Good Value But A Sense Of Disappointment As Women’s Season Starts

The new domestic season in the women’s game starts this weekend and the main focus will be on a team who are playing their first ever competitive fixture.

Manchester United Women, newly-formed this summer and with a coaching staff and squad built from scratch, meet Liverpool FC Women at Tranmere’s Prenton Park on Sunday (2pm) in the Continental Tyres Cup.

Liverpool, now under the management of Neil Redfearn, will be expecting to challenge for the FA Women’s Super League (FAWSL) title this season while United are entering the system one level below, in the FA Women’s Championship.

Their arrival is the major headline from yet another restructure of the women’s game, one that has seen some clubs jump two divisions into the WSL while others have found the financial requirements of entry into either the WSL or the Championship too onerous and who have been forced to drop down into the new FA Women’s National League (FAWNL) which also kicks off this weekend.

Local to me that includes Sheffield FC Ladies and Doncaster Rovers Belles with Sheffield losing a status they fought so hard to attain and Belles suffering for a second time from a restructure despite winning FA WSL2 last season under Redfearn’s management.

I’ll always look to highlight the positives of the women’s game and that certainly includes good value, competitive football in a family-friendly atmosphere.

The Liverpool versus Manchester United game, for instance will cost just £5 for Adults to attend (£12 for a family) while the new United team have season tickets available for £39 Adults and £20 for Under 16's/65+.

Those kind of season ticket prices can be found at many of the clubs in both the WSL and the Championship, £25 for an Adult and £50 for a Family at Reading FC Women for example.

But there is still something missing for me and it’s a sense that one of the two key narratives (the first being the battle over 90 minutes) that should be in place when you watch a match has been disrupted, namely that the result should feed into the league table and the final league table should be the only determining factor in where a team plays the following season, not whether the champions then meet licence criteria that seem to expressly jeopardise smaller clubs.

The excellent She Kicks website keeps up to date with developments in the women’s game.