We are just five days away from the biggest moment in the history of women’s football in this country. On Wednesday, the national team will make their first-ever appearance in a major championship when they play their opening group match of Euro 2017. And the Scots couldn’t have wished for a bigger occasion to kick-off their campaign, taking on England in Utrecht in their first game.
When Scotland secured qualification for Euro 2017 in September of last year, I was hugely optimistic that this was a turning point for the women’s game in this country. After a number of near misses when it came to qualifying for major tournaments, they had finally made it. It was a well-deserved achievement for a group of players who have been steadily improving in recent years. The profile of women’s football in this country in general has grown significantly in recent years too, with a greater presence in both print and broadcast media. And there is, undoubtedly, greater name recognition of Scotland’s best players.
So the Euros was, I believed, the perfect platform which had come at exactly the right time to boost the women’s game in Scotland. It should be anyway – all of Scotland (and England’s) matches are live on Channel 4 and with no Olympic or Commonwealth Games or men’s football tournament clashing with Euro 2017, the schedule is wide open which should, in theory, give the tournament the space to attract a significant audience.
However, Euro 2017 may be an historic moment for women’s football in this country, but how many people outwith the sporting bubble actually know it’s happening? The amount of coverage in the build-up has been disappointingly low and the excitement levels just two days before the tournament starts are, outwith football circles, practically non-existent.
I am always sceptical of the claim that major events will transform grassroots participation levels in any sport, but you can be sure that there will be few young girls having their eyes opened to the possibility of trying football for the first time if they barely even know that the national team are in Euro 2017.
I am loath to compare men’s football to women’s –as it is like comparing apples to tractors – but it is impossible to imagine that there would be such a low-key fanfare as the men’s team approached an appearance in a major tournament.
So who is at fault for this absence of an all-singing, all- dancing build-up? In reality, there is no one party to blame but the first stop has to be the Scottish Football Association. Why are they not shouting from the rooftops about the women’s team? The fact that their opening match of the tournament is against the Auld Enemy makes it as easy a sell as you could possibly wish for. Yet the SFA, for whatever reason, have not been as forthcoming as, I think, the media would have hoped in this build-up. Where’s the push to engage the Tartan Army? There has, it seems, been no such push.
There has long been rumours that some within the SFA upper echelons are not unadulterated fans of the women’s game. There are many who apparently feel that men’s manager, Gordon Strachan, is not a fan of the women’s team while there are others who suggest that chief executive, Stewart Regan, could also do more to promote the women’s game inside the governing body. These rumours may or may not be true but the lack of promotion of the women’s team’s maiden appearance in a major tournament does nothing to convince me that the SFA is keen to do everything in its power to boost the women’s game. The governing body has missed a trick here and that is unforgivable.
The team itself are not blameless either. The recent media blackout by the players, which arose due, they said, to the lack of respect and support they were being afforded by the SFA, as well as financial issues, could have been handled better. I wholeheartedly supported the team’s stance but in refusing to tell the media exactly what the dispute was about, they missed a chance to get the public right behind their cause.
Whatever has been done rightly or wrongly in the build-up though, is small fry in comparison to the importance of the team performing well on the pitch. Good performances and impressive results in the next few weeks are vital if the women’s game is to garner respect from those who know little about women’s football. The England match will be tough while their third group match, against Spain could, potentially, be even tougher. The group is completed by Portugal which is, for the Scots, a must-win game. The absence of several of Scotland’s best players through injury is a huge hindrance and a significant blow but unfortunately, there is little room for excuses in elite sport. Without good results, the level of interest back home will dwindle.
Things could have been done better in the lead-up to this tournament by all parties, but if Scotland can rise to the occasion, Euro 2017 could still, ultimately, be a huge moment for women’s football in this country. Let’s just hope that in a month’s time, when the tournament is over, everyone who wanted this summer to be a turning point for the women’s game isn’t ruing a missed opportunity.
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