Women’s football is discovering the perils of a harsh spotlight

The growth of women’s football has propelled players to a level of celebrity that would have been unimaginable a decade ago. The attempt to maximise the opportunities that come with the change in the status for the game has been a process for players and their management teams. Yet attempting to garner attention comes with its own pitfalls, as two players found out this season.

It was the morning of Chelsea’s game against London City Lionesses back in November, when an excerpt from Mary Earps’ autobiography was published in The Guardian. Earps was critical of Chelsea and England goalkeeper Hannah Hampton, saying her behaviour at Euro 2022 had been “disruptive and unreliable”. Attention immediately turned to what Chelsea captain Millie Bright would say about the topic on her podcast Daly Brightness, hosted with Aston Villa striker Rachel Daly and produced by Gary Lineker’s company Goalhanger.

Yet Bright’s reaction, referring to the issue as “gossip” and refusing to comment, left many Chelsea fans frustrated at her perceived refusal to defend her teammate.

Bright caused further consternation among the Chelsea fanbase later in the season after the podcast used a thumbnail image of Lauren James stamping on Michelle Alozie from the 2023 World Cup, an incident that saw James receive a significant amount of racist abuse at the time.

The decision to launch an Instagram page with her boyfriend of under a month at the same time as Chelsea were losing 3-2 to Manchester City in the FA Cup semi-final, with Bright watching on, also felt like another faux pas.

“Part of the reason things are going wrong is you haven’t got the sort of talent around these people to develop careers,” says public relations consultant Mark Borkowski.

“It’s a dance. You don’t want to be forgotten. It’s a short career. What you do beyond that is given by the audience you drum up, and the tools to drum up that audience must never be too desperate. It’s a dangerous tightrope.”

Remuneration in the women’s game remains relatively small, with agents or commercial teams often encouraging players to sign deals in order to take their cut. That means many players do not have the long-term plans that help avoid the missteps taken by Earps and Bright. At the same time, brands are not necessarily laserfocused on the minutiae of women’s football. That means the actual impact on commercial earnings is far less than that might be expected by those who follow the game more closely.

Photograph by Catherine Ivill/Uefa via Getty Images