House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee Women's Football Fourth Report of Session 2005–06 Report, together with formal minutes, oral and written evidence Ordered by The House of Commons to be printed 18 July 2006 HC 1357 Published on 25 July 2006 by authority of the House of Commons London: The Stationery Office Limited £0.00 The Culture, Media and Sport Committee The Culture, Media and Sport Committee is appointed by the House of Commons to examine the expenditure, administration, and policy of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and its associated public bodies. Current membership Mr John Whittingdale MP (Conservative, Maldon and East Chelmsford) [Chairman] Janet Anderson MP (Labour, Rossendale and Darwen) Mr Philip Davies MP (Conservative, Shipley) Mr Nigel Evans MP (Conservative, Ribble Valley) Paul Farrelly MP (Labour, Newcastle-under-Lyme) Mr Mike Hall MP (Labour, Weaver Vale) Alan Keen MP (Labour, Feltham and Heston) Rosemary McKenna MP (Labour, Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East) Adam Price MP (Plaid Cymru, Carmarthen East and Dinefwr) Mr Adrian Sanders MP (Liberal Democrat, Torbay) Helen Southworth MP (Labour, Warrington South) The following Member was also a member of the Committee during the parliament. Tim Yeo MP (Conservative, South Suffolk) Powers The Committee is one of the departmental select committees, the powers of which are set out in House of Commons Standing Orders, principally in SO No 152. These are available on the Internet via www.parliament.uk. Publications The Reports and evidence of the Committee are published by The Stationery Office by Order of the House. All publications of the Committee (including press notices) are on the Internet at http://www.parliament.uk/parliamentary_committees/culture__media_and_sport. cfm Committee staff The current staff of the Committee are Kenneth Fox (Clerk), Sally Broadbridge (Inquiry Manager), Anita Fuki (Committee Assistant) Rowena Macdonald (Secretary), Jim Hudson (Senior Office Clerk) and Luke Robinson (Media Officer). Contacts All correspondence should be addressed to the Clerk of the Culture, Media and Sport Committee, House of Commons, 7 Millbank, London SW1P 3JA. The telephone number for general enquiries is 020 7219 6188; fax 020 7219 2031; the Committee’s email address is [email protected] 1 Contents Report Page Introduction 3 The rise of women’s football 3 Girls’ football 5 Women’s football 8 Elite women’s football 10 Sponsorship and other support 11 Governance 13 Media coverage 13 Looking to the future 14 Conclusions and recommendations 15 Formal minutes 17 Formal minutes 17 Witnesses 18 List of written evidence 19 List of unprinted written evidence 20 Reports from the Committee since 2005 21 3 Introduction 1. If a random sample of 100 people were to be asked which competitive team sport was the most popular among women and girls, how many would supply the correct answer: football? Probably not many, despite the tremendous growth of the women’s game in recent years. The expansion of the women’s game, however, is being hindered by various barriers, many of which are rooted in cultural attitudes. The resulting mismatch between enthusiasm and opportunity provided the stimulus for our inquiry, which took place amid a wave of popular enthusiasm for football generated by the FIFA World Cup taking place in Germany. We hope that this report will open a window onto the sport and give some impetus for change where needed. 2. The inquiry was announced in March, and a single day of oral evidence was held in late June, when we took oral evidence from each of the main bodies funding or otherwise supporting the development of women’s football, namely the Football Association (FA), which is the governing body for the sport for both men and women; the Football Foundation, a charity set up in 2000 and funded by the FA, the FA Premier League and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (through Sport England), offering grants for football projects; Sport England, a Non-Departmental Public Body sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport which provides core funding to the FA under the Whole Sport Plan, which we discuss later; and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), which provides Grant-in-Aid to Sport England and which promotes the benefits of sport within Government and to the general public. We also took oral evidence from the Central Council for Physical Recreation, the Women’s Sports Foundation and from players and others with knowledge of the game at grassroots level. We would like to thank all those who contributed to the inquiry, including those who sent written submissions. The rise of women’s football 3. Women’s football in England is not a new sport. As early as 1895 a representative football match between northern and southern women’s teams was recorded in London. By the 1920s, women’s football in England was attracting considerable interest, although in 1921 the FA banned women from playing on any pitch which was under FA control, arguing that the game was “unsuitable for females”.1 Women continued to play football between the wars, but there was no league structure and there were few dedicated facilities for women. The Women’s FA (which was independent of the FA) was founded in 1969, and in 1972 the FA - with the encouragement of UEFA - lifted its ban on women playing on Football League grounds in England. The FA assumed governance of the women’s game in 1993. 4. There is no doubt that coming under the wing of the FA in 1993 was of enormous benefit for women’s football. It allowed women’s clubs to draw fully on the development opportunities offered by the FA; it gave clubs an incentive to improve their standards and gain the FA Charter Standard status, which signifies that a club has achieved a quality 1 See Kicking against tradition by Wendy Owen, page 17, ISBN 0-7524-3427-6 4 benchmark and which demonstrates to the public, club members and parents that the club is well organised; it has assisted – albeit with limited success – in promoting women’s football to the wider public; and it has enabled links to be built with professional men’s clubs (although not all links have prospered). Sue Lopez, a former England player at international level, told us that the FA had “done all those fantastic things which needed to be done”,2 and the Women’s Sports Foundation attributed the recent “massive” growth in women’s football to the “distinct and dedicated initiatives and investment from the FA”.3 Praise also came from the Football Foundation, which stated that the FA “deserves considerable credit for the work it has led on promoting the female game”.4 We strongly endorse witnesses’ praise for the more recent efforts of the FA to develop and give higher profile to women’s football. Without these efforts, it is likely that far fewer girls and women would now be participating in football. 5. The increase in interest, in raw numerical terms, has been exponential.5 In 1993, there were 80 girls’ teams, but by the 2004-05 season there were over 8,000.6 More women and girls take part in affiliated competition – structured competition under the aegis of a governing body – in football than in any other team sport. Netball was overtaken in 2002.7 According to the FA, 1.6 million women and girls take part in recreational football.8 6. Public awareness of the women’s game is still limited; but it has been boosted by television coverage of domestic and international games, particularly the Women’s FA Cup Final, which has been broadcast live by the BBC each year since 2001, the FA Nationwide Women’s Premier League Cup Final, televised live on Sky Sports every spring since its inception,9 and the 2005 Women’s European Championships, during which the BBC broadcast live the three games involving the England team. Three million people watched the England versus Sweden game live on BBC2.10 The Women’s Sports Foundation described the televising of England matches at the Euro 2005 tournament as a “real breakthrough”.11 The film Bend it like Beckham has also played a part – the Minister for Sport had “no doubt about that”12 – and we were told that it had projected a glamorous image which “made the sport look good”.13 7. Despite these achievements, we heard that there were major obstacles to further expansion of women’s football. These include the lack of a clear pathway for girls to play football through primary school to secondary school and beyond, variable quality of coaches, not all of whom understand the distinct needs of women and girls in training and 2 Q 18 3 Ms Donohoe Q1 4 Ev 30 5 Football Foundation Q 63 6 FA, Ev 34 7 Ev 34 8 Ev 34 9 Ev 39 10 BBC, Ev 59 11 Ms Donohoe Q 6 12 Q 116 13 Ms Cocozza Q 14 5 developing skills, an ailing league structure at semi-professional level, and a lack of access both to pitches of acceptable quality and to suitable facilities. Above all, there are cultural barriers which have far-reaching ramifications and which underlie many of the problems listed above. They are also probably the hardest to overcome.14 Girls’ football 8. Girls, like boys, can start playing football competitively in under-seven teams.15 Sue Lopez stated – correctly in our view - that opportunities at an early age are key to helping girls develop.16 Some primary schools promote the game for girls and act as local hubs, but others do not. Much depends on whether or not there is an interested teacher at the primary school.17 Provision of sport for primary school children is an issue which extends beyond the scope of this inquiry and we do not reach a conclusion on it in this report; but, although we are aware from constituency experience of very good provision in certain areas,18 we note worrying evidence that some core staff at some primary schools are ill- equipped to develop sporting potential.