Deadline Day for women’s football
Hackney Laces has been around for over a decade. We were here before Women’s football became ‘cool’. We were here when ‘professional’ women playing for Premier League Clubs had to PAY to PLAY. We were here when it was near impossible to find a girl's team, let alone a pitch to book.
We are one of the lucky ones. We’ve had great supporters, members, team players and volunteers who’ve all advocated for us. And we’ve grown our network of sister clubs across the country, creating more than a thousand Laces members, united in our vision that football can be for everyone.
But we can’t talk about our history or look positively towards our future without calling out all the big talk talked and zero investment made in women’s football.
After sending over one hundred emails (yes, we’ve kept the receipts) to businesses asking for partnerships, we’ve received only five responses. Of those five, three were polite nos. The other two came with conditions. One asked if we were a charity (as that would be easier to fund) and one asked if we could provide underrepresented groups for their marketing as part of a partnership agreement. No thanks. Hard pass.
We are not a trend. We are not a box to tick. We are certainly not a charity (men’s football isn’t so why should we be?). Where are the brands backing the women? Not just at the professional level but in our communities, backing our grassroots clubs?
Over the next two weeks we will watch as billions change hands before the Premiership transfer window closes. That is an insane amount of money. Now compare that to the £250 to £500 pots being offered to women’s football at the grassroots level. Still as low as they were in 2011, when Hackney Laces was born. They don’t even reflect inflation, let alone cover the costs of six weeks of sessions if you’re a London-based club and you have costs like pitch fees. They also don’t reflect the huge increase in the number of girls wanting to join, inspired by the huge achievements of the Lionesses.
Remember that most professional footballers start at a grassroots club. Laces partner and European Championship-winning Lioness Lotte Wubben Moy grew up in a grassroots club in East London, and others that came before her did as well.
We’re not interested in consuming the feeds of brands who have pumped millions of marketing pounds into talking about women’s football. We see you - the ones who see the Women’s World Cup as a topical event in their brand’s 2023 calendar and the ones who think in our current equity-seeking world it’s ok to continue to give men a maddening disproportionate share of investment dollars.
So as this transfer window closes, spare a thought for thousands of grassroots clubs like Laces. We are searching for partners who are investing in action and actual legacy. Please join us in advocating for real, sustainable investment in grassroots football for women and girls.
Yours,
Hackney, Limehouse, Manchester & South London Laces