Elizabeth Fagan has a dream – a dream of taking women’s football in Scotland to a place where it is front and centre in the public conscientiousness. She wants more eyeballs on the game but she knows there is still a lot of work to do.
The chair of the SWPL has been in the role since last October as she continues to juggle the commitments of a life at executive level with plotting the next steps on the journey of the women’s game in Scotland.
Last weekend she was in a ScottishPower taxi sitting in the car park of Uphall Golf Club on the outskirts of Edinburgh with the League trophy. At Meadowbank, league leaders Hearts were facing Hibs needing only to match Rangers result from their game at Petershill against Glasgow City to take the title.
Once again, the title race had come down to the last game – something of a habit for the SWPL. Positioning themselves in Uphall meant Fagan and the trophy presentation party were equidistant to both games.
While the outcome, Hearts winning the title, was expected, the results were not. Both Hearts and Rangers lost – the latter so convincingly that the taxi party knew early in to the second half, which game they were going.
“They were very kind to us in Uphall,” Fagan says. “They had one game on the telly on BBC Alba, the Hearts and Hibs game, and we had the Glasgow City and Rangers game on one of the phones so we were watching both games at the same time to see which way it would go.
“It was an interesting day. Rangers could have got there; they didn’t so they’ll be disappointed. Glasgow City went out in style winning 6-0, Hibs managed to beat their big rivals on the last day and Hearts won the actual league. It was an exciting day all round and shows how competitive the league has become.”
That final point, about competitiveness, is undeniable. In the past four years since the Scottish Women’s Premier League in its current form began, there have been four different winners - Glasgow City, Celtic, Hibs and now Hearts. On some occasions, the title has gone down to the very last kick.
“I really do want the Scottish women’s game to be an entertaining football experience,’ Fagan adds. “Big rivals on the pitch but working together to grow the women’s game, and that is what we’re doing. You can see how competitive it is.
“I’m new to Scottish women’s football so I am building relationships and going through a big learning experience. I would definitely say I have been in listening mode and asking: ‘How do we work together?’ It is a bit of an inflection point – interest in women’s football has grown and has been growing over the past four years, which is fantastic.”
That statement is also true. Latest findings show that football is now the No1 sport for girls and women in Scotland, taking over from tennis for the first time. Uefa data released last month highlights a marked rise in interest.
Participation figures are also at an all-time high. The latest show that 28,273 girls and women are now registered as players in Scotland - a 23 per cent increase in just two years. At the elite end, 160 professional players are now registered across the SWPL. At grassroots, Scottish Women’s Football report record club registrations - over 1,000 teams at 235 clubs nationwide.
That’s the good news – a competitive product on the pitch, a growth in players numbers and key backing from the likes of ScottishPower, who in April renewed their commitment to the game as Principal Partner for a further three years.
But there are also rumours of budget cuts and clubs considering returning to part-time set ups. Fans attending matches, too, are small in number as clubs continue to consider how to attract higher footfall through the gates.
Fagan understandably won’t talk about specific clubs but, to the general point on stretched finances, she says: “We have a role to play in that by bringing in more funding for the game in commercial sponsors. And the more the product develops, the more we get organisations like ScottishPower interested in investing.
“There is pressure on every club financially regardless if it’s men’s or women’s. but there is an opportunity for the women’s game to create an even greater product that brings more commercialisation in. We’ve got the opportunity to do it differently because we can work more collaboratively to push the game and work with the clubs to say: ‘Stay with women’s football because it is only getting better.’
“We know there is still a long way to go to really create a product that brings in the fan base we aspire to have, and entertains and is economically viable as well as inspirational for women wanting to play football in Scotland.
“Everybody has got that ambition. There is a lot more collaboration and cooperation than maybe people see from the outside looking in and that’s healthy.
“We still have a way to go in terms of the professionalisation of the game and we’re getting there but we need to work hard at doing that so women’s football continues to get better in every community where it’s played. And as you develop that product then think about what is it as a sports entertainment brand that needs to work differently to bring in more of a fan base.
“There is a lot of work being done already in understanding who the fan base is and making it easier for those fans to buy tickets, to access the games, to understand where the games are being played.
“So how do we improve our marketing and communications? It’s come on a long way but how do we work more closely to do that? And how do you make it so that more clubs can become professional? Because there are still a lot of clubs that are amateur - but that is just a financial necessity at the moment.
“There are a lot of things we need to work on together to build women’s football in Scotland. If you build your communications and marketing and build you investment in it then I can see that it will continue to grow.
“But it won’t be done overnight. This is long term and, with the opportunity of 2035 and a World Cup coming potentially to Scotland, then there is even greater appetite to do that. The more professional women we have then the talent in Scotland’s national team will grow, the more interest you get in the national team then the more people will come to watch the game overall.
“If you can see it, you can be it. If girls can see that there are players playing professionally for their country, that’s very inspirational.
“So, there are many things we have to work on and I’m hearing and seeing executives saying: ‘Let’s work on this together’. Yes, it’s a tough ecosystem, we need to change the ecosystem so that it is more financially sustainable but is also inspirational, creating a greater product that is getting better every year. OK, it isn’t going to be easy, but how do we continue on this trajectory?”
As the first season in the role draws to an end, with this weekend’s Old Firm Cup final on Sunday at Hampden, there is also time for reflection. Fagan talks about the work being done by the small but dedicated team within the SWPL as being both eye opening and inspirational.
But her own background is inspirational too, taking her from the classroom to the boardroom. She hails from Coatbridge and trained as a teacher and taught chemistry in Bellshill for three years before setting her sights on the commercial world, joining Boots and rising to the very top, becoming the company’s first female managing director in 2016. In 2020 she was awarded the CBE for services to gender equality in business.
The appointment as chair of the SWPL came about because she retains an interest in football.
“I’d always had an interest in football as a fan and was doing some work behind the scenes with a club up here and trying to support them as they built their women’s team,’ Fagan says. “This role became available and people chatted to me about it.
“I’m a big believer sport and education are big enablers to social mobility and for women, in particular, sport can be a massive enabler. You see the commitment these girls put into their game – some of them have full-time jobs and are still working and I thought: ‘If they can work full-time and do it then perhaps I can help.’
“For a few years I had seen the transition from clubs not having a women’s team to having one but they were all amateurs and there wasn’t that investment. You could see women’s football was going to grow. My belief, and I’ve said this to a number of executives at major clubs, is that women’s football will become a bigger part of the club dynamic in the future. It may take ten years or so to get there but it is going to happen.
“The idea that football isn’t for girls, which is still a mantra in some people’s minds, is just a nonsense. I genuinely believe that for all clubs going forward women’s football will be as important - if not more important - as generations play it and it just becomes the norm.
“I don’t think we should try and emulate the men’s game but what does that mean? That is what we are on a journey to find out. What would need to be different for women’s football to get the kind of growth we are looking for that doesn’t depend on it being a me-too of the men’s game?
“Because that won’t work, the financials just don’t stack up. I’m not saying that it needs to be massively different but we need to be very optional about what could it be.
“There is an opportunity in the women’s game to look at everything through a different lens of how you create a real energetic, positive, commercially viable ecosystem where women can succeed - and not compare it to the men’s game.
“I don’t want it to be: ‘If the men can fill 60,000 why can’t the women?’. It’s a different game, it’s a different entity. That shouldn’t be the benchmark.
“The benchmark should be: ‘Is this exciting? Is it being played to a high standard? Can people earn a living? Can it be a professional game where women can say: “I can be that, I can play for my national team?” and the grassroots is growing because they can have a fantastic experience?
“We need to look at if differently. I don’t have the answers but working collaboratively – the clubs, the SFA, the SWPL, government, stakeholders like ScottishPower and others who have a real interest in growing women’s sport – all working together and asking: ‘OK how do we grow it?’.
“I love the sport. There are lot of women and girls who want to play football. I believe that the opportunity should be there and available to them. They’ve done a fantastic job so far in helping to grow the game and there is no reason why women in Scotland shouldn’t have that opportunity.
“I’ve always been passionate about football and passionate that it should be a game that is open and equal to everybody, every age, every social background. That is the beauty of football. It does create opportunities and so why don’t we use that energy to create an opportunity for women in the same way – and I think we can do it, I genuinely do.”
ScottishPower is the exclusive Principal Partner for the Scottish Women’s Premier League (SWPL1&2) and for grassroots governing body Scottish Women’s Football.
