AS THE 2023 Fifa Women’s World Cup kicks off this week in Australia and New Zealand, viewers will be able to watch the opening games involving both host nations live on the BBC and ITV.

New Zealand’s game against Norway opens the tournament, kicking off at 8am on Thursday morning British Summer Time and being broadcast on BBC1. 

It is followed by Australia against the Republic of Ireland on ITV at 11 am, with England’s first game, against Haiti, being shown on ITV at 10.30 am on Saturday.

This blanket coverage of every game, not just the home nations, on terrestrial TV means it could be one of the most watched women’s football tournaments in history. 

The kick-off times will not be considered prime time viewing slots in many countries, but as is usually the case of women’s sports, if it is readily available to watch, and not awkwardly hidden behind a streaming service or red button, people will watch it.

This has been shown to be the case by increased attendance and viewing figures in recent times. 

The availability, affordability, and accessibility of the game have been important to its resurgence. 

It has offered something more family-oriented (mainly thanks to being able to buy multiple tickets for a reasonable price — games can feature the aggression and ruckus of top-level competitive sport) and diverse in contrast to the un-affordability and toxicity of the men’s game at the top level.

But this accessibility was almost obstructed by Fifa who left it until the last minute to agree broadcast deals for this summer’s World Cup.

At one point it looked like the tournament would not be available to watch on TV at all. The governing body held out until the last minute for better broadcasting deals as they were selling the Women’s World Cup as a separate package for the first time.

Fifa has always been tentative about women’s football. Even when the global governing body organised the first women’s world cup using the Fifa name in 1991, National Football Museum archives show the official name as the 1st Fifa World Championship for Women’s Football for the M&Ms Cup, stating that “Fifa were reluctant to call it the World Cup at the time.”

Fifa was probably shocked by some of the lower fees tabled for the 2023 World Cup, and in some ways was right to bargain for better deals that reflect the quality and high level of entertainment provided by the women’s game, but at the same time, the game still needs to be able to attract broad interest as it continues its recovery. High fees for broadcasters can be a stumbling block to that.

The recent Uefa Women’s Euros just last year felt like a landmark event for women’s football following decades of the sport being kicked purposely into the long grass.

During this resurgence, it can be easy to forget that the game was banned by the English FA for more than half of the 20th century, which seems almost unbelievable now.

The FA were put out that they had no control over the increasing amounts of money coming into the women’s game, and that women’s football teams were supporting miners who were locked out after coalmines returned to private ownership after World War I. 

On the back of these issues which were unfavourable to the FA coffers, they moved to halt the game’s development altogether.

The lasting effects of that 50-year ban effectively made it much longer, and 102 years after it was enacted, the game is only just beginning to recover to previous levels. Before that ban, women’s football was as popular as it is once again becoming.

This increase in attendance and viewership isn’t unusual, or necessarily surprising to anyone who follows the game and knows its history. But it is nevertheless remarkable in its own way given the ban which prevented it from taking off alongside the men’s game.

Women’s football is now merely starting to return to the levels it was at prior to that ban. A sense of normality restored, and a move towards, if not yet arrived at, equality in the sport.

Fifa’s hawking of the broadcast rights for this World Cup as a separate package is another step towards women’s football regaining its independence and self-sufficiency. Something that was taken away from it, in the English game at least, by the FA.

But as this happens, and as increased support and viewing numbers lead to more money in the game, it needs to be careful that the right structures are in place and the money, rewards and benefits go to the right places, ie, the players, staff, and fans, many of whom still remember a time when women’s football was not at all on the national radar. That time wasn’t so long ago.

It’s worth pointing out that the Morning Star newspaper has long covered women’s football, even prior to its recent, more lucrative resurgence. It was putting women’s football on the back pages long before other national outlets (re)discovered the game.

Former Arsenal defender and now high-profile football pundit and presenter Alex Scott once wrote a women’s football column for the paper, while one of the most prominent women’s football writers, Suzy Wrack of the Guardian, once covered the game in the pages of the Morning Star, writing in 2017 one of the best pieces about the FA ban and the support from women’s football for the coal miners after the first world war.

It is good to see those who covered the game when no-one else was now getting the rewards in the form of full-time jobs and the resources to cover a World Cup on the ground as far afield as Australia and New Zealand.

There is still a long way to go, though. Some women’s football journalists needed crowd funders (started by their readers) in order to make the trip, while others will have missed out altogether.

Even the Jamaica team that qualified for the tournament were forced to crowdfund to afford accommodation and meals so they could then focus on the tournament in a professional manner.

The game and the issues surrounding it need to be readily available and accurately reported on if it is to overcome the barriers it has faced throughout its history, and still faces to this day.

Fifa not being able to agree on TV rights deals globally for this tournament would have been a massive step backwards for the game as it looks to build momentum, but eventual agreements in the UK with the BBC and ITV mean every game will be broadcast and, given the kick-off times, should be prime breakfast TV viewing for the next month.