It is impossible to overstate the significance of the Scotland women’s team qualifying for next year’s Women’s World Cup finals. A 2-1 victory over Albania in Shkoder on Tuesday ensured Scotland will make their debut at the tournament in France next summer in what is a ground-breaking moment for women’s football in this country.
The women’s team has been on an upwards trajectory for a number of years. Previous manager, Anna Signeul, increased levels of professionalism within the sport, and this was rewarded with the team qualifying for their first-ever major championship, Euro 2017.
Following Signeul’s departure, in came Shelley Kerr, who continued the team’s progress. That the Scots negotiated this World Cup qualifying campaign with a record of seven victories and only one loss is impressive, and is even more remarkable considering there are still members of the team who are not full-time players and combine representing their country with jobs or education.
Women’s football remains very much the poor relation compared to its male counterpart in this country. In many aspects, this is justifiable; men’s football has a far greater fan base and generates considerably more money than the women’s game. For some time, the standard of the women’s game was sub-par compared to the men’s too.
However, these days, the stick that the women’s game is of a poor level can no longer be used to beat the sport with. I have been covering women’s football for a number of years now and I truly believe the women’s national team boasts some of the most impressive athletes in Scotland. There is not a single member of the squad who is not thoroughly professional and, in every definition, a consummate role model.
To date, these women, have not been given the widespread credit they deserve. There remains an ignorance and a snobbishness about the women’s game, much of which stems from pure sexism. Against all odds, these women have done something the men’s team have failed to do for two decades yet they are not given the recognition they deserve.
This week’s World Cup qualification must be a watershed moment for the sport. These women have a drive and a will to win that, for anyone who appreciates sport, can only be admired wholeheartedly.
Extensive media coverage remains a dream for women’s football, although in recent times, things have improved significantly with Herald Sport leading the way. World Cup qualification will, it is hoped, give the women's game a platform on which it can promote itself in a way it has never been able to before.
Women’s football has some distance to go before it comes anywhere close to the men’s in terms of coverage or sponsorship deals. But let’s hope this is the beginning of a new chapter for Kerr and her side, and being able to call themselves a World Cup side will push things on far quicker than has been the case in the past.
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