Karen Carney claims women’s football is not built on ‘solid foundations’ and insists the Government and clubs must invest to build on the Lionesses success
Karen Carney claims women’s football is not built on ‘solid foundations’ and insists government and clubs must invest to build on the Lionesses’ success
- Carney warned investment is needed despite the Lionesses World Cup run
- The ex-star from England claimed that the foundations of women’s play are built on sand
- WATCH: ‘It All Begins’ – Episode 2 – The brand new football show from Mail Sport
Karen Carney has urged the government and elite clubs to invest more in the women’s game after warning that the sport is not built on solid foundations.
On Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football, Carney was asked how to sustain the growth and development of women’s football after England reached the World Cup final.
The Lionesses were eventually beaten 1–0 by Spain in Sydney, just a year after being crowned European champions.
Carney warned that the England team’s success has created the impression that the women’s game was in a “nice and shiny” position.
The former England international, who chaired a review commissioned by the government, believes more investment is needed in facilities and at the lower levels of the pyramid.
Karen Carney argues that the foundations of the women’s game need to be restored, despite England’s success
England finished second at the Women’s World Cup after being defeated by Spain in the final
“Players in the Championship still have £5,000 and work to do the full job – so that when you’re playing quality opponents it’s just the level of competitiveness that’s not there, the minimum standards and the facilities aren’t good enough,” said Carney.
Women players are treated as second-class citizens. That’s not my opinion, that’s what I’ve been told throughout this review.
“There’s still some really big foundations that we need to fix, the lionesses at the top of the pyramid are doing well, but the pipeline, you know the shortfall in the academy, it’s 88 million for boys, but 3.25 million for girls.
“Some parts of that pipeline in academies aren’t funded, so there’s a large group of girls who don’t get money to go to the next level.”
Carney insisted that with the right investments, women’s sports could become a multibillion-dollar industry within a decade.
The former England international called on the government and clubs to help fund investments to solve the game’s existing problems.
“You know that everyone has a responsibility. The government is doing it, clubs are doing it, everyone has a responsibility to really help with the women’s game investment,” Carney said.
Carney highlighted problems with facilities in the Women’s Championship as one of the main problems
“It’s a start-up company. If I were to go to a particular program and say how many millions of people are watching this, it’s a great return on your investment as a company, and something will come in the long run.
“People laughed at me when I said it could be a billion pound industry in 10 years, but when there are millions of people watching, something is not quite right in the planning.
“But there is appetite and talk and things are moving in the right direction.
“But there’s still that Instagram versus reality and we need to fix that for the sport to really thrive because it’s still built on sand.
It is not built on solid foundations. Some of them are doing well, those are the Lionesses, but the rest need a lot of help.’