The Football Association is looking at whether the women’s game could be exempted from the Saturday afternoon television blackout, Baroness Sue Campbell has told MPs.
Baroness Campbell, the FA’s director of women’s football, told the Culture, Media and Sport committee various options are being looked at to maximise coverage of the game on the back of the England team’s success at the Women’s Euros last summer.
One of those is giving consideration to whether the women’s game could be removed from the restriction on live football coverage between 2.45pm and 5.15pm on Saturdays under Article 48 of the UEFA statutes, which the FA currently chooses to apply.
Campbell said: “I think that consistent of opportunity to view the women’s game is important. It used to be, and it still is, a little bit random. We weren’t quite sure what time and what day you were going to be able to turn on and see it.
“We need to get some consistency. We have been exploring Article 48, which when it was put in practice was there for men’s football, we’d like to see could the women have that slot on television?
“But whatever we do we need a regular opportunity to view the game which people can access, and we need to recognise that we have a younger audience, so sticking it on in an evening might not be the best time.”
The Saturday blackout will not be affected by the EFL’s new deal with Sky Sports starting in 2024-25, but the league did receive a rival offer from the streaming service DAZN which would have required the restriction to be lifted.
The Premier League’s chief executive Richard Masters said in March that his organisation was a proponent of Article 48 and did not see that changing in the near term. The English top flight is set to begin its tender process for the next three-year domestic rights cycle starting from 2025-26 this autumn.
Former England forward Ellen White agreed with Campbell that an innovative approach was required at the same hearing.
“I think we need to look at grassroots football, when that’s being played, so we can maximise the amount of families and young people that are coming to games,” she said.
“Sunday at 6.45 in the evening like Sue said, schools (open the next day), then again on a Saturday at 11am a lot of grassroots football teams play, so you’re destroying the viewership then, and also the amount of bums on seats in the stadium as well.
“So I think we need to look at a good day and a good time to really maximise our audiences, to get bums on seats and to grow our fanbase.”
White did not agree with the idea that one way to make the women’s game more financially sustainable would be to introduce a US-style closed league.
“I wouldn’t agree with it because you’ve got clubs in the Championship or lower than that, and what have they got to strive for?” she said.
“For me it’s really exciting and gives a lot of opportunity for the teams in the Championship and the pyramid to try and develop and prove and push themselves that they want to be part of the Women’s Super League. I don’t think the country would want to move away from that.”
Campbell said the United States was able to operate that system because of its highly-developed high school and university programmes, and to replicate that in England would “cut the head off the body” of the women’s game.
Meanwhile, the chair of a different parliamentary committee has written to boot manufacturers over the lack of products designed specifically for women and girls.
Caroline Nokes, the chair of the Women and Equalities committee, has written to brands including Adidas and Nike after evidence was given to her committee about the disproportionate impact of anterior cruciate ligament injuries to female footballers.
Campbell said ACL injuries accounted for two per cent of injuries female players suffered but accepted they could be “catastrophic” for the individual when they did occur.
“I’ve asked repeatedly, ‘Can somebody tell me the cause of this?’ and of course it’s complex – is it wearing men’s shoes, is it the training surfaces, the over-stressed calendar with not enough rest? Is it the kind of physical conditioning that people are doing?” Campbell said.
“We’re encouraging more research. We’re funding more research. If we haven’t got healthy, well looked after elite players then we’re failing the game.”
Indonesia 0-4 Japan: Visitors stay unbeaten with rout
Japan continued their unbeaten start to World Cup qualifying with a 4-0 victory over Indonesia on Friday.
Two goals from the visitors in either half were enough to seal the three points and get them back to winning ways after a stalemate with Australia last time out.
Ragnar Oratmangoen should have put Indonesia ahead, but he hesitated one-on-one with the goalkeeper, and Japan did not look back after that. They got a bit of fortune with their first goal, Justin Hubner deflecting a cross into his own net in the 35th minute.
Takumi Minamino got their second just before the break, finishing off a pacy counter-attack by darting onto the end of Kaoru Mitoma’s cross to sweep it past Maarten Paes.
While there was not much the goalkeeper could do with that one, he was at fault for the third as he gifted the ball to Hidemasa Morita, who coolly picked out the bottom corner just after the break.
Yukinari Sugawara came off the bench to round off the scoring in the 69th minute. He raced down the right wing and instead of looking to his options, he rifled it in from a tight angle at the near post.
Japan are up to 13 points after five games, sitting top of Group C, while Indonesia are bottom, still in search of their first win.
Data Debrief: Clinically done
For a team still chasing their first win, Japan are probably not high on the list of opponents they would want to face, and Indonesia were undone by their visitors.
Hajime Moriyasu's side created 0.79 expected goals (xG) to Indonesia's 0.72, while they only had four more shots than their hosts (12 compared to eight).
Japan took their chances, and though the win margin may look harsh, they were deserving of the three points, having dominated throughout the game.
Jamaica 0-1 United States: Pepi give visitors advantage in Nations League quarter-final
Ricardo Pepi's first-half strike gave the United States a 1-0 advantage over Jamaica after the first leg of their Concacaf Nations League quarter-final.
The hosts saw a penalty saved in the first half before their frustrations were compounded late on thanks to Mason Holgate's red card.
The USA had the lead just five minutes in – having smothered a Jamaica attack at one end, the visitors caught them out with a pacy counter-attack, with Pepi sweeping it into the back of the net.
Shortly after, Shamar Nicholson was brought down by Matt Turner when he tried to take it around him, but the goalkeeper made amends, diving low to his right to deny Demarai Gray from 12 yards.
In the second half, Holgate was denied a tap-in by Yunus Musah before Turner scrambled to stop Leon Bailey's corner from nestling into the net as Jamaica searched for an equaliser.
With 86 minutes on the clock, Holgate received a second yellow card in just over 10 minutes for dragging Brandon Vazquez back, meaning he will miss the return leg in Missouri on Monday.
Data Debrief: Hitting the mark
Pepi got the all-important goal on Thursday, and is the fourth player to score 12 goals for the USA before turning 22 years old, joining Landon Donovan, Jozy Altidore and Christian Pulisic.
But it was perhaps Turner who actually had the most vital interventions; he has now saved three of the eight penalties he's faced for the USA, including two against Jamaica.
Mauricio Pochettino also could not have asked for a better result from his first competitive game in charge of the Stars and Stripes as he became just the third full-time manager to win his first competitive away match, joining Bob Bradley (2008) and Steve Sampson (1996).
Real Madrid hit Twente for seven, five-star Wolfsburg also win big
Real Madrid had six different goalscorers as they trounced Twente 7-0 in the Women's Champions League on Wednesday, while Wolfsburg beat Galatasaray 5-0.
Signe Bruun opened the scoring three minutes into the Group B encounter at the Estadio Alfredo Di Stefano, then Maria Mendez's header gave Madrid a 2-0 half-time lead.
Madrid, who had won one and lost one of their opening two games in the tournament, got a third through Naomie Feller five minutes into the second half, then Caroline Weir made it 4-0 with a brilliant free-kick.
Mendez headed home her second of the encounter shortly after the hour mark, while Oihane Hernandez and Carla Camacho got on the scoresheet late on to complete the rout.
The victory took Madrid second in the Group B standings ahead of Chelsea's trip to Celtic.
Wolfsburg were also convincing victors in Group A, getting off the mark for this season's competition as Rebecka Blomqvist scored a hat-trick in their 5-0 thrashing of Galatasaray.
The Bundesliga side – who failed to pick up a point or score a goal in their opening two matches – had a narrow 1-0 lead at half-time through Joelle Wedemeyer, before Blomqvist took centre-stage in the second period.
She tapped home after Janina Minge struck the crossbar, then added her second goal in the 77th minute and her third six minutes into stoppage time.
Vivien Endemann powered home a fifth for Wolfsburg one minute later, as they provisionally moved within three points of Lyon and Roma ahead of their meeting.
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