The Lionesses, the wish and the flawed code (Part 2)
I think we firmly established in Part 1 that match-going fans are what is needed. Without them, it’s hard to see how clubs can really grow in any way other than in their debt column.
But even for the fans that do go, it seems the clubs don’t really know much about them.
Sarah Batters, in her recent ‘Who’s actually in the stand’ newsletter makes the point that clubs know their ticketing system, but not the actual people buying them. They know how often they attend, when they buy etc but not why. What makes them come to games? What makes them come back? Or not? One thing is clear though, and I’d agree wholeheartedly: no-one is just buying ninety minutes of football any more.
It’s easy to assume that, with just over half the population being female, women will attend games played by women. Also that if participation is growing rapidly, then attendances will follow soon enough. And that, as men’s clubs are well supported, there will be ready made fans-in-waiting who just need to be nudged towards the women’s team.
That’s not only lazy thinking, it’s also badly flawed. Millions of women attend men’s matches. To hope that they will simply transition because women are playing professionally is optimistic at best. And why would or should they anyway? Their support for their club is built over decades, and can’t be modified for a reason as basic as gender. Women’s teams have to give women, men, younger fans (girls and boys) a reason to attend their games. Men’s clubs have had a massive head start and didn’t have to compete with anywhere near the competition there is now for the punter’s pounds. That was a distinct advantage, but we are where we are.
But still, in a country of almost 70m, why aren’t there more fans in WSL stadiums?
The numbers do seem to point the right way. Loads more girls are playing the sport than ever before. So this must surely translate into growth in stadiums, right? Especially if those girls (and boys) bring their parents to games. Yet one of the new kick-off times trialled last season was midday, making it all but impossible for any family to attend if they have a child playing junior football.
But that can be fixed by finding new times. Other obstacles require more effort.
The EFL has presided over 20 years of continued attendance growth, in part by a focus on attracting and retaining a family audience. This was despite football grounds not being viewed as a safe and friendly place for fans back in the day, yet that narrative has now changed completely. The rationale for a focus on families was two-fold: 1) if a new family attends, that is usually three or four potential new fans for a club not just one, and 2), if a club designs it’s experience for a family it makes it better for everyone else (better facilities, better refreshments and so on), yet I'm not totally convinced the WSL think that families are a way to go when it comes to growing a club's fanbase.
So, with that in mind, what are some possible ways forward?
Vive La Difference
It should have been obvious – and I still don’t know why it’s not been – that the differences between men’s and women’s football should have been celebrated and used better. The game on the pitch is very different, and in a good way, with much more skills on show and far less of the cynical stuff we see all the time in the men’s game. Of course, there will always be similarities but there is no need to try to replicate everything. Off the field, there is so much scope to not create a smaller version of the men’s matches and do things that embrace and expand on the differences. And the experience a fan gets at the stadium can be a huge differentiator.
Make the experience much better
It has to be great. Good isn’t good enough. If no one is buying the football alone – and many aren’t for men’s football either these days – then the matchday has to contain more that entices people. It’s scandalous, but it’s still possible to go to a ground and see almost nothing that tells you the women even play there. Real Madrid Women have, infamously, never played at the Santiago Bernabeu, but there are some clubs in England too who don’t give their women’s teams a chance when it comes to growing their fanbase or capitalising on the appeal of the club’s brand. For example, some clubs don’t open their club shops, or sell any merchandise, at women’s games. That is definitely not great.
Spread the word
Similarly, you can go on some websites and find very little that tells you about the women’s team. You find very few traces of the women’s side of the game in the experience itself, with some clubs even providing website guides and schedules that only cover the men’s matches. The women’s team feel like an afterthought, with a few hastily assembled pages that tick a box. For new people to find games and be won over, they need to know they are taking place and also know what the club is all about and, crucially, what a matchday offers. We can’t expect fans to magically appear.
Seek feedback from fans
If clubs need to know their audience, they could do worse than talk to them. But I attended five WSL games this season, and only one of the clubs sent me a request for feedback, while another had a generic link on their website that wasn’t exactly easy to find. Asking fans what they like, don’t like and what will bring them back are fundamental questions that clubs need the answers to. You can’t get better if you aren’t even sure where you are starting from.
Focus on the bread and butter games
Arsenal v Chelsea at the Emirates anyone? It’s not exactly difficult to sell a game at a large stadium, with two of the best teams, a raft of world class players and a match that will have a significant bearing on the league title race. But mid-table games, at a club’s usual home ground, on a cold, wet and miserable day is another matter entirely. These are the games that fans have to want to come to. Any time spent on the former is at the expense of these low-key fixtures but the message it sends to fans is this: ‘we’re only bothered about the high-profile games and the fans that want to go to them’.
Pick the low hanging fruit first
Contrary to some of the apparent internal thinking on families, ignoring this lucrative and vital fan type would be disastrous for the WSL and women’s clubs. As well as the numbers, this is where the fans of the future (of any gender) make their first foray into the women’s game. Get them hooked at that age, and they might be a fan for life. It might be because they met a player, got a high five from a mascot, or picked up a certificate from the club after their first game. These kinds of things have a massive impact on young minds. But expecting them to get to their teens, or even adulthood, and suddenly become a lifelong fan is pretty unrealistic and, I’d suggest, a really bad idea.
It’s all kicking off when? And where?
The changing kick-off times (and occasional stadium-hopping) create confusion but more than that, they present a barrier to entry. It gives fans an excuse not to go, and not just legitimate ones like those with children who are playing football at the same time. I once saw a game where – on the day of it – it was listed at three different venues. It has improved, but there’s room to be better. With games available to stream, a fan might decide that it’s simply not worth the effort if they can’t plan in advance, or there is a risk that those plans might have to change. Last season, we assessed a game where the day was changed at very short notice, and another where the venue was. That’s playing fast and loose with fan patience and loyalty at a time when clubs can least afford it.
Independence way
London City Lionesses have broken the glass ceiling. But are they also the exception that proves the rule? Other independent clubs struggle to compete without serious investment (as Durham briefly experienced) and won’t be able to in the WSL in the longer term as the gap will become to wide for all but the super-rich That means the top leagues will be made up of clubs that have rich parents, but that are also held hostage to their fortunes. As Reading’s women team discovered, if things go wrong for the men’s team, the women instantly become vulnerable. And is it also closing the door on the independent clubs who became good through a lot of blood, sweat and tears?
There was a time when the people behind the Lion King might have thought they’d taken it as far as they could. That audiences would slowly but surely dwindle. But instead, they got to know their fans, and what they wanted. Falling attendances can be reversed. They proved that. But they also proved that denial, and praying it would all come good, wasn’t a solid foundation to base their hopes on.
Despite some of the gloom I’ve described, there is still a lot going right in the women’s game. And there is time to get it even more right. The men have had a century and a half, and you could argue they are still some way off. The fortunes of the league at the top level of the women’s game is a moving feast, with many varying influences on and off the field, although it might be asking a bit much to ask Sarina Wiegman to pull another major tournament out of the bag, especially when the numbers don’t back it up as way of growing the audience anyway.
But, unlike the men, the WSL doesn’t have unlimited time. There isn’t the luxury of trial and error, because other pursuits (fast-growing women’s rugby and netball to name just two) are in the mix too and providing a credible alternative for potential fans.
Women’s sport on the whole is a massive growth market. Football attendances not growing would have to go down as a huge failure, and to grow, they have to find a way to begin putting more bums on seats. For all games.
That has to be the next step. Less new wave and gimmicks. More genuine new fans who love what they find and immediately buy a ticket for the next game.
That’s sustainable growth.
Especially if the clubs are going to keep buying more players and paying them all increasingly higher wages.
Nobody likes pay cuts, remember?
