It was a huge boost for Women’s sport in Australia, and sport in general when it was announced last week that the FIFA Women’s World Cup will be hosted by Australia and New Zealand in 2023.
The withdrawal of first Brazil, and then Japan made it a two horse race in terms of the bids. It came down to Colombia versus Australia and New Zealand. While there can be no doubt that Australia learned a great deal from its disastrous bid for the Men’s World Cup the way in which Australia and New Zealand have handled the Covid 19 Pandemic clearly had an influence on those voting. As the two countries are more likely to be back on the economic road to recovery far quicker than many other nations.
What is frustrating to many fans of the game was that those in power did not look to host the Women’s World Cup earlier, and instead went after something that was never going to eventuate at that point in time, the Men’s World Cup hosting rights.
Tom Sermanni had done a great job with limited funds to have the Matildas win the Asia Cup and become one of the most feared nations in Women’s Football. When Alen Stajcic took over finally more money was made available for this talented group of young women, who realistically had a chance of going all the way in the 2019 Women’s World Cup. Sadly, and many of these women will look back on this tournament with deep regret, they never played to their potential as the campaign was derailed following the still unexplained sacking of Stajcic five months out from the tournament. Even the review into the process and reasons for his sacking was botched, and those carrying out the review failed to speak to the man himself.
While many not surprisingly came out in support of his replacement Ante Milicic, they will with the passing of time no doubt look back on an opportunity missed, as the group failed to fulfil their own potential.
Now with a home World Cup looming the weight of expectation will be even greater. Yet will the squad in three years time be as strong and experienced as the one that set off for France with high hopes? Yes, the FFA has started blooding young players with potential, but will they be at the level required in three years? Will there be the number of tournaments for them to play in prior to the World Cup and gain that experience post Covid 19?
Sections of the Australian media are bound to heap huge expectations on the shoulders of these young women. The hyperbole has already started.
When the announcement was made it was reported by many that the FIFA Women’s World Cup “is the biggest women’s sporting event.”
The question here is how do you quantify “big?” In terms of television audiences the Men’s FIFA World Cup is first and the Olympic Games come in third after the Tour de France. Yet in terms of investment to host these events the Olympics outstrips every sporting event.
In terms of the average attendance per game at International sporting events the FIFA World Cup slips to third behind the Six Nations Rugby Union and the UEFA European Championships.
The Women’s World Cup in France in 2019 did boast the highest average attendance for a Women’s International sporting event. Yet the English Women’s FA Cup had a higher average attendance than that World Cup event.
In terms of the largest crowd at a Women’s International sporting event the event still holds that record from 21 years ago. In 1999 at the FIFA Women’s World Cup final at California’s Rose Bowl, 90,815 fans clicked through the turnstiles. Despite a huge marketing campaign at the Women’s T20 World Cup in Australia earlier this year they tried to break that record. Cricket could not surpass it but came close with an impressive 86,174 fans turning up to watch Australia beat India.
The 1999 record will not be passed in 2023 either as the biggest capacity available is 70,000 at Stadium Australia in Sydney.
Having the world record for the largest crowd at one game is that enough to lay claim to being the biggest women’s sport? Or do you judge it on the investment made, the average crowd per game or the television audience? As each as shown will throw up different answers.
When it comes to money, female footballers are a long way behind their male counterparts. The same is true in Basketball. However despite the playing-salary gap in team sports, the number of marketing opportunities have opened up in recent years for female athletes. This is in the main thanks to the growth of social media platforms.
Female athletes now have a way to connect with their fans that is not reliant on Television in order to build a fan base and connectivity to the consumers that brands want to reach. However this takes a great deal of time and effort on behalf of the athlete if they wish to maintain that personal touch, and a professional reputation.
To back up this argument USA Women’s player Alex Morgan is the highest paid female footballer in the world, and in 2019 was the 12th highest female athlete with earnings of USD$5.8million. Endorsements from such companies as Nike, Coca-Cola, Beats, AT&T, Continental Tyres and Volkswagen made up USD$5.5million of that. Her salary from playing football was just $250,000.
The top ten highest paid women in sport in 2019 all came from the World of Tennis. So in terms on money earned does that make Tennis the biggest sport for women?
This is undoubtedly a big event for Australia and New Zealand. It is a feather in the cap of those who put the bid together. Timing in this instance was everything. The event should do a great deal for women’s sport, it should inspire many young women to take up the game. It may also break down many misconceptions around the world as to how the game is viewed in Australia. Many frequently trotting out the line that this ‘is not a football nation.’
Work will need to be done in the next three years too boost the appeal and the image of both the W-League and the A-League. These are the flagship competitions and there will be far more attention paid to them now that a major event such as the World Cup is heading to Australia.
The biggest issue though over the next three years will be management of the media. The FFA would be wise to employ consultants or a specialist in this area to try and temper expectations on the Matildas, and have the media focus on the team as a whole rather than individuals. Too much focus on one player builds resentment within a team, and also puts unwanted added pressure on the individual.
It goes without saying that there will be continued sniping attacks from the AFL-entrenched sections of the media, who will see this as a very real threat to their privileged place. We witnessed it with the Socceroos, and now with the Matildas being the focal point of a sport loving nation, playing in a world event at home those attacks could become even more venomous. Sadly they reflect badly on the nation as a whole, not just those who are guilty of such behaviour.
This team is going to need the support of a nation to help carry it through the tournament. To many the jury is out as to whether Ante Milicic is the right man at the helm. There is also the fear that many of the current crop of Matildas will be past their best by 2023, but hopefully there are players coming through who can fill their boots. Maybe we will see that the development in the Women’s game is in fact superior to that in the men’s.
In the meantime it is vital that the stadia are brought up to the required standards befitting a World Cup. That the process of educating the average Australian sports fan begins. That includes introducing the players to the public on a broader scale, pushing the history of the team, ( The Book “Never Say Die” Podcast #72 is a good place to start), and making sure that this sporting nation knows the team past and present and has a reason to embrace it, and be proud of those wearing the Green and Gold and representing them in 2023.
