Celtic Park will look like the morning after the night before today.
Fireworks and tifos, colour, song and pomp. The stage outside on the Celtic Way, the music, the colour, the razzmatazz. It all went into yesterday’s party as Brendan Rodgers’ side celebrated a title in front of 60,000 supporters.
The stage needs to be set again, though, today for another potential celebration.
And Elena Sadiku is right to expect that her side get a chance to celebrate in similar style should they cross the line against Hibs this afternoon. The achievement is every bit as laudable. Just as she was right to bang the drum about supporters turning out to encourage her side to pen a significant chapter into the club’s history books; no Scottish team has boasted title winners from both their men’s and women’s teams.
It is equally notable that of the three top teams in the SWPL that Celtic have the lowest financial budget.
Level on points with Rangers but with a better goal difference of 16, any kind of victory will deliver a first SWPL title to Celtic this afternoon. Any slip-up, however, coupled with a Rangers win over Partick Thistle would see the title go the other way with Jo Potter’s side potentially claiming it in the most dramatic of circumstances.
It ensures another afternoon of final day intrigue in the women’s game. Yet, the build-up towards and around this week has felt fairly flat when compared to the exposure that last year’s three-way title fight generated.
Some of that comes down to timing; the women’s full card this week clashed with busy schedule in the men’s top flight on Wednesday night and an evening where Rodgers’ side signed and sealed the title at Rugby Park.
The box office nature of that one meant that the women’s penultimate league games were relegated to little more than sidebars given the clash.
If the scheduling is a headache, the promotion of what could be a car-changing-direction afternoon has been scant. Celtic’s pre-match Zoom call – a digital platform to encourage access as easily as possible – attracted an audience of two.
Rangers did not offer media access before their game with Partick this afternoon, just as there was no pre-match opportunity prior to the game against Celtic – the biggest game of the season – a fortnight ago.
That apathy has been reflected in poor attendances at games, domestic and international, this term. Private, off-the-record conversations with managers and players repeatedly and consistently point to a frustration about failures to credibly promote, market and amplify the game and their voices within it. Certainly, it would be impossible to imagine the same scenario played out in the men’s side were circumstances identical ahead of a last day title decider.
Why do supporters not demand more? Is it all to do with a perceived lack of quality? Yet, is the Scottish Premiership not accused of the same patronising dismissal on the men’s side by those who consume the bulk of their football elsewhere?
The return for winning the league in financial terms is paltry and access to the Champions League for the women’s side will still have to be negotiated through a tough mini-tournament, champions path or otherwise. And, again, the financial renumeration is loose change fallen down the back of the sofa compared to the riches than are awash in the men’s competition.
But it remains notable nonetheless. And repeated exposure to the elite end of the women’s game in European competition is the only realistic way that the game can grow in Scotland.
What it also does it offer a commercial opportunity for clubs to give their women’s team a focus that is more than just box-ticking optics.
AND ANOTHER THING
Arsenal continue to lead the way when it comes to innovation and a bold commitment to their women’s team.
The London club announced this week that the Emirates will be the main home for Arsenal's women's team from next season. They announced plans for 11 games to be played at the ground next term – eight Women's Super League (WSL) and three UEFA Women's Champions League games, if qualification for the group stages is secured
The six WSL matches hosted at Emirates this season saw an average crowd of 52,029, which included two sell-outs and three WSL attendance records.
These have contributed to an average crowd of 32,618 over the 2023/24 season so far.
Anyone in a position of authority in Scottish women’s football should be picking their brain at every opportunity they can. Those numbers have come on the back of a sustained commitment to the women’s team across the last decade.
AND FINALLY
Eva Olid deserves tremendous credit for the job she has done at Hearts in an incredibly short time.
The Spanish coach took over when they were bottom of the league and has turned them into the fourth force in the SWPL.
They have finished the season leggy after defeats to Hibs and Celtic this week but it will be interesting to see how they cope with next Sunday’s Scottish Cup final against Rangers at Hampden.
Next season it is understood that the Tynecastle side are set to ramp up their commitment to the women’s team which should see them push to close the gap on the top three.
