Find out how sponsorship of England Women’s sport is on the rise!

2017 has been a tremendous year for female participation and media coverage in sports, with England’s Women’s cricket team winning the World Cup at Lord’s and the England Women’s football team having a fantastic start in the UEFA Women’s Euro by winning their first two matches in the group stage.

Kicking off in the Netherlands on the 16th July, the EUFA Women’s Euro has seen an increased amount of media coverage, with Channel 4 winning the rights to broadcast the England and Scotland matches live. Alongside this, the social media campaign #WePlayStrong is a collaboration between the UEFA and the World Heart Federation in the Netherlands to raise awareness of cardiovascular diseases as well as encouraging women and children to be more active!

Advertised by the @UEFAWomensEURO twitter and Facebook accounts using the hashtag #WEURO2017 to promote the women’s tournament, UEFA remain committed to its five year aim to make football the number one sport for female participation across Europe. As stated by Tracy Crouch MP, this hype and change of perceptions regarding women’s football has the potential to encourage “better commercial opportunities, better sponsorship, which in turn creates more broadcasting opportunities.”

Similarly, the success at Lord’s for England’s Women cricket team has been deemed a “marketing dream” by managing director and agent at EPT Sports Allen Blackford who, in his interview for the Guardian, emphasised the “need to try to get them into the public eye more, because they’re great ambassadors for business and great role models.” Captained by Heather Knight, England’s victory against India’s Women side on the 23rd July became the most-watched game in the history of women’s cricket with Lord’s being sold-out as a consequence of a marketing campaign on the London Underground and in cinemas. All matches were shown live for the first time, and vindicating coach Mark Robinson’s decision to remove the team’s former captain, there is talk amongst the press of the positive movement towards equality between the female and male teams in terms of advertising and sponsorship.

Controversially, the recent announcement from the RFU on its decision not to renew the contracts for the women’s fifteens team due to its need to focus on the upcoming sevens events, has been deemed a backwards step for equality within the sport. Holding the title as the 2014 winners of the women’s Rugby World Cup, as well as, winning seven Six Nations titles since 2003, six of which were Grand Slams, and despite the its revenues being more than £400m, the RFU excused the non renewal of contracts due to the cyclical nature of the fifteens and sevens tournaments. New contracts are promised to be awarded in time for the 2021 world cup, however with many of the team having given up careers to concentrate on rugby the RFU’s decision to withhold contracts has been portrayed in the press as unfair.

Although the rugby news is not so positive, overall there has been a monumental movement regarding sponsorships of female teams, with advertisers such as McDonalds being the official sponsor of the EUFO Women’s Euro and Natwest’s ‘Cricket Has No Bounds’ advertisement campaign in time for the women’s Cricket World Cup.

This presents a fantastic growing market for sponsors to engage with, and gives teams the added draw of attracting sponsors.

At SNAP we have definitely seen an increase in the sponsorship of female teams, and would encourage all female sides to register on our website to secure sponsors, and likewise brands to build profiles and search for sponsorship opportunities in the women’s sport market.

SNAP are proud to have recently sponsored Vicky Fleetwood and look forward to supporting her through the next season! She was delighted to partner with SNAP and be associated with the support of youth and grassroots rugby.