Top sides missing a trick over WSL merchandise

Clubs need to make their women’s teams a brand asset to fill a large gap in the market, says Louise Scarce

Chelsea’s megastore is a cornucopia of club delights. The 12,500sq ft complex at Stamford Bridge features a large case displaying the club’s silverware, including Women’s Super League and FA Cup trophies. But take a look at the shop shelves and you could be excused for thinking that the club’s highly successful women’s team are a figment of your imagination.

Stepping into other club shops of Women’s Super League teams is a similarly bemusing experience. Beyond replica kits, it is nearly impossible to buy official club merchandise featuring the women’s teams.

Merchandise is one part of the wider problem of developing and growing the women’s game, but clubs are failing to produce goods to match the demand.

For Amanda Creed, a dedicated supporter of Chelsea Women, it seems that as WSL attendances have gone up, the range of merchandise has gone down.

“A few years ago, I purchased a T-shirt featuring the Chelsea crest made up of the names of the women’s team. I haven’t seen anything since,” she said.

An Everton Women fan, who did not want to be named, told a similar story: “We have gone backwards on merchandising. We used to sell player cards, photos, drink bottles, magazines. Now you are lucky if you get a programme.”

While Chelsea and Everton did not respond to requests for comment, another WSL club claimed they heavily promoted the women’s team in their shop, but could not point to a single product which featured them.

Fans who cannot buy the products they crave are now entering the market themselves. This season, Creed has started making her own prints and magnets, using photos she takes at matches. Shannon Marriott, an artist from Sheffield, also caters to fans hankering after women’s merchandise. She draws her favourite players (like the one pictured left) and has received commissions for portraits of the big stars in the women’s game.

But, as a supporter of Arsenal Women, a powerhouse of the WSL, Marriott would like to see clubs providing more goods.

“Compared to the products you can buy of the men’s team, I don’t feel like there’s that kind of output for the women,” Marriott said. “Those sort of big clubs should be doing more merchandise-wise.”

Arsenal, for their part, are engaging with the issue and have opened a shop at their Borehamwood home ground. A club spokesperson said: “We have seen a real increase in demand for names of our women’s players on the back of our shirts. We also offer the Women’s Super League patch to fans and sell photography of our men’s and women’s teams.”

At the heart of each football club’s brand is its main retail outlet. Until space is made on those shelves for women’s team merchandise, the signal from the big clubs is that women’s teams are merely incidental to the brand, rather than a valued part of it.