In July last year, following the , a petition began doing the rounds on social media. Set up by teenager Emmy Somauroo, it called for Nike, the sponsor of the team, to produce a replica shirt for the star of the tournament, goalkeeper Mary Earps. A month later, more than 150,000 people had signed the petition and Nike eventually did the right thing - they produced the shirt.
If this tale demonstrates the power of the collective, it also shows something else: the demand from women for merch. A year on, and amidst an Olympics featuring Women’s Football, a new report Rep Her further highlights this demand and - crucially - how it is not being met. Undertaken by Klarna and the Sports Innovation Lab using a survey of a thousand sports fans, researchers found that sales of women’s football shirts are up 17% in the past year, compared with 8% for men’s football shirts.
However, the options available are limited - 46% of respondents said they wanted a wider range of options. Even a cursory glance at the merchandise available for different clubs tells a story. Arsenal, who I support, have led the way when it comes to , but even here there’s a disparity - there are 24 women’s T-shirts available on the website compared to 33 for men.
It’s much worse at other clubs - Chelsea have 31 versus 78 while Manchester City is only nine compared to 65 for men. England is not great either - 61 versus 147. Some of this can be put down to the fact that female football fans are a growing r.