in women’s soccer, but continues to play the winter season rather than the summer season played by the FA WSL. Although The Football Association Women’s Premier League shares the Premier League brand with the Men’s Premier League it does not sit at the same tier of soccer as the Men’s Premier League. The best comparison between the men’s and women’s leagues would be between the Football Association Women’s Super League and the Men’s Premier League as they are both the highest level of football in England. [6]

Format/Rules:

The 2015 FA Women’s Super League runs for 28 weeks from March 25th to October 4th. The top two teams at the end of the season qualify for UEFA Women’s Champions League. At the end of the regular season. All teams from the WSL1 and the WSL2 play together in the FA WSL Cup in a group stage tournament where the top two teams of each group advance to the semi-finals. [7]

The Football Association has noted that they are looking to expand the WSL1 to nine teams for the 2016 season, thus they will promote two teams to the WSL1 from the WSL2 and  only relegate one team to the WSL2 from the WSL1. Furthermore, the Football Association is looking to bridge the gap between the Women’s Super League and the Women’s Premier League by allowing a team from the FA Women’s Premier League to earn promotion to the WSL2.

Here is a breakdown of the teams in the WSL and the WSL2 for the 2015 season. These teams play in their respective groups for the 2015 season until the FA WSL Cup during which they intermix. [8]

WSL:

WSL2:

Overall, the basic structure of WSL games is virtually identical to those of the Men’s Premier League games. Each game consists of two 45-minute halves, with potential stoppage time distributed by referees for “time wasted or lost through accident or other cause…”, and a half time of 15 minutes.

Women’s Professional Leagues vs. Men’s Professional Leagues:

Branding

At the top level of competition in English women’s professional soccer, the Women’s Super league, all of the women’s soccer teams are simply divisions of men’s soccer teams. Staples such as Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, and Arsenal all have women’s soccer teams that share branding with their men’s teams. This is in stark contrast to many other professional sports leagues such as the National Women’s Soccer League in the United States in which none of the teams share branding with their men’s MLS counterparts.

The women’s soccer clubs in the FA Women’s Super League share branding with several of the Premier League Men’s teams. Image reference: [c]

Attendance

Attendance data from the Football Association via the website “Football Lineups” were taken for the FA WSL and the FA Premier League (Men’s) for the 2014 season and the 2013/2014 season respectively. These data are presented below for the women:

WSL-Attendance

FA WSL attendance data from the 2014 season. Table courtesy of Football Lineups. [9]

and the men:

FA Men's Premier League attendance data from the 2013/2014 season.

FA Men’s Premier League attendance data from the 2013/2014 season. Table courtesy of Football Lineups. [10]

The disparity in attendance shown through these tables shows that women’s soccer is still quite far from regaining the momentum that it once had in England. Even the most popular team in the FA WSL, Manchester City Ladies has attendance figures that are a far cry from those that the most popular FA Men’s Premier League teams have. With an average attendance figure of 949 per game, Manchester City Ladies is the most popular women’s club. [9] However this is dwarfed by the number from the most popular men’s club, Manchester United which has an averaged attendance figure of 75,206 people per game, a figure 79 times larger than that of Manchester City Ladies. [10] Furthermore the figures from Manchester City Ladies are sill more than 21 times less than the least popular Men’s Premier League team (Swansea City).

The attendance numbers for even the most popular team in the premier league are a far cry from some of the attendance figures noted for some women’s soccer teams in the early 1900s. For example in 1921 Dick, Kerr’s Ladies F.C. (an early women’s soccer club in England) was noted to have pulled in crowds of between 4,000 and 53,000. The most attended Dick, Kerr’s Ladies F.C. game pulled in over 53,000 people a crowd over 33 times that of the most attended Manchester City Ladies game in 2014. Even more shocking, this figure doesn’t even adjust for factors such as the growth of popularity of soccer and increased population that has occurred over the last hundred years, which, when taken into account, may lead one to extrapolate a much higher attendance differential between these two matches.

Although attendance numbers have been weak, year after year they are growing at a quick pace. From the 2013 season to the 2014 season, there was a 30% increase in average attendance, and from 2014 to 2015 we can already (data was taken April 2015) observe attendance that’s over a 30% increase from the 2014 season. There is a lot of room for Women’s soccer in England as soccer is an extremely popular sport and the Women’s League can offer a great change in pace for many people, hopefully women’s soccer will continue to grow at a fast pace.

Compensation

Before delving into the details of compensation, its important to note that the majority of players in the FA WSL do not make what would be considered to be a living wage. While reliable data about salaries in the FA WSL is not readily available, there is enough data to make reasonable assumptions about salaries. To do this we can take a look at some of the regulations that the FA WSL has put in place. First the FA has set a 20,000 pound salary cap with each club able to pay up to four players more than that amount. Upon further examination we can see that there is an even more restrictive “real” salary cap which is set by the limit of 40% of the club turnover that can be spent on player salaries. Thus to pay a 16-woman team an average of 20,000 pounds a piece would require an annual turnover of 800,000 pounds, a lot of money even for the most popular of clubs. (Football and the FA Women’s Super League: Structure, Governance and Impact) After extrapolating on this, its not hard to come to the conclusion that may of the players in the FA Women’s Super League earn around 10,000 pounds per year, and as a result, are forced to work second jobs to make ends meet.

Arsenal Ladies F.C. after winning the 2007 UEFA Women’s Cup, the equivalent of winning the (men’s) Champions League. Image reference: [d]

The disparity between the average salaries of women in the FA WSL and men in the FA Premier League is staggering. However there are other major forms of compensation that affect female soccer players. One of biggest forms of compensation that directly affects players is the fact that there are far fewer and far less lucrative sponsorship opportunities. This is, of course, largely due in part to the difference in popularity between the FA WSL and the FA Premier League. Aside from sponsorship, the disparity in prize money between men’s and women’s professional soccer is extremely significant. For example, a men’s team earns more than $13 million to win the Champion’s League, whereas a women’s team only gets $322,000 for winning the equivalent competition. [11]

Relationship to National Team:

The England Women’s National team is consistently one of the best national women’s soccer teams in the world. This continued success is due largely in part to the high level of play at which the English professional clubs play at. Traditionally the success and power of national soccer clubs has been a strong predictor of the national team’s power serving as training grounds for the country’s best players.

The 2015 England Women’s National Squad (Starters). Image reference: [e]

To begin examining the English Women’s National Team we can delve into where the majority of the players play professionally. Below is a breakdown of all of the English Women’s National Team players and which professional clubs (and leagues) they play at. Note that this list includes all members of the team including backup players. [12]

England Women’s Senior Squad (as of April 2015)

Goalkeepers

Defenders

Midfielders

Forwards

The English National Women’s Senior Squad is a particularly notable example of the importance of a strong professional league.  All but two of the players on the national squad play, or 92%, of the squad plays professionally within the realm of English professional soccer rather than leaving the country to play in another country’s league. The two players who do not play professionally in England are Jodie Taylor, a Forward who plays for the Portland Thorns (a team in the United States) and Anita Asante who plays for FC Rosengard (a Swedish professional soccer club).

The large proportion of players from within England’s professional league indicates the strength of professional soccer in the country. This strength gives England a great advantage on the national level. First it bolsters the importance and prominence of soccer within the country, spurring more people to play and develop soccer skills which in turn creates more high level English players. Second it attracts people from all over to come into the country to play soccer, this often draws in excellent players such as Eniola Aluko from other countries to play professionally, and sometimes these players decide to play for England, given that they have lived in the country for a sufficient amount of time.

Eniola Aluko, a Chelsea player chooses to play for the England National Team despite being born in Nigeria. Image reference: [f]

Current Events:

BBC Coverage

As women’s soccer in England strives to regain the widespread popularity that it once had, the FA Women’s Super League has looked to BBC for coverage. Fortunately, BBC announced in March 2015 that it will continue to extensively cover the Women’s Super League extensively on BBC Two and BBC Radio 5, as well as on their website. To this note the FA Director of National Game and Women’s Football, Kelly Simmons, said:

“We are delighted that our partnership with the BBC continues to go from strength to strength.

“Their commitment to showcase top level women’s football across all their platforms is fantastic for the game. Our fans, along with newcomers to the game, will continue to enjoy unprecedented levels of women’s football coverage in what is an extremely exciting year.

“We have got a plan with our partners to develop high quality professional women’s football in England and our partnership with the BBC remains instrumental in helping us deliver on our ambition.”

Through their partnership with the BBC the FA WSL hopes to continue to bolster their popularity and showcase women’s soccer in England.[13]

Image Reference: [g]

Eniola Aluko

One of the best players in the FA WSL has recently made an even bigger splash this year helping Chelsea maintain a perfect start to the FA WSL this season. Aluko, the England international and PFA player of the year nominee has been making headlines this season with her world class level of play. She has consistently been a strong force for Chelsea and has supported them in tough times, such as their game on 04/19/2015 where she scored the Chelsea’s goal vs Liverpool this weekend to continue their 100% season. [14]

References:

[1] “The FIFA Women’s World Ranking – FIFA.com.” FIFA.com. FIFA, 27 Mar. 2015. Web. 13 Apr. 2015.

[2] “The FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking – Ranking Table – FIFA.com.” FIFA.com. FIFA, 09 Apr. 2015. Web. 13 Apr. 2015.

[3] “British Ladies’ Football Club.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 14 Apr. 2015.

[4] “Dick, Kerr’s Ladies F.C.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 14 Apr. 2015.

[5] “Women’s Football in England.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 14 Apr. 2015.

[6] “FA WSL.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 15 Apr. 2015.

[7] Dunn, Carrie. Football and the Fa Women’s Super League: Structure, Governance and Impact. S.l.: Palgrave Pivot, 2014. Print.

[8] “List of Women’s Association Football Clubs in England.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 14 Apr. 2015.

[9] “FA WSL 2013 Home Average Attendance.” Football-Lineups. Football-Lineups, n.d. Web. 17 Apr. 2015.

[10] “FA Premier League 2014/2015 Home Average Attendance.” Football-Lineups. Football-Lineups, n.d. Web. 17 Apr. 2015.

[11] Chibber, Kabir. “Women Soccer Players Earn Only 3% of the Prize Money of Their Male Counterparts.” Quartz. Quartz, 28 Oct. 2015. Web. 20 Apr. 2015.

[12] “Women’s Senior Squad – England | The FA.” Women’s Senior Squad – England | The FA. The Football Association, 09 Apr. 2015. Web. 17 Apr. 2015.

[13] “BBC Continue to Support The FA Women’s Super League.” Women’s Football. The Football Association, 25 Mar. 2015. Web. 19 Apr. 2015.

[14] “Chelsea Stay Perfect to Top FA WSL 1 after Beating Liverpool.” Sky Sports. Sky Sports, 19 Apr. 2015. Web. 19 Apr. 2015.

Image References:

[a] FA WSL. Digital image. Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 27 Apr. 2015.

[b] Dick, Kerr Ladies F.C. Digital image. Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 27 Apr. 2015.

[c] FA WSL. Digital image. Women’s Soccer United. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Apr. 2015.

[d] Arsenal Ladies 2007 Champions. Digital image. UEFA. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Apr. 2015.

[e] 2015 England Women’s National Squad. Digital image. Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 27 Apr. 2015.

[f] Eniola Aluko. Digital image. Football Live. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Apr. 2015.

[g] BBC Two. Digital image. Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 27 Apr. 2015.

One thought on “England

  1. Laurent Dubois

    The details here are really nicely done, but I have a few suggestions for the references: right now it’s not clear what reference you draw on where. Could you perhaps incorporate the numbers for the references into the text just to indicate where precisely you are getting the information for particular portions of the piece?

    Also, there are no credits for your images. You need to indicate where you got the image, and you aren’t sure it whether it is licensed for re-use that incorporate it as a smaller sized image (thumbnail and make it so that when you click on the image it links to the original page where the image comes from). Then place a caption under the image also indicating where it comes from. In both cases, the goal is the same: to make sure you properly credit all the material you are using here for the page.

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *