You might be thinking, “Well, they chose the game. It’s supply and demand.” Sure, but let’s use a coffee shop analogy. If your local barista made the best flat white in town, but the shop paid them the same as the trainee who burns the toast, would you keep buying? Probably not, because quality deserves reward.
The reality is that investment drives quality. When players get paid properly, they focus fully on training, nutrition, and recovery. They don’t have to work a second job stacking shelves at Tesco (which many WSL players still do). Better pay means better football, which means more exciting games for you to watch on the telly.
How much do women's footballers get paid compared to men? - Wales Online
A little story for the road
I once met a young girl at a local park who wore a field-tested kit with “Mead” on the back. Her dad told me she saved up for a year to buy it. She didn’t care about the number on a payslip—she cared about Beth Mead’s thundering left foot. But here’s the sticky bit: if Beth Mead can’t afford to live near her training ground because her salary is low, she might quit. And then that little girl loses her hero.
That’s why we should all care. It’s not about envy or comparing bank accounts. It’s about keeping the dream alive for the next generation of kids who want to kick a ball in the garden. If we want a women’s World Cup in this country every four years, we have to pay for the roots, not just the flowers.
