Final whistle
England captain’s frank admission does women’s football a big disservice, writes
Houghton’s PR own goal could alienate the fans
A Reading fan may now think twice before a 26-mile trip to a home game
To be honest … I don’t really watch a lot of women’s football.” These are not the words of a Premier League player or a seasoned pundit, shrugging in their indifference. It is not a comment made by your football fanatic friend, who you have tried to coax towards women’s football. Instead, these are the words of England and Manchester City captain Steph Houghton.
“You might find it awkward to answer,” Jamie Carragher said, prepping Houghton for a loaded question on his podcast, The Greatest Game. “But, putting yourself in the pundit’s or fan’s chair, would you rather watch a men’s game or women’s game?” Houghton’s usually well-primed responses, geared around promoting the women’s game, appeared to evaporate. No, she does not watch much women’s football. “If it’s on the telly, I mean … I won’t break my neck to go and watch it, whereas, if there’s a good game on in men’s football, our whole nights revolve around watching that.”
That is an interesting take from arguably the most visible female footballer in England. To be fair to Houghton, and as she explained earlier in the podcast, she did not grow up in a time when women’s football was as visible or accessible, so her role models were always male players.
But considering she is part of a group of female players with the platform to influence a whole new generation, her comments feel like a disservice to all trying to build up the game.
The thousands of new fans who stood in the lashing rain to watch England lose to Germany on a record-breaking day at Wembley may feel alienated by such an opinion. The dedicated Women’s Super League fans travelling up and down the country to follow her City team may also take issue with it.
Houghton ploughed on. “That’s me being totally honest. I love watching any form of football but if it comes to Premier League, Champions League, I just love watching the pace of the game, the intensity, watching the formations, watching the best teams play.” Houghton has been practically flawless as a spokesperson and role model up to now, not putting a PR foot wrong during a World Cup which saw unprecedented coverage and pressure on her team. But speaking on the podcast of a man with 1.4 million Twitter followers – the perfect platform – she went completely off script.
More than 11 million in the UK watched England’s World Cup semi-final. With that comes the reality that eyes and ears are now trained on what she and her team-mates do and say. So voicing her view as she did, while minutes earlier saying progress was required to “try to drive people” to attend WSL matches, is naturally going to cause consternation. If the England captain is not going out of her way to watch women’s football, a Reading fan, for example, may think twice before making the 26-mile journey away from the Madejski Stadium to watch the women play at their Adams Park ground. Just 943 did so last weekend.
This was a momentary lapse, caused no doubt by the relative safe space felt in speaking to a fellow player, rather than a journalist. And there is no suggestion that she is not genuine in her conviction about advancing the game in which she has played a leading role.
But you cannot blame those who may take her to task on this, especially those spending their evenings trying to find working online streams to the very Champions League matches in which Houghton plays.
That she also brought up the difference in “pace” and “intensity” of the men’s game, saying watching the Premier League and Champions League is “watching the best” play, is somewhat of a kick in the teeth to her world-class peers.
It invites the likes of Joey Barton – who this week said women’s football was an “inferior product” which needed smaller pitches and lighter balls – to feel legitimised in their critique. Perhaps the most cringeworthy part came at the end, though, when Carragher asked Houghton to name her ideal five-a-side team. She listed five men and added Kelly Smith as a sixth, after asking: “Does it have to include female players?” What do you think, Steph?