Our eight-point plan to strengthen women’s football in England

An in-depth review of women’s football and how it can achieve sustainable growth “to achieve greater parity with men’s play” will be launched by the government this summer.

The findings are expected to be published by the end of 2022, but what could be discovered? Here is the Telegraph Sport’s own assessment of the major changes needed in the game of English women.

1. Expand the top leagues

In leagues with 12 teams, there are currently not enough matches in the home season, which reduces exposure to broadcasts and revenue opportunities in matches, and in addition, fans want more.

The WSL and the championship should be increased to at least 14 or 16 teams, as there are currently more clubs that want to go full-time than league places to achieve this.

Similarly, the system of advancing and relegating one up, one down, needs to be changed to allow more teams to move between divisions, especially between the third and second tier. Only one side (Southampton or Wolves) will advance from the third tier this summer and this constraint creates a bottleneck of talent stuck in the lower leagues.

2. Equalize access to football in schools and in the crowd

Since last year, less than two-thirds (only 63 per cent) of all schools in England have offered girls equal access to football in physical education classes, and the FA has targeted that figure to 75 per cent by 2024 with help from Barclays. The numbers are even lower for those who provide school circles.

The FA is working hard to persuade more schools to offer girls football, but really the number should already be 100%. Too many schools still accept the ideology of “boys learning rugby, football and cricket while girls learning netball, hockey and rounders” which is outdated and stifling growth.

In addition, too many home facilities are inadequate, as many teams report a lack of access to basic necessities such as changing rooms.

One solution would be to authorize Premier League clubs to invest a minimum percentage of their shocking annual revenue in community facilities, specifically to help women and girls, as part of their license to compete at the top. Another would be to ensure that all local councils provide a minimum number of hours per week where girls ’teams are available.

3. Beginnings at 11.30

Saturday’s morning introductory term was introduced in the WSL this season following the launch of a new broadcast contract with Sky Sports and the BBC, and the goal was simple: to avoid clashing with the big men’s matches on Saturday afternoon.

However, the early introductory term did not prove to be a hit with fans who go to matches – especially away fans – and it seems to be at odds with many children’s football games. For these reasons, the experiment should end to help increase traffic.

Sunday night was much more successful and Sky Sports football manager Gary Hughes revealed on Tuesday that they have an average of around 125,000 spectators per WSL live match – 170 per cent more than former BT Sport rights holders – and that their largest audience in this the term was 550,000 spectators for Manchester City against Tottenham, which started at 18.45 on Sunday, 12 September.

The October derby in Manchester was watched by a record 1.1 million spectators on BBC One, which took place on Saturday at 13.30.

4. Increase access to modern stadiums

Barcelona’s recent off-field success, which attracted two separate more than 91,000 crowds at the Nou Camp to break women’s football attendance records twice in one month, showed what can be achieved with successful marketing.

But what should not be underestimated is the power of hosting a women’s team at the club’s main stadiuminstead at some of the diverse, gray parks that most have to play at.

The experience of the fans on many of the women’s team’s pitches leaves much to be desired, with fans usually exposed to the weather, often without a roof or using toilets in portable buildings at half-time.

Worse, these venues are rarely easily accessible by public transport, further denying families access. Poor stadium capacity also affects the media, such as the lack of access to ISDN lines for radio coverage, which means that some clubs do not receive the exposure they need on radio waves. A higher proportion of games played in the usual homes of the men’s team would be a big step towards equality.