It's not often a headline about women's sport deserves a cheer. But this one does. England's women's football team has outsold their male counterpart team for comparable fixtures.
The Football Association have just confirmed that ticket sales for the upcoming women’s friendly against Norway is currently at nearly 45,000, whereas the men’s friendly against Norway two months ago only drew an attendance of 40,181 in the smallest Wembley crowd for a senior England game since the stadium was built.
Equally, the women’s crowd will surpass the previous record for a female home international in England, the 29,092 recorded against Finland at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester in 2005.
Good news, right?
Oh, no, now wait a minute - it's not all quite so celebratory. Because, despite the fact that England’s women’s side are clearly capable of pulling in the punters and out-performed our men’s side by quite a considerable amount in the World Cup, the sport world still has quite a long way to go before they’re treating with anything like the aplomb that the men sides afford.
It's worth remembering that - on Equal Pay Day – the discrepancy between what male and female professional footballers take home is light years apart. Women who played in the World Cup took home an average of £630,000 compared to an eye-watering £22 million for the men’s team. During the Champion’s League, male players stand to make £8.3 million whilst women make a (comparatively) paltry £199,000. The FA Cup isn’t much better – men can make £1.8 million during the tournament whereas women only take home £5,000. Whichever way you look at it, that’s not a wage that any professional athlete could live off.
All of which seems remarkably sad, not to mention unjust, considering the women’s team are clearly capable of pulling in the crowd.
Picture: Getty
Like this? Then you might also be interested in:
Forget The Men. The Women's Football Team Actually Win Games
How To Wear A Football Shirt This World Cup Without Looking Cringe
England Women's Cricket Team Win the Ashes in Australia Twenty20 Match
Follow Sophie on Twitter @sophiecullinane
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.