Now Ladies.. when you hear the term ‘Football’… what springs to mind?! Apart from it being the most popular sport worldwide..
How about a large rectangular pitch, with 11 ball hungry men, running back and forth with a shared desire to score that all important match winning goal?!!
Well if that’s it then you share the view of many, however why do we often automatically think of those players as being ‘male’.. female’s play too and are actually rather good at it! Ever seen the film ‘Bend It Like Beckham’.. Need we say more! 
Women’s association football has been played since the late 1800′s, yet back then the sport was often played for exercise and leisure rather than on a professional, competitive level.
Due to heavy demand, The Women’s Football Association (WFA) was later formed in 1969 with 44 member clubs. The ball was rolling for women’s football and the sport grew at a steady pace, on a domestic and international level.
The years that followed saw later key developments within the sport including, the 1999 FIFA Women’s World Cup hosted by the USA. The final game between the USA and China, became the most watched women’s sporting event in history, boasting over 90,000 fans and a sell out stadia. A statistic that could match any top flight male football game.. not bad hey!
The USA continues to dominate the sport on an international level today with nations such as Germany and Brazil closely behind them on the FIFA women’s world ranking list, introduced in 2003. England Ladies are currently ranked 10th with encouraging and impressive achievements in recent years.
Qualifying for two World Cups, in 1995 and 2007 and a European Championships Final in 2009, are the most credible to date.
With that in mind and the steady success of the sport worldwide, it was announced by the FA late last year that a new ‘Super League’ for women’s football in the UK would take place in this Summer.
The FAWSL (Women’s Super League) will be played during the summer months of 2011 and features eight teams from across the UK competing for the first Super League title.
Arsenal, Birmingham, Bristol, Chelsea, Doncaster, Everton, Liverpool and Lincoln, will all battle it out twice over 14 match rounds. These games can be watched on sports channel ESPN or via the FAWSL website:
The first ever FAWSL match took place last night with Arsenal Ladies FC taking on Chelsea Ladies FC. The fixture went in North London’s favour, as they beat their West London rivals by a single goal scored by defender, Gilly Flaherty.
In front of a crowd of over 2,000 supporters, and amongst a slight media frenzy both sides knew the importance of the landmark game and the start of the long awaited league.
The late kick off saw Doncaster Rovers Belles face local rivals Lincoln Ladies in their WSL debut. The points went to the away side as The Belles started their league campaign with a 1-0 victory also, Vicky Exley on the score sheet.
So ladies.. it may be new to you, but all the tools are now there for you to work with! Women’s Football is here to stay, and if the opening games are anything to go by the Summer Super League will be one to remember.
Support your fellow females and keep updated on the WSL with our the Girls Sport Talk twitter page:
http://twitter.com/GirlsSportTalk
Or tune into the weekly highlights show on ESPN.
Association Football is the world’s most popular sport, and with new research showing more females showing interest in the game.. Move over guys, here come the girls!!!
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