Women's soccer has grown gradually year after year, but the season 2022-23 in Scotland felt like a game changer for sure.
There were so many positives and records being broken for women's soccer in Scotland during the season. These have definitely helped to take the game forward, widening and extending the profile and attracting increasing interest across the media. Importantly it has attracted fans of all ages and genders and motivated potential future players too.
Competition between the clubs has been very strong this season. The three main trophies at the top level for women, the Scottish Women's Premier League (SWPL) title, the League Cup and the Scottish Cup were each won by different sides. Although, like in the men's game, Glasgow remains very much a stronghold.
Glasgow City took the SWPL title in a nail-biting roller-coaster end to the season. The final round of matches for the season saw City, Rangers and Celtic all in contention to be champions. That included a huge clash between City and Rangers, while Celtic played Hearts.
It wasn't all decided until the final minute of injury time, in the final match of the season. A very late goal from City beat Rangers and with a potential equalizer chalked off for Rangers immediately after, it meant City had won the match and the title.
While Rangers beat Hibernian 2-0 in the League Cup final in December 2022, they weren't able to repeat their success in the Scottish Cup. On May 28 the Scottish Cup final was played for the first time at the national stadium, Hampden in front of a record crowd of 10,446, with Celtic beating Rangers 2-0.
A season of record-breaking women's soccer crowds and media interest in Scotland
Record crowds have become a habit over recent weeks. Celtic and Rangers have both switched critical women's soccer matches to their main club stadium meaning terrific atmospheres to back their sides in front of big attendances.
Celtic's final game against Hearts takes top place with a 15,822 crowd. This is the first season for official attendance records for the SWPL, though the league says that anecdotally individual clubs are reporting increases.
Those bigger crowds, along with the exciting end to the league and the ongoing traditional rivalry between Celtic and Rangers as football clubs at all levels have driven greater additional involvement for women's soccer from followers of their men's team.
That's all spread to online fan forums and social media too with the SWPL reporting over 10 million impressions on social media. There was quite a boost to those numbers after a post-match incident captured by TV cameras went viral online afterward. The SWPL has used Twitter to share its own review of the record-breaking season.
The TV cameras are very relevant too, this season saw SkySports broadcast their first live SWPL matches giving women's soccer a further audience boost. The BBC was also keen to be involved and broadcast the critical season-end games and the Scottish Cup final amongst others.
Perhaps more importantly this has attracted more young girls and women to the game and shown that the door is very much open for them as fans and as players. Celtic captain Kelly Clark reflected on that point and the record attendance with the BBC after the Scottish Cup final.
"It's amazing that it includes a crowd with lots and lots of little girls, who can see what they can do in Scotland. This year, for women's football has been unbelievable and I hope it just keeps going and going."
A refreshing approach for women's soccer
This isn't all about chasing numbers, glory or money though. The women's game in Scotland refreshingly for soccer has standards, and morals and is looking out for the welfare of players, both current and future.
Glasgow City has banned any sponsorship related to alcohol in a joint initiative with Scottish Health Action on Alcohol Problems (SHAAP). The club's Chief Executive Laura Montgomery explained why the health and well-being of players were so important that the club doesn't support exposing people to alcohol marketing through sport.
Scottish Women's Football (SWF) has also joined up with SHAAP to issue guidance through social media and via the SWF clubs to youth players on the impact of alcohol and how it can affect their performance.
For the Scottish Women's National Team (SWNT) there's more work to be done but there were some signs of progress as they narrowly missed out at the play-off stage for World Cup 2023 qualification. They look to be back on track after promising friendly wins over Australia (1-0) and Costa Rica (4-0) in early April. The next big competition will be the Nations League A which kicks off with a huge fixture away to England's Lionesses at Wembley in September. Let's hope the SWNT can build on all the great work in the domestic game so far.
All in all, that's some season and the excitement and records kept on building as it progressed to an exciting conclusion. The challenge is to build on that again for next season and it looks as though the audience, players and official organizations are all ready for that.
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