WSL is the key to unlocking post-world Cup potential

On the eve of the new season, Katie Whyatt explains why this year has all the makings of the most exciting ever as the women’s game seeks to continue its dramatic rise

The most arresting moment of the World Cup, for me, did not come courtesy of the United States’ lilachaired superhero, Megan Rapinoe. Nor did it come from Holland’s all-time leading scorer of either gender, Vivianne Miedema, or Ellen White, or any of the other usual suspects.

It arrived in the shape of a radio

phone-in, and Jenny from Peterborough. Those who followed the tournament may recall a woman in her sixties calling up BBC Radio 5 Live in the aftermath of England’s World Cup quarterfinal win over Norway.

Phil Neville, the England manager, remembers that night as the time he thought his side would go all the way, and said as much to them in the dressing room post-match. It was, and may remain, the most complete performance of Neville’s reign, one of those rare, lightning-in-a-bottle moments that all managers dream of. Stardust flaked off Lucy Bronze’s boots that night. And back home, the nation could feel it.

Then came Jenny’s phone call, and an anecdote dispiritingly familiar for more women and girls than we care to imagine. “I’ve been football mad since I was six years old,” said Jenny, “and never had a chance to play football as a kid except for when the boys put me in goal, when they were very gracious.

“I’m so proud of the Lionesses tonight, but also so proud of the way that women’s football has progressed, all these women who stand on each other’s shoulders as the years go on and the whole situation in women’s football today.

“I’m just so glad to see young girls and young women enjoying it as I would have loved to as a kid. I wish I was about 50 years younger.”

We all know that the Lionesses broke records for television viewing figures – but what did that mean, really? What does an audience of 11.7 million actually look like? And what is going on in their hearts, minds and souls?

Amid the myriad changes to women’s football, it is the renewed emphasis on young girls being allowed to access the game that feels the most significant. On one level, that is preposterous – playing the national game should not be an issue for anyone. But, damningly, it remains so. The Football Association has pledged to get girls’ football into schools across the country but elsewhere the pace of change is frustratingly slow.

Those who coach in the women’s game will attest that the younger players coming through are of a higher standard than ever before, benefiting from a pathway to Europe’s first fully-professional league and greater coaching than their predecessors. England’s senior women’s team are the most heavily-resourced in Europe and, in those regards, it is difficult to find another sport experiencing the same upwards trajectory as women’s football.

Underpinning it all is the massive £10 million investment from Barclays, the Women’s Super League’s new title sponsor.

The new season has a brighter outlook. A bolder approach to securing bigger crowds for a competition that has never brought in more than 5,265 – versus the 60,739 that watched Barcelona’s women’s team in March – means that a flurry of clubs will be hosting matches at their main stadiums.

Fran Kirby and Leah Williamson commanding advertising deals with Swarovski, the WSL’S first

overseas broadcast deal and the news that all games will be streamed live and free to access on the new FA Player are all notable steps. But even in the professional game, it is not all sunshine and roses. Do some players still have to buy their own boots? Yes. Do some still need Crowdfunding pages to pay for operations for injuries sustained when representing their clubs? Yes. Attendances have actually fallen since the 2015 World Cup – the average WSL crowd last season was 833, compared to 1,128 in 2016 – and this is the final missing link that women’s football really has to crack. It does not help that some women’s grounds are so painfully distant from the equivalent men’s stadiums.

That those two realities exist side by side highlights the growing pains of a sport that is only just waking up to the limitlessness of its potential, but even so the WSL draws talent from all over the world.

Defending champions Arsenal boast players of nine different nationalities. Head coach Joe Montemurro, an Australian, is their master artist and the football they produce is nothing short of a masterpiece.

Their spearhead is the reigning PFA Player of the Year, the 23-year-old Miedema; Euro 2017 winner, World Cup runner-up and the inspiration for a comic book series in her native Holland – all at the age at which the rest of us are usually disappointing our parents.

Trying to stop Arsenal winning back-to-back titles will be Chelsea, Champions League semi-finalists last term and, by their own admission, in better stead than they were this time last year.

Last September, head coach Emma Hayes had not long given birth to her young son, Harry, having tragically lost his twin brother. To speak to Hayes is to hear a woman of candour on the challenges of balancing motherhood with managing an all-conquering women’s football side.

Manchester City, bolstered by the most significant signing of the summer in England’s White, will also be setting out to return the title to Manchester after a two-year absence but, away from the top three, there are other noteworthy stories, too.

Will Merseyside, once the home of Jill Scott and Toni Duggan, restore its reputation as a women’s football hotbed? What will happen to Birmingham in the absence of White and Charlie Wellings? How will City’s neighbours, Manchester United, fare in their first division in the top flight?

Casey Stoney’s young squad turned the Championship title race into a procession thanks not only to generous resources but also Stoney’s human touch, her well-coached side routinely put through 6am boxing sessions, street dance classes and trips to the

Ninja Warrior UK studios to test their mental toughness. The WSL will not be so easy.

The consensus is that a more difficult season lies in wait for their fellow newcomers, Spurs, in their first season of full-time football. To follow the club’s social-media accounts over the summer was to see a deluge of photos captioned “dream come true” as players – including the former teacher Ashleigh Neville – signed professional contracts for the first time in many of their careers.

Many more, though – including one doctor and one mother – made the decision to play part-time football elsewhere and this is the conundrum that still faces so many women, even in England’s elite division.

This edition of the WSL has the potential to be the most exciting in the league’s history but, all the while, we have a responsibility to interrogate the status quo in women’s football and ensure that it lives up to its post-world Cup potential. Where better to start than in our 12-page preview?