Kicking Off: Pull Yourselves Together

In the magazine’s recurring opinion slot, Richard Payne argues that Scottish women’s football, and the SWPL in particular, is badly let down by its own promotion. Drawing on sixteen months working with the official Scottish Women’s Football website and a decade with men’s professional clubs, he says none of the women’s clubs could claim to have the game’s best interests at heart. Some are too controlling, sanctioning interviews only if they can vet questions and supply answers, producing bland copy in which every player sounds the same; others engage with the media only when they win. He questions whether a league without a major sponsor benefits from coverage dominated by Glasgow City, and proposes a collective Sunday-evening press release carrying reports and quotes from every club.