Column: England should be looking at the opposite of a franchise league for the BWSL

Chelsea head coach Emma Hayes has suggested a closed franchise league could be a consideration for the future of the top level of English women's football, but it just feels like a non-starter...

Chelsea head coach Emma Hayes is among those involved in a review of the women’s game in England. Image: David Klein / Sportimage

Former England international Karen Carney is currently chairing an “ongoing review” into the future of women’s football in the United Kingdom, launched by the UK Government last September, in order to continue the progress the sport has made, but to ensure it has a sustainable and thriving future.

The likes of Emma Hayes and more recently Ian Wright and Hope Powell have been brought on board to offer their insight and experience when it comes to shaping the future of the women’s game, with a whole host of ideas on the table to drive the sport forward.

Comments on Wednesday morning from Chelsea head coach Hayes regarding potentially making the Barclays Women’s Super League a closed league have already been widely derided by both fans and even some players within the sport, though to balance it out, this is what Hayes actually said before we delve into whether it would or wouldn’t work, and why so many would be against it.

Speaking about her role in the review to several publications, Hayes was quoted as saying, “I’ve worked in (a franchise league) in the United States. I like the idea of relegation and promotion from a traditional perspective but it doesn’t mean we should be hamstrung by it.

“We should be open about it. I’ve seen the successes of promoting franchise type leagues and the consistency that can place in running it.

“The Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) is a great example. We should be open to everything. Everything shouldn’t always be compared to something that is either traditional or just because of the men’s game. We should have an openness about reflecting on the pluses and minuses.”

Hayes is throwing out an opinion - which is fair enough - and while the headlines don’t always tell the full story, she also admits she is by no means against the current format which sees one team relegated to the Championship and one team come the other way, and it’s the same story in the FA Women’s National League up to the Championship and vice versa.

The crucial point in reality is when Hayes talks about a “traditional perspective”, which is the crux of the issue at hand.

The reality is people are very used to what they watch, in any sport, in any country.

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In England, promotion and relegation and the thrill of the chase and pressure at both ends of the table is what has helped the game thrive over the years and offered so many dramatic moments in both the men’s and women’s game, as well as the play-off system in the men’s game.

Hayes is clearly referring to her time spent coaching in America where she was briefly head coach of the Chicago Red Stars when bringing in her experience of a franchised league.

She is well placed to make a comparison, much more so than I am, but America too is well endowed in their own traditions, and that is no promotion or relegation, in either NWSL or MLS.

The NWSL system is based off a competitive balance which many yearn for here, but yearn for it in a system which would never allow it, as those at the top spend the money they have and those below simply hope to keep up.

That in itself is an argument for a franchised league, but the manufactured nature of it has caused controversy when it has reared its head in the WSL in the past, and we’ll come onto that later.

US and Canada Soccer allocates its internationally contracted players to teams across the league on an even balance, and while it makes for a nice competitive spread across the league before you take into account trades, drafts and transfers, it’s something which would probably never happen elsewhere - though the notion of Ella Toone and Alessia Russo turning out for Reading is an intriguing one!

That’s absolutely not to say a franchised WSL would take on every tradition, rule and law from NWSL, certainly not, the main qualm is the idea of a closed shop as many would class it.

As mentioned, promotion and relegation has been a mainstay of the UK game at all levels, the crescendo of the end of the season and the end of a year of hard work, blood, sweat and tears.

So many images of players sinking to their knees, teary-eyed from either unbridled joy or desperate heartache are entrenched in the minds of all UK football supporters, and that is something that simply can never be taken away.

But, it should be remembered the WSL already has ,more than a hint of a franchised league and that should never be forgotten.

Any team promoted to the league has to prove they can meet various licence criteria, as does any team promoted from the FA WNL to the Championship.

When the WSL launched in 2011, teams had to show they had the funding to meet the £70k given by the FA to all original eight clubs or they would not be given a spot, leading to clubs such as Leeds United falling out of the top division, where they’ve never returned.

For three seasons there was no promotion and relegation until the FA WSL 2 was created in 2014, and promotion and relegation was welcomed into the top level of the women’s game.

But it’s also when the FA once again opened up the licencing, allowing Manchester City to springboard into the top division at the expense of the historic Doncaster Rovers Belles, a decision which still rankles many even almost a decade on.

When the leagues were again restructured on a grander scale again in 2018, the Championship changed beyond all recognition with the likes of Manchester United, Charlton Athletic, Crystal Palace, Sheffield United, Leicester City and Lewes earning spots based on off-pitch criteria rather than success on it, while West Ham United and Brighton & Hove Albion jumped straight into the top division.

That is where the moral qualms come in, because while the restructures have always been unpopular, it did aid both leagues, particularly the second division which has now become ultra-competitive amidst an arms race to get to the top division.

This season though is a great example of why what happens on the pitch should always do the talking. While Bristol City are in pole position to return to the WSL, their main rivals are London City Lionesses, an independent club sourcing their own outside funding and have put together a very competitive side.

In a franchised league where licences only open every few years, any independent side would struggle to make a case for promotion over bigger, more established names, yet on the pitch they are doing the business and if they won the league they will have more than earned their spot in the top division.

That is in essence why we can never lose the traditions of our game, because in the UK it has always been about what happens on the pitch, even if it means a system which allows the rich to get richer and stretch their advantage and leave everyone else behind. It is on those below to invest further.

As several players in the leagues below have already commented regarding some of Hayes’s views, what we should actually be doing is going the other way. The Championship currently only has one promotion spot, as does the National League to the Championship, and given the competitiveness of the leagues, this isn’t enough.

Teams in the second tier are pouring money in to their clubs in the hope of reaching the promised land, but if one team happens to run away with things, what else is there left to play for? From 2015 until the restructure, two teams went up from the Championship, or FA WSL 2 as it was, and that remained the way even for the first season after the restructure, when the league was much less competitive than it is now.

So, now with a whole host of full-time teams capable of promotion and trying to compete with those in the BWSL, why has it gone backwards? This is a question the FA has never quite answered clearly, and season after season fans question why there is still just one promotion and relegation spot between various leagues.

Personally, I’d be a fan of a play-off system coming into play too, it offers drama like nothing else and gives those teams outside the top one or top two something left to cling onto, because if you’re not in that top one or two with a few games to go, your season is likely over.

Hayes is quite right in saying we should be open to everything when it comes to the improvement of the women’s game, but the majority will feel we should be opening up the shop, not slamming down the shutters.

What are your thoughts on how to move the domestic game in the UK forward? Leave a comment below to discuss and debate the various ways forward.