July 14, 2001

Coverage of women's international soccer in England

Steven Ridgeway

The coverage of the England Womens National Team was just as non-existent as the apathy shown by the Italian media,. A few brief newspaper column inches regarding the upcoming matches against Russia, Norway and Germany in the European Championship indicated just how disinterested they considered their readers were about our national team. Television coverage was restricted to satellite station Eurosport, terrestrial sports news didn't even mention any game. Although the results weren't particularly good (losing to Germany at soccer seems to afflict both sexes) the media coverage was extremely poor. The different treatment for the men's game will be highlighted when the Mens National Team play Germany in a World Cup qualifier on Sept 1st. National hysteria will prevail once again. Football really is the "beautiful game" whether it is played by men or women, active football participation should be encouraged and the media must play its part in attracting everyone to embrace it.