Do We Need Rivalry in Women's Football?
Image Credits Paul Childs via Action Images/Reuters
Sat at the Emirates Stadium, cold to the bone and feeling like I'd experienced a robbery to rival that of the Louvre, I and 55,000 others emphatically booed the referee off the pitch after a controversial nil-nil draw between Arsenal and Chelsea. It hurt. For days, all I could think was the game that could have been. But against Chelsea, Arsenal’s closest rival with so many historic highs and lows in past fixtures, the fact that they weren’t humiliated on our turf, stung.
This is the thing: rivalry makes you unreasonable. It snatches any sense of composure, shakes it up, and hands it back to you as raw emotion. It’s exactly that emotional volatility that women’s football has been told it shouldn’t have. The game has been packaged for years as wholesome, family-friendly entertainment, fans are ‘silent and passive cheerleaders" who can't be angry or emotive in their spectatorship. Safe, nice and fundamentally infantilised, the head of the WSL Nikki Doucet stated that fans “aren’t tribal” and that there is a “Taylor Swift style fanbase” which sparked criticism for treating dedicated fans like fangirls. Women’s football is still a product broadcasters wrap in pink graphics (we see you Sky Sports Halo), trying to break away from the anger associated with the men's game but fundamentally at the expense of women's football fans self-expression.
But the record-breaking crowds arriving for derby matches are not there for pleasantries. 56,733 people don’t bundle into the stadium for a London Derby for wholesome vibes. 91,648 didn't show up to Camp Nou for El Classico in 2022 to watch a friendly game of fair-play football. Fans come for tension. To feel joy, fury, pride, or the thrill of seeing history repeat itself hoping that old rivals fall.
The women’s game has more of these narratives than it gets credit for. Take Arsenal vs Chelsea, a fixture that has quietly become one of the most compelling rivalries in women's football but doesn't necessarily hold the same weight in the men's fixture. These fixtures always feel like they’re worth more than three points. The Manchester and North London derbies also hold considerable weight, a legacy that spans a city and footballing culture drawing record attendances as it's not just about the women's team, it's about club integrity; a one club mentality. Iconic derbies are continuously played at club main stadiums, demonstrating the successful marketability of these tension fuelled exchanges. This year's fixture had “it’s pride, its history, its rivalry” adverts up across the country to celebrate WSL derby weekend.
Of course, embracing rivalry doesn’t mean inviting the darker edges of the men’s game. Violence has no place in women’s football. Hooliganism feels synonymous with the culture of men's football, rivalries such as Millwall vs Crystal Palace feature extensive policing with horses and riot gear as violence between fans has come to be expected. One of the defining features of the women’s game is that fans can still sit together, derby or not. That co-existence shouldn’t be mistaken for a lack of passion; it proves that rivalry and hooliganism are not the same thing. One is fuelled by emotion, the other a toxic by-product we have no obligation to replicate. Women’s football has an opportunity to protect an inclusive matchday culture where everyone is welcome, while still allowing room for tension, noise, and the occasional outrage that makes sport addictive. We don't need violence but we also don’t need sanitisation and these rivalries can thrive without compromising safety.
When people insist that women’s football must remain gentle, I say the game is already fuelled by rivalry, and that’s a good thing. As the league continues to tap into these rivalries the game will only keep growing. From Chloe Kelly tapping the Arsenal badge in front of the Manchester City fans on her return to the club to Caitlyn Hayes calling out Rangers with “Football without fans is nothing” on her shirt for not letting away fans in the stadium for the Old Firm derby, I love watching these iconic moments, and getting involved in the discourse and community that only gets louder with big contests.
If women’s football is going to keep rising to new heights, it deserves every roar and every emotion. Without rivalry, none of it would mean a thing.