MANCHESTER UNITED WEEKLY TALK: THE LONG OVERDUE ISSUE YET TO BE ADDRESSED AT OLD TRAFFORD
Original Image from @ManGirlsUtd. Manchester United women's official Twitter account
Is this all-baseless accusation or is there a little bit of unfairness within the grounds of Old Trafford?
If anyone is confused by what today’s article is about well then here is a gentle way of easing the readers into the main topic of today’s article: when was the last time the viewers outside the United Kingdom got anything resembling a full coverage of a match or even half an hours' worth of coverage in any sports shows that talks about matters concerning the Manchester United’s women's team?
In case anyone is deliberating for over a minute or more in search of the answer to a question that should have a relatively simple answer then the truth is that we might have already discovered a problem Manchester United football club have failed to address for quite some time and the answer is basically sexism.
In fairness, there is yet to be a %100 guarantee that the decision currently shown by Manchester United’s consistent lack of coverage for the Manchester United women is in fact based on sexism. For such a decision to be made the decision will have to be backed by various, undeniable, facts and evidence which shows that Manchester United football club has intentionally downplayed promoting the Manchester United women's team so far in comparison to the massive promotions invested towards the Manchester United men’s team.
After an impressive start to this season’s campaign in the women's division where Manchester United sits on top of the women's Premier League table, sports media outlets appear hesitant to turn their attention to the impressive start to the season shown by manager Cassie Stoney’s ladies. But the issue is facing women's sports is partly the lack of large interest invested in women's sport in general.
As a result of the lack of interest in women’s sports, club’s such as Manchester United have failed to improve the marketing level invested into the Manchester United’s women’s team and as a result of the lack of support invested in the direction of the Manchester United women's team by Manchester United football club. Manager Casey Stone’s team has, unfortunately, had to make do with living in the shadows of the men’s team. A situation that highlights just how much Sexism has been ignored in sports and a situation that highlights just how much Sexism has been consistently ignored in the modern world.
"It's in 2020. How long has the Premier League been around? And we're only just seeing a club like Manchester United put effort and pounds towards a women's team? Frankly, it's disgraceful,”
"I think women's football in England is the same as in America - it is so far behind because of what we've had to overcome in the lack of investment,” Rapinoe told BBC.
"Men are so often paid and compensated on the potential that they show, not necessarily what they've done," Rapinoe told NPR in an interview about her new memoir, “One Life.” "And women are so often paid on what they've actually done — which normally I would say, we outperform what our contract was."
(Megan Rapinoe, The Hill.com. November 10,2020)
While there is still no clear evidence to back the claim of even salaries distributed between male and footballers, a claim made by the captain U.S.A national team captain Megan Rapino earlier in the year 2020, there is certainly visible evidence that the Manchester United women’s team are being subjugated to lack of match broadcasting on television and lack of exposure through various social media outlets. Luxuries have been continuously provided to the Manchester United team in abundance over the past several years.
As of November 2020, Manchester United football club has not provided any response to the remarks made by USA Women’s National team captain Megan Rapino in May 2020 which suggests that Manchester United Board members have chosen to not respond to the topic in hopes the issue will be forgotten over the next couple of months. The bigger issue with the choice of ignoring the topic is what will the decision of not addressing the problem mean for Manchester United’s women’s team? A long future in the shadows of Manchester United’s men’s team?
At the moment, the one reliable station who has commendably taken on the responsibility of broadcasting the 2020/21 Women Soccer League appear to be the popular sports channel NBCSN who has announced at the early stage of September 2020 that NBCSN will air the 2020/21 Women’s Soccer League on their platform. A noble decision which the NBCSN station deserves credit for taking the decision of providing a platform that allows female footballer the rightfully deserved opportunity to display their talents and at the same time provides a platform that allows more viewers the opportunity to display their football talents to the world.
But while credit is given where credit is due, probing questions as to why an important decision which promotes equality and decisions that clearly encourages the battle sexism such as the decision to air matches from the female soccer league took so long to happen? More than a decade!
Finally, the excitement around the Women’s Soccer League and the recent win over the right to be aired on national television will be viewed as a massive step towards building gender equality in the world of Sports, and fans of the WSL will be excitedly looking forward to next season resuming in 2021. In response to the new television schedule provided for the Women’s Soccer League NBCSN President of Programing Jon Miller had this to say:
“We’re excited to partner with Atlanta Media to bring this world-class Women’s Super League competition to U.S. television for the first time.”
(Joe Prince Right- Joh Miller. President, Programing, NBC Sport & NBC Sports Network. Sep 2, 2020.)
The year 2021 should place a magnified eye on teams such as Manchester United in hopes of witnessing positive steps taken by Manchester United football club in elevating the game in favor of the Manchester United women’s team through investing in more women's matches broadcasted on television for the broader audience to witness.
A step in the right direction indeed as we wait to see what Manchester United have in store for their women's team in 2021.
