‘We would love to have great pitches all the time, just like the men’
Arsenal’s Jill Roord says WSL playing surfaces must urgently improve, writes Fiona Tomas
Arsenal’s Jill Roord believes players in the Women’s Super League face a considerable wait before they will be able to experience anything like the pitch quality in men’s football.
A host of professional women’s clubs have been blighted by unplayable pitches of late. Liverpool’s bog-like turf at Prenton Park, where men’s side Tranmere Rovers play, has drawn the most scrutiny, with the club being forced to postpone their previous two home fixtures.
Games have also been postponed at Birmingham’s Damson Park ground and the Hive, the home of Tottenham Hotspur Women and other WSL clubs.
Such is the deterioration of the Prenton Park pitch that Liverpool have moved their league fixture with Arsenal tonight to Chester FC’S Deva Stadium – some 26 miles from Anfield.
“The whole situation, that’s not how it should be,” Roord told The Daily Telegraph. “Most of the other pitches [in the WSL] are fine. I’m not complaining. Obviously, there’s a difference between the pitches where we’re playing [at Arsenal] and pitches where some of the other [WSL] teams play. They’re not always great, but it is what it is.
“Obviously, we’d love to have great pitches like the men always have. I guess that’s something that will take a bit more time.”
Roord said variations in pitch quality in the WSL were mirrored in the Bundesliga, where she played for Bayern Munich before joining Arsenal last summer. “Some clubs have great pitches, Bayern is a big club and has a great pitch,” she said. “[For] teams with less money and facilities, there was a difference in the pitches.”
Arsenal, who are third in the WSL, will aim to get their league campaign back on track against strugglers Liverpool following two straight defeats by title challengers Chelsea and leaders Manchester City. As the only English team left in the Women’s Champions League, Joe Montemurro’s side could be taxed with extra fixtures towards the business end of the season should they beat Paris St-germain in their two-leg quarter-final in March and April. “We don’t make such a big thing out of it,” insisted Roord. “The league is not over and there [are] so many more games. The most important thing is that the atmosphere stays positive. I’m confident we’ll bounce back.” Central to Arsenal’s hopes will be Roord’s
Dutch team-mate, Vivianne Miedema, the WSL’S leading goalscorer with 14 this season. Having celebrated her Arsenal debut in a friendly with a hat-trick last August, Roord is yet to add to her own two-goal tally in the WSL.
“I’m a scoring midfielder, I’ve had some goals but I know I can make more,” said Roord. “I want to score more goals. Viv [Miedema] is a striker, she has to score goals and that’s how she thinks. I don’t have that pressure. But I suppose I would always want to score more.”