On Wednesday 16 August, England’s Lionesses made history once more. After defeating co-hosts Australia 3-1 in the Fifa Women’s World Cup semi-final, they became the first England team to reach a final since 1966 – and the first England women’s team ever – to make it to a World Cup final. It was a huge achievement, certainly, but not one that particularly surprised supporters who had seen the team’s raw talent, passion and resilience displayed on home soil during the 2022 Euros last summer.

Among fans, spirits were high. We marvelled at Lauren Hemp’s outstanding performance in attack, Alex Greenwood’s defensive genius and keeper Mary Earps’s impressive stops. Elsewhere, though, the conversation looked somewhat different.

Circulating on X (formerly known as Twitter) was a clip from a radio show where a male caller ranted – to a snooze-worthy degree – about his lack of interest in women’s football. “Watching 11 men face off against 11 men is super exciting, and the women’s game simply won’t replicate that same degree of tension, drama, and excitement,” he said, as a nation rolled its eyes. 

Fans flooded the comments in solidarity with the Lionesses. But, the question remains: why are men being given a platform to air their misogynistic views about women’s sport, as though its right to exist is up for debate?

Lioness Leah Williamson said it best during an interview with BBC Sport last year: “I don’t particularly like watching fencing, but I don’t tweet to say that I don’t.

“It’s like if you don’t like it, it can’t exist. Why? Because it’s women? Because if it was a men’s sport it wouldn’t be spoken about in the same way.

“If you are a football fan, not a rugby fan, you don’t want rugby to not exist. You just think that football’s better, so you just watch football. But if it’s women, then it means we need to remove it. But we’re not going anywhere.”

It’s clear that if we’re to keep up the momentum post-World Cup and continue growing women’s football, then some serious changes need to be made to the type – and quality – of coverage it receives. Along with the unacceptable misogynistic debates are the times of tumbleweed in-between tournaments, when the game doesn’t get anywhere near the level of coverage it both needs and deserves – a fact that Martha Omasoro, co-founder of Momentum On, recognised last summer.

“Around the time of the Euros, there was a lot of debate around the lack of coverage for the competition and for women’s football in general, which made me think about the last time I engaged with or came across women’s football on my TV screen – and, honestly, it had been a long time.

“About a decade ago, I could name my favourite women’s football player. Contrast that to the 2022 Euros, when I couldn’t tell you much about the current England national team – that was a problem. This issue wasn’t solely mine; it was due to the lack of reporting and the documenting of women’s football, which was quite inconsistent and only really discussed when it came to victories and major sporting competitions.”

Women’s Super League games are broadcast on the BBC, Sky Sports and the FA Player – many games are easily viewable. But clashes with men’s fixtures and sometimes sub-par quality (technical glitches and adverse weather interfering with filming equipment) can – and do – impact viewership. Women’s games also don’t receive nearly as much attention as the men’s during mainstream football chat shows.

“When we talk about the coverage of women’s football, there’s still a lot that needs to be done,” says Jade Keshia Gordon, co-founder of Momentum On. She emphasises the need for the games to be played at club stadiums and broadcast on prime television. “Soon after the Euros, the first Arsenal game was televised and they played at the Emirates Stadium. But why did it take the women winning the Euros for that to happen?” Arsenal Women sold out the 60,704-seater Emirates Stadium for their Champions League semi-final second leg against Wolfsburg earlier in the year. The audience is here – the coverage quality needs to catch up. 

In an attempt to push for better quality (and quantity of) coverage, Omasoro and Keshia Gordon founded Momentum On. “It’s a philosophy we associate with the support and championing of sports played by women,” Omasoro explains. “It’s a simple belief: that we should keep the momentum (support/coverage) going whenever women are playing sports in order to inspire the next generation of athletes. We want Momentum On to highlight the importance of women’s football and the reflections from newer and longstanding fans about they perceive it and what changes can be made for the future of the sport in order to continue championing women.”

How can we continue to build momentum for the women’s game in-between major tournaments? Omasoro and Keshia Gordon say it’s largely down to footballing bodies, sponsors and the media to capitalise on teams’ success at tournaments such as the World Cup and bring that same energy to club fixtures. But, it’s also important for fans to engage and advocate for positive and lasting change. 

“We’ve started having discussions with fans and hearing their thoughts and predictions for how women’s sport can be taken more seriously,” Omasoro shares. “From this, we’ve started gathering predictions on our platform, Momentum On, that range from diverse representation in the England team and WSL and how that impacts younger girls from BIPOC backgrounds in wanting to continue with sports past their schooling years, to how the Euros transformed grassroots culture and can continue to do so with the needed coverage and support.”

Keshia Gordon adds: “I think more WSL and lower leagues games need to be shown and advertised on bigger platforms, such as Match Of The Day.” Omasoro agrees, suggesting it’s important for fans to hear from their favourite players outside of major sporting competitions. “It’s great that we’re now getting to build profiles of these athletes from the World Cup, but let’s continue to hear about them and the impact they are making throughout the year,” she says. 

We couldn’t agree more.

Images: Getty