Improve women's football merchandise, study says

Fans of women's football are being let down by the quality of merchandise, a study has found.

Researchers from the UK, USA and Australia found, despite the growing popularity of the women's game, fan merchandise often failed to meet expectations.

It said replica kit was limited in availability, size and style, and there was a significant gap between demand and supply.

It said the issue often left fans unable to demonstrate their loyalty and support.

The study, led by the University of Massachusetts, involved researchers from Bournemouth University, University of Portsmouth and Western Sydney University, looking at national and top-level teams in Australia, England and the US.

Dr Keith Parry, head of sport and event management at Bournemouth, said: "The availability is poor and often it's not the kit the fans want - it might be T-shirts rather than the full jersey.

"It has improved - there are now women's fits of the men's shirts - but when we looked at women's teams, there was a lack of larger sizes and a lack of men's fit, so there's an assumption that only women want to buy the kit.

"For any fan, you want to wear the shirt but in women's sport in particular, fans do this for particular reasons - to make a financial contribution because there is a lack of funding and to make a statement and to show clubs there is a demand."

Bournemouth fan Hazel Baines, who runs girls' football clubs and walking football clubs for women and men, said: "It's about the fact that women are valued and are understood, and that's something that's only recently started to happen in the last few years.

"As the women's game improves, that feeds into the merchandise industry as well.

"On a personal level, AFC Bournemouth have been fantastic.

"For the last 18 months they have been training us as a women's walking football team.

"Now we are playing as well as watching, we really want to buy the kit - it's really triggered an interest for me and for my friends."

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