Arsenal hero Ian Wright has slammed the “embarrassing” and “disgusting” money spent on transfer windows for men’s football compared with the lack of funding for women’s football.
Chelsea Women and Liverpool Women saw their Women’s Super League match called off only six minutes after kick-off due to frozen pitch conditions.
The FA did not call off the WSL clash and claimed the decision on whether it went ahead fell on the shoulders of the match referee.
Chelsea Women manager Emma Hayes was furious with how the match wasn’t postponed and called for the women’s side of the sport to be taken more seriously.
Advert
“It’s not for managers to decide if it’s on -- it’s up to the FA and officials,” she told BBC Sport.
“We have to say to ourselves that it’s time for undersoil heating. We’ve got to take our game seriously.
“Yes, we can have our blowers and pitch tents but it’s not enough.”
Wright has insisted that it is “abhorrent” to see women’s matches called off due to the lack of “undersoil heating.”
The 59-year-old ITV and BBC pundit added that “more money” is needed for women’s football to help it keep progressing and evolving.
“When you look at the amount of money that’s being spent in the [men’s] transfer window, and then women’s games are being called off for no undersoil heating, that’s abhorrent,” he told The Daily Telegraph.
“That’s embarrassing. It’s disgusting. Games shouldn’t be called off now because pitches are frozen. There’s too much money in the game that should be fed down.
“If the Government has got real concerns for the national game, and not just jumping on it if England do well in a World Cup, if they’ve got real intentions to do well, then it should be something that’s forced through by the Government.
“We should be doing more from a government level to put more money into grass-roots football, especially in the women’s game because the women’s game is 50 years behind [after being banned by the FA in 1921].
“I still talk about reparations but people keep shutting me down, but more money has to be found to help the women’s game progress.”
READ MORE:
- US star Alex Morgan urges FIFA to do ‘right thing’ over possible Visit Saudi sponsorship for Women’s World Cup
- There’s a massive debate over whether Ella Toone deserved straight red card vs Spurs
- Alex Scott recalls shocking experience of how Uber driver threatened to kill her during World Cup in Russia
Topics: Ian Wright, Womens Football, Football
Adnan Riaz