Fara Williams: Women’s football isn’t a working class sport anymore – and that needs to change

Ex-England player Fara Williams has told William Hill’s Stripped Podcast that while women’s football is in a better place than it has been, plenty more is still needed to make the game as diverse as possible.

Williams was speaking on William Hill’s Stripped Podcast, a new series in which ex-footballers are invited to take a trip down memory lane by revisiting the favourite shirts of their careers. And when asked about where she feels women’s football is at, Williams was quick to point out that there are still several barriers in place which are keeping participating levels among girls lower than they should be.

“Until women get the same opportunity to play (as men), you’ll never know where you can go with it,” she said. “If a girl at primary school can get the same opportunity as boys and train and play as PE lessons, who knows where the female game can go? However, at the moment there are so many barriers in the way for young girls compared to boys which is why the game is still so far behind.

“I think it’s important that we don’t just take the top end of the game to a new level and leave the foundations of it where they are. If that happens opportunities are lost for young people. Certainly the diversity in the game needs to change massively – I look at it now and when I played there were probably 18 of us from London and now there are only two of a 23-player England squad, so that just tells you that football isn’t a working class sport anymore. Opportunities are definitely being missed in inner-city London and I just want these talented kids to be given a chance.”

And while the former Reading and Everton star wants more changes in the sport, she does admit that it’s in a good place after England’s victory at the Women’s European Championship.

“The game is in a better place,” she said. “The fact that there are more professional leagues not just in England, but in France, Germany and other countries, which obviously ups the quality in the national team.

“I think it shows because not only the England stadiums have been packed at the Euros, there was 28,000 at the France-Germany semi-final. I think the level of football for the neutral fans has been really appreciated and they’ve bought tickets to go and watch and support the sport.

“It [women’s football] should be where it is now. It’s taken forever to do that but players before me have given me the opportunity to do what I did. I’ve given my part and now it’s in a really good position for the girls to take it to the next level and they’ve already started that this tournament.”

Williams added: “We can all see it now that there is a career in the women’s game after the Euros. It’s exciting where the game is now and where we’ve all tried to push to get it to be. The girls have done a fantastic job in keeping it there and they deserve it and so does the game.”

The 38-year-old also played for Arsenal during the 2016/17 season and while she didn’t choose one of her former side’s shirts during her trip down memory lane, Williams recapped how a pair of Marc Overmars’ boots almost convinced her to join the Gunners much earlier in her career.

She said: “I got picked for England seniors at 17 and (manager) Hope Powell said, ‘you need to be playing in the Premier League’ and Chelsea were one league below. It was between Arsenal and Charlton at the time and Arsenal coach Vic Akers was trying to get me to Arsenal. I remember being shown around the stadium and he got a call on his phone. I could see it come up with Marc Overmars and he said, ‘why don’t you answer it?’

“I was obviously like, ‘I can’t answer it!’ Anyway, he just signed for Barcelona (from Arsenal) and his boots had arrived at the stadium and he was a size five. He said I could have them, so I did!

“I only wore them once though because the kitman at Portsmouth, when I was about to make my home England debut, the day before the game we were training at the stadium and I was wearing Overmars’ boots… He said, ‘oh, all the Premier League players have got these new studs, do you want them?’ and me being 17, I thought yes. So I left them with him, but he couldn’t get the studs out and so he sawed them off and that was it. I never wore the boots again.”

Being a Chelsea fan, Williams selected their away shirt from 1994-96 as she discussed why she became a Blues supporter.

She said:  “My uncle and my family were massive Chelsea fans. They took me to a game in 1991 and we played Luton. That was my first ever game being introduced to watching football live, and we drew 3-3. It was a dreadful game. I didn’t really know anybody or know any players. There were four of us as kids going to the games growing up, and it became a bit of a headache for them taking us to football all the time.

“We used to go every single week. I started getting to know and like football even more. Three years on, I felt I knew a little bit about football, and I started trying to learn the game by watching. I would see Mark Hughes or whoever it was who had played well that day and run back to my estate and want to be that player and try and literally do whatever they did on that day in that game. Chelsea made me learn through watching and it was easy because it was just across the bridge.”

On why she chose the infamous grey and orange shirt, Williams added: “Mark Hughes comes to mind when I see that shirt. You know what, I loved him; I remember we signed him for £1.5 million and I remember running around my estate like a mad kid because he had been so good at Manchester United. It was massive to sign a big player like that.

“Chelsea would always sign one big player and you’d always be really excited by it at the beginning of the season. I just remember him really well. He was an unbelievable striker at United and I was hopeful that he would do the same when he came to Chelsea.”

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