But ‘still a long way to go’ to achieve gender equality in the beautiful game, city event told

NEW TV deals and better professional contracts are raising the profile of women’s football to new heights, writes Chris Johnston.

But a panel of players and coaches have told an audience at De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) that there is “still a long way to go” before we see gender equality in the beautiful game.

Sky Sports recently announced a three-year deal with the Football Association (FA) to become the main broadcaster of the Barclays Women’s Super League (WSL).

Hailed as a “game-changing partnership”, the new agreement means that, from September, Sky Sports will exclusively livestream at least 35 games each season, making it a flagship offering and making women’s football more visible than ever before.

But at an event hosted by DMU, players from Leicester City Women Football Club joined a panel of female footballers and football coaches to point out there are still barriers faced by women in the game and there’s a need to overcome adversity in sport.

The event, organised by DMU Women and hosted by Fiona Dick, Head of Sport at DMU, welcomed Holly Morgan, Remi Allen and Libby Smith from LCFC Women, who went full-time earlier this season and have just clinched the FA Women’s Championship title to win promotion to the WSL next season.

The panel also included DMU PhD student Annie Taylor, who is a coach at LCFC Women, manager of LCFC U13s, manager of DMU Women FC and captain of Long Eaton United; Georgie Van Dijk, coach for the Men’s 1st Team at DMU, Academy coach at Birmingham City FC and U21s Academy coach at Kidderminster Harriers; and DMU alumni Hannah Curwen, former chairwoman of DMU Women FC.

LCFC Women’s captain Holly Morgan, right, who has been playing for the Foxes for 16 years, told viewers at the virtual event that she hopes girls who aspire to become professional footballers will be inspired by seeing more of the game on the box.

“I think the direction it’s going in is very positive and for aspiring girls, I think you have to see it to believe it and you need to see it to believe you can do it,” she said.

“Being able to watch more games and see their role models more on TV will give them a bigger belief that they can be there one day too.”

Morgan also spoke about her own experiences in the game and how the WSL is paving the way for lower leagues and encouraging more women and girls to take the sport seriously.

“Because all teams in the WSL are now full-time, it’s bridging the gap,” she said.

“Before, when it was just a couple of teams that were full-time as opposed to the whole league, the gap was far too big. But it is closing and it will continue to close as the clubs become more similar in terms of the structure and set up of the league.

“It’s nice now that girls can enter the sport and consider doing it on a fulltime basis because the game is growing.”

Yet Morgan stressed that there is still work to be done to ensure women’s football provides a secure, full-time job.

She said that girls should consider a “dual-career pathway” when they start out and continue to focus on their education and career outside the game to give them other options.

“I think it’s vital for female players to have something else,” she said.

“A dual-career pathway into the female game is just as important as ever.

“Even though I don’t want to call it a barrier, it was always something on my mind and something I had to juggle.

“I think there is still that issue of the old traditionalist views that football is just a men’s sport and it’s really not.

“As a female you have to get your qualifications because unfortunately we have to be more reliant on that to show and provide evidence that we are capable of taking on such roles. “You have to be the best at what you do in order to be taken seriously. It’s getting better but there’s still a long way to go.”

Libby Smith, who was scouted for LCFC Women’s Academy at the age of seven and has spent most of her career at the Foxes, said playing women’s football could sometimes be a “balancing act”.

“Going full-time this season has been incredible but the past few seasons I have had to juggle parttime jobs while training at the same time,” she said.

“On a Saturday I could have an early shift at 6am and then have to go and train in the evening.

“Or we’d have a game on a Sunday and I’d need to be up early for work the next day.

“It’s not a barrier because we love what we do but it is a pressure when there are other teams in the league that are full-time and have that funding and backing, and you’re expected to turn up

and match what they do.”