Women’s football (A critical evaluation of the promotional and marketing strategies used to increase participation in women’s football in England)

There should be 4-5 topics in a literature review, some examples for this would be principle marketing strategies, the emergence of women’s football, current channels of promotion, the emergence of women in sport. You could also use the topics that are in the preliminary literature review in the proposal. Please use the proposal as a reference.

 Programme: MSc Management with Sports Management

 1.Proposed title:

A critical evaluation of the promotional and marketing strategies used to increase participation in women’s football in England.

2. Introduction:

According to Dunn and Welford (2015), England has witnessed a steady increase in the number of people playing sports in the past decade. Similarly, a study by Kringstad et al. (2021) revealed that in 2020, England had a significant increase in the number of people involved in physical activities by over 2.1 million more than the previous year. Despite the potential medical and social benefits from sports and physical activities, there is still a majority of UK children and adults whose activity levels do not meet the weekly recommendations (Mondal, 2021). Cashmore and Cleland (2012) argue that sports and physical activities are integral in ensuring better health and guaranteeing the population against sedentary illnesses.

There are several research studies on sports participation that commonly reveal that England has experienced a significant increase among the youth (Pritchard, 2020). However, research by Power et al. (2020) reveals that regardless of the accelerating increase in sports participation among the English since the London 2012 Olympic Games, women have consistently lagged behind their male counterparts. Reflecting upon this, promotional strategies and other factors have significantly impacted the trends today as the statistics continue to alter. For example, Valenti et al. (2020) report that the English government’s initiatives and policies through the Department for Culture, Media, and Sport have intentionally promoted the participation and global success in sports and physical activities among its citizens.

According to Mondal (2021), the Active People Survey during the April 2012-2013 period revealed that 15.3 million people played a sport once weekly. The government’s recognition and appreciation of sports and physical activities are critical in accelerating the rates of physical involvement throughout the country. Dunn (2016) argues that the role of the UK government in ensuring its population exhibit increased participation in sports and physical activities can only be emphasized by the policy to ensure physical education remains mandatory in schools and the funding of £160 million towards community facilities involved in sports and physical activities. Similarly, Rutherford et al. (2014) assert that the UK government’s successful bid and hosting of the London 2012 Olympic Games played a critical role in accelerating the rates of sports participation in the UK population from a young age. In addition to the above improvements, the participation in women’s football in the country is slowly improving.

In 2007, an estimated 26 million females played football, with 4.2 million of them being registered football players (Ráthonyi-Ódor, 2020). There is a global drive to market women’s football even more seriously from associations or organizations with a secure structure. According to Kringstad et al. (2021), the initiative by UEFA to create an innovative program for women’s football development indicates that the goal to increase the level of awareness of females in football remains a critical concern. Pawlowski (2013) discusses that the UEFA’s main goals under the women’s football development program include accelerating the attendance rates at women’s league matches, reshaping the domestic leagues to be more attractive for women football players, and boosting the revenue avenues from the sport to create a sustainable future. Similarly to working in liaison with other stakeholders such as the Women’s Super League, marketing the image of women’s football from the community to the elite level remains a critical factor. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the promotional strategies used to increase participation in women’s football in England. The study will compare the findings to the current statistics on participation in women’s football to determine the effectiveness of the strategies.

3. Preliminary literature review:

This next section will discuss the theoretical framework of the topic we are looking into.

I will analyse all the relevant information that is in the topic to understand it better so that it could guide me to create an accurate research project.

3.1 Women in Sport

The issue of male dominance in physical activity and sport remains alive in the modern world. According to Fielding-Lloyd et al. (2020), designed for men and created for men only. Similarly, a study by Morgan (2019) revealed that most people, including girls and women, perceive men and boys in sports as a traditionally natural event, whereas the participation of women in sports does not receive the same perception. However, contrary to Fielding-Lloyd et al. (2020) and Morgan (2019) whose studies only relied on people’s perceptions to determine women’s participation in sport, Rutherford et al. (2014) had deeper findings that revealed that lack of role models, negative school experiences, boy’s dominance and competitive classes were the main factors that inhibited women’s participation in sport. Essentially, there is a need to determine the role of public perception and other factors on women’s involvement in sports.

Findings from previous studies demonstrate an extreme lack of media coverage for women’s sports among the independent media outlets (Lewis, 2020). However, unlike Lewis (2020) that blames independent media for their bias against women’s sports, Valenti et al. (2020) argue that female athletes get hindrances in competing in traditionally male sports because the body and gender identity are key issues in sports. Contrary to Valenti et al. (2020), Dunn (2017) appreciates and acknowledges that a comparison of the female athletes in the 21^st century against traditional female stereotypes indicates that women are now getting recognition in the modern sporting world. Similarly, Mondal (2021) argues that the modern world has significant changes in awareness and attitudes toward women’s sports, which is evident in the increased participation rates among women in sporting events. However, a report by Dunn (2016) reveals that despite the increasing participation rates among women in sports, the traditional gender stereotypes continue to prevail in the sporting society. Therefore, there is a need to determine if traditional gender stereotypes have a role in the rate of women’s participation in sports in the modern world.

3.2 Barriers to Women in Physical Activity

Previous studies have focussed on the factors that contribute to low physical activity among women to implement the strategies that increase or promote it (Pfister, 2015). Similarly, in acknowledgement of the importance of identifying the limiting factors to women’s physical activity, Cashmore and Cleland (2012) reveals the findings from a survey recently published in Sport England, which identified other commitments, time, and lack of women’s facilities as the main hindrances for women in physical activity. However, contrary to Cashmore and Cleland’s (2012) study that identifies social and structural barriers, Kringstad et al. (2021) argue that women’s perception of physical activity such as the fear of appearing overly masculine, lacking competence and confidence required in physical activity are the main barriers that women face. The findings by Kringstad et al. (2021) are not reliable because their qualitative study emphasized the subject’s motivational aspects towards participation in sport and physical activity. Essentially, there is a need for comprehensive research that determines the barriers women face in physical activity from a broader perspective.

A research study by Pritchard (2020) focussed on women and young adults to reveal that the subjects cited their negative experiences during school as the main reason for their hindrance to involvement in physical activity and sport. However, Pritchard’s (2020) study findings are inadequate for conclusions since the researcher solely relied on the subject’s individual experiences, which could pose biased findings. Similarly, to Pritchard (2020), Ráthonyi-Ódor (2020) argues that the disruption of boys in mixed gender physical exercise (PE) lessons hindered girls’ participation in physical activity. Ráthonyi-Ódor (2020) argues that the girls in the mixed-gender classes felt inadequate to compete against the boys because the girls’ competitive aspect was hugely marginalized. Therefore, there is a need for more research to determine the extent that which gender stereotyping among school boys and girls plays in the girls’ participation in physical activity, and its effect on the women’s involvement later in life.

3.3 Women in Football

According to Power et al. (2020), extensive research studies indicate that traditional male-dominant sports such as football have rapidly grown due to women’s participation in the sport. However, unlike Power et al. (2020 whose findings reveal growth in women’s football, Pawlowski (2013) argues that a comparison of men’s and women’s football reveals a difference in development due to the intentional discouragement of women’s football, especially in the early years. Similarly, Dunn and Welford (2015) discuss that female participation in football is lower compared to their male counterparts due to the Football Association’s (FA) public ban on women playing football in 1921. There is a difference in the development of men’s and women’s football, but further research study needs to determine the extent that which earlier and present discouragement of women’s football contributes to the difference.

4. Research question(s):

This research study aims to critically evaluate the findings of the promotional and marketing strategies used to increase female participation in football. Based on this, the study aims to portray evidence on the factors that explain the acceleration of women’s participation in football compared to the previous years. Developing an understanding of why more girls and women are participating in physical activity and sport would be integral in the further promotion and maintenance of their participation levels. Additionally, the results from the study will potentially impact women’s sustainable involvement in football and discourage the stereotypical gender roles in football.

In meeting the above aim, the research project focuses on answering these questions.

• What are the barriers that diminish female participation in physical activity?
• What are the potential benefits that are associated with involvement in physical activity?
• What are the promotional strategies that are used to increase women’s participation in football?

5. Proposed research method(s):

5.1. Research Strategy

The study aims to use the pragmatism philosophy of research. Pragmatism would be the most appropriate philosophy because it would enable the researcher to focus on the issue of promotional strategies to increase participation in women’s football in a real-life context (England) (Saunders et al., 2019). In using pragmatism, the researcher would start by identifying the problem (low participation in women’s football) within the England context. The second and thirds stages would involve formulating solutions and making recommendations for the effective promotional strategies to increase participation in women’s football in England.

The research study will use the inductive research approach. According to Saunders et al. (2019), the inductive approach would help the researcher start by documenting observations on the state of participation in women’s football and finalize by using the findings to make relevant recommendations on the promotional strategies to increase participation in women’s football towards the end of the study. Essentially, the study will use the inductive approach because it will enable the researcher to develop appropriate explanations and theories on the issue towards the end of the study rather than at the beginning (Saunders et al., 2019). The approach is, therefore, the most appropriate for the research study because it will enable the research to use the findings to make conclusions or recommendations.

The research study will majorly use qualitative data and minimal quantitative data. The research method would be the most appropriate for the research study because it would help the researcher contextualize the results on the participation in women’s football to make conclusive recommendations to the English FA on the effective promotional strategies to increase the participation.

5.2. Research Design

To implement the mixed-method strategy, the study will use a survey research design. As Saunders et al. (2019) recommend, the study will use a survey alongside a focus group. The researcher will use the convenience sampling method to select 15 participants from Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham, Liverpool, and Manchester United women’s football clubs. The convenience sampling method is most appropriate because it will help the researcher select the most appropriate participants for the study. The researcher will send emails to the above five women’s football clubs requesting in-depth online interviews with three members of the club’s executive leadership. Due to the short time for the study, the researcher will call the selected respondents through their mobile phone numbers and schedule online interviews through the Zoom application. After each interview, the researcher will download the duly completed questionnaire forms and save them on a secure drive.

The research study will target players and the general staff from Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham, Liverpool, and Manchester United women’s football clubs for the survey. The researcher will use snowball sampling to get 120 respondents by contacting the above women’s football clubs via email containing a link to the survey. Through the link, the researcher will direct the respondents to correctly fill out the forms and send them back to the researcher through email. The researcher will download the duly filled out interview forms and save them in a secure drive.

6. Ethical issues:

This research will follow the ethical guidelines that the university has put out to ensure the integrity of the study. There are several ethical issues that the researcher will consider when conducting research. These include the ethics of informed consent, the ethics of data collection, and the ethics of publishing results. Informed consent is an essential ethical issue in this research since it involves human subjects. The researcher will ensure that participants understand the risks and benefits of participating in the study. If participants do not understand the risks or benefits of participation, they will not be allowed to participate. The participants will be briefed on the research and will have the right to withdraw whenever they please. They would be handed a consent form if they agreed so that they could be a part of the study.

Another research ethics applicable to this research is fairness in data collection. The researcher will collect data fairly and ethically. The researcher will also protect the privacy of participants. If data is not collected ethically, it may be unreliable or unusable. Finally, the researcher will consider the ethical implications of publishing the findings. The researcher will ensure that the research results are appropriate and fair. The data collected will be stored safely, and the identities will be kept safe and deleted after the study is complete. The information I receive for readings and articles will be referenced, and every piece of info cited to prevent plagiarism.

7. Timetable/plan for the research: