Most of my views on women's sport are of course heavily influenced by my involvement as a coach in the sport and as the spouse of someone who was on the leading edge of women's soccer in our province and country. In North America, soccer as sport, regardless of gender, has an issue with visibility and popularity compared to the other more major sports, football, baseball and basketball and hockey and probably regionally with NASCAR in the US and the CFL in Canada. In some markets soccer is fairly down the ranking of watched sports and unfortunately still seen as a niche sport. It's fine to say that soccer is the world's most popular sport but someone who likes football as in the North American version is going to like no matter who many people worship soccer worldwide. Then add to that, to start talking about the women's version, well might just fall even further down the scale.
Even with the Olympic success of our Women's Hockey program and the significant viewership that occurs, it is really on anyone's radar every 4 years when the Winter Games roll around. However, being involved in a women's sport does allow me to have a notion of issues that affect all women's sports, not just soccer. I am in now way an expert but I do consider myself to have an above average knowledge on the subject. My involvement is not limited to coaching but having been on various committees and organizations focused on growing the game and increasing investment and visibility. I often use an anecdote about an organized bus trip I took part in to travel down to NYC to watch a preseason game between Manchester United and Juventus. We were playing a soccer trivial game trying to stump each other & I asked the question ; " Which Canadian soccer player has represented our country the most times ?". Quite a few people started throwing out names , all of them wrong course and after a while I gave the answer. "Charmaine Hooper" who at the time had over 100 caps. Within an instant, one of the individuals on the bus quickly answered " Yeah maybe but that doesn't count, it's women's soccer" I wonder if the attitude would be the same after two Olympic medals for the women, when our men's team has been to the Olympics since 1984 or a World Cup since 1986. Women and sports are two topics about which people tend to be long on opinion, even if they’re short on knowledge. So it’s no surprise that women’s sports are mired in misinformation. I'd like to try and dispel a few myths. As usual, most of my opinions are anchored in women's soccer. 1. Women’s sports don’t get enough media coverage. Despite serious strides in the past 25 years, female athletes continue to lag behind men when it comes to media coverage. Doesn't take a genius to conclude that the time devoted to women’s sports on local TV news or networks remain significantly lower compared with coverage men's sports overall. But it’s far from clear that media coverage of women’s sports doesn’t meet demand for it. If TV ratings are a meaningful gauge, then coverage of women’s sports is in proportion to their popularity. In tennis and figure skating for example, women’s championships are often more popular among regardless of gender, sports fans than men’s, and coverage of those events correlates. During the Olympics, many of the female side of sports receive a coverage that exceeds that of the male counterparts in the same sports. Of course if we look back to RIO 2016, our women athletes have the bulk of the success and sports like soccer, swimming, rugby 7s became the main story in coverage. Yes, it is hard for women’s sports to find an audience if the public isn’t given the chance to see them. But for media outlets, decisions about what to cover are market-driven. And the clamor for more coverage of women’s team sports doesn’t appear to be a clamor at all. 2. Men won’t watch women’s sports. Simply not true. In general, more men than women follow sports, outnumbering them 2 to 1 among viewers of major events.That isn't a surprise to anyone, but many studies show that this is actually true about watching sports in general. Men watch compelling sports, period.At some major events, Women's World Cup for the US market in 2015, Olympics in 2012 and 2016 for the Canadian market just as examples, more men watched the women's sports than women did. 3. Women’s pro sports leagues are viable. Every few years, a stellar performance at the Olympics or the World Cup prompts calls for professionalization of women’s sports. In 2001 Women’s United Soccer Association was launched following the US win at the 1999 World Cup. It was the first World Cup to get significant TV exposure, huge crowds and some emblematic moments ( Brandi Chastain anyone) Many people were quoted as saying “WUSA is an idea whose time has come." Empowerment aside, women’s team sports have yet to prove commercially viable as a stand-alone enterprise. The WUSA ended after three seasons. It was followed in 2009 by the similarly short-lived Women’s Professional Soccer. A third crack at women’s pro soccer was launched in 2013. The NWSL may have a chance, given the financial support it draws from U.S. Soccer and the Canadian Federation which bankroll the salaries of their top stars competing in the league.However the Mexican soccer federation pulled their support after feeling they were not getting enough return on the investment. The WNBA, is reaching 20 years of existence but would never have launched in 1997 and would have folded many times since had it not been financed by the NBA. The league started with eight NBA-owned teams playing in NBA arenas. It has expanded and retrenched over the years, and attendance and TV ratings have similarly grown and fallen. The WNBA recently signed a significant contract with ESPN, which reportedly pays the league $12 million a year, making it the most successful women’s pro league to date. But as business plans go, it has demanded significant investment with nominal return. A small side note to this point is the recent announcements made by US hockey and US soccer on agreements between the sports federations and their national pool players which call for significantly higher financial compensation. Add to this the forming of a union by NWSL non -allocated players (basically anyone not receiving financial support via their national programs) and this all points to a growing professionalism in these sports. World wide, women's professional leagues in soccer, basketball and volleyball for example have existed for years, maybe decades, but salaries still remain far below par as compared to the male counterparts. 4. Women’s sports would be more popular if players dressed provocatively. “Let the women play in more feminine clothes like they do in volleyball. They could, for example, have tighter shorts,” FIFA President Sepp Blatter suggested in 2004. “Female players are pretty, if you excuse me for saying so, and they already have some different rules to men — such as playing with a lighter ball. That decision was taken to create a more female aesthetic, so why not do it in fashion?” Other men charged with overseeing women’s sports have made the same argument. To be honest in 27 years coaching women's sports I have heard comments of this nature fairly regularly. As for people much less knowledgeable about sport in general. However when it comes from people in charge of sport, well just say it really counteracts all the efforts to grown the sport. During the the Women's World Cup in 2015, play by play was done by some older, male (and for a soccer culture reason, British accented male) who would make comments like, " she really is a cute girl the way she runs", or referenced how they wore their hair for example. I am a male, involved in a women's sport and I cringe every true I hear any comments of that nature. But if sex appeal was what it took to build a fan base, the Lingerie Football League would be thriving. Yet it doesn't so that point can get put to rest really quickly. I am a male, involved in a women's sport and I cringe every true I hear any comments of that nature. Women's sports can stand on their own. A compelling competitive moment, remains good sport. So instead of comparing women's sports to their male versions or trying to find reasons why they can't be viable or succeed who not just enjoy them for what they are. As always, just my opinion
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AuthorAfter many years of coaching at various levels and with different teams, I thought I would share some of my experiences and thoughts about coaching. Archives
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