Women’s Football in Scotland: The progression and obstacles in it’s way
Scotland Women's National Football Team
The advancements of women’s football in Scotland is examined as well as the issues which have held back the sport for so long and continue to pose an issue.
Women’s football in Scotland has historically not received wide coverage and attention from the media and more importantly from fans. The sport has come on leaps and bounds in the country in recent times with professional contracts being given in recent years and recent television deals from Sky Sports has provided a much-needed financial influx. With the showpiece Scottish Cup Final coming up this Sunday, it is the perfect time to examine where the women’s game is heading and the barriers in the way of it flourishing.
In order to gain a glimpse into the stark differences from the past state of the women’s game and now you only have to look back as far as five years. Attendances were miniscule as the desire for the sport was simply not there from the masses. To contrast this with the incredible scenes seen at Celtic Park in the last two weeks which saw the Scottish record for attendance at a women’s game smashed on two separate occasions.
Recent weeks have saw outstanding turnouts with the highest attendance, 15,822 fans at Celtic v Hearts, trumping the record set just two weeks prior which stood at 9,533. The record attendances have not been limited to Celtic Park with Ibrox also recording a staggering 10,000 strong crowd in their final game against Glasgow City.
Clare Wilde, reporter on the Celtic women’s team for The Cynic has closely followed the Parkhead sides women’s team and has saw the rise in such a short space of time. She said: “It’s wildly different. I mean, the scenes that we saw at Celtic Park, at the weekend and the week before on the Thursday, just sort of boggled my mind, because still, I’m used to turning up at, you know, we go to Airdrie every week and it’s, you know, a much smaller crowd. But in terms of the visibility of the game, it’s like night and day, in the way I cover it.”
The awareness of the sport in Scotland has never been higher with larger crowds being encouraged by the clubs and the television deal with Sky Sports providing a platform to display the talents of our game. A minimum of five games a season of the Scottish Women’s Premier League (SWPL) must be shown as part of the deal with an additional five on offer. The thrilling conclusion of the SWPL season was broadcast on BBC Alba and the iPlayer and the signs of positive change in the game are there for all to see.
Wilde spoke of how positive the signs are for women’s football moving forward she said: “It’s definitely happening and it’s definitely moving in the right direction. And the it’s not just girls idolising and wanting to emulate the girls, you get young boys who just now see it as just football.”
The Scottish Cup final at Hampden Park between Celtic and Rangers women on Sunday 28 May will provide another chance for a large crowd with more sections being opened.
Once again, The Celtic End gave relentless support to the Ghirls who came agonisingly close to league glory.
— North Curve Celtic (@NCCeltic) May 22, 2023
The Ghirls deserve to be on this stage; and all Celtic teams deserve to have The Celtic End roaring them on at Celtic Park.
"Paradise is yours." – Caitlin Hayes pic.twitter.com/oy65kesWPe
However, it would be naïve to blindly accept that this solves the underlying issues that plague not only women’s football but women in football in general. The showpiece final could be a great advert for the game but also a device to facilitate discussions around the wider issues.
Sexism and misogyny have always been a plight on the sport , with snorts of derision from many who subscribe to outdated ideals that women should not be involved in football.
This is a problem that continues to hinder the progress being made in huge strides in the women’s game and whilst more fans continue to follow the sport, there are still remnants of archaic schools of thought. Clare Wilde said: “I think there’s always going to be people who will say, I’m not interested in women’s football, and for some reason, decided that because they’re not interested in it. It shouldn’t exist or something. It’s a very weird mentality.”
The abuse women suffer online and at football matches is a problem that has impacted most, with a staggering 91.9% of women in a survey published by #HerGameToo have seen sexist abuse online and 58.4% reporting they have experienced sexism in real life at a football ground or pub.
Leah Smith, a student at Edinburgh Napier University, wrote her dissertation on the problem of sexism in UK football and experienced backlash on twitter and suffered abuse for posting about the issue.
As someone who has experienced the issue first hand and researched the subject she believes more has to be done to put a stop to the problem at all levels. Smith said: “I think that this is something that is very hard to fully eradicate. For example, racism is still an ongoing and very prevalent issue in both daily life and football, however I do believe that ultimately there isn’t enough being done as there are possible solutions.
“Firstly, further education and awareness has to be promoted from the clubs themselves, and push for more actions to be taken against those who use sexist languages at games. This has to be implemented at all levels, from grassroots to the professional games.”
Sexism in football was put under the spotlight at the 2022 Scottish Football Writers Association (SWFA) awards, when a number of female journalists walked out after a barrage of sexist, homophobic and racist jokes were made by a guest speaker.
This incident cast a dark shadow over the game as those at the top level are condoning this behaviour. Representation of women in sport and in the media is of paramount importance to the game progressing. Smith said: “There’s been cases of managers making sexist comments at female officials, which would no doubt be a scary sight for an inspiring woman footballer, so the bottom line is, is that women have to feel safe enough to play the sport they love, which really is the bare minimum.”
With sexism rife within the game it is clear big steps must be taken before the women’s game can reach its full potential.
