Cliff Notes – Brighton CEO Paul Barber emphasizes that female players need different pitches
- Paul Barber suggests that the high injury rates in women’s football may be linked to pitches designed for male athletes, advocating for tailored surfaces for female players.
- Brighton is constructing a bespoke stadium for their women’s team, aiming to ensure high-quality pitch standards that reflect the respect afforded to male counterparts.
- The discourse around pitch quality has intensified, with calls for better surfaces in women’s football to support the sport’s rapid growth and investment opportunities.
Brighton CEO Paul Barber: Female players need different pitches
Brighton CEO Paul Barber has suggested that women footballers might need a different type of pitch to reduce injury risk.
The discourse around pitches in women’s football has amped in recent weeks. Ian Wright labelled the pitch Arsenal played Real Madrid in the Women’s Champions League quarterfinal 1st leg as a “disgrace” while Chelsea boss Sonia Bompastor said the pitch used for her side’s Subway Cup final against Manchester City wouldn’t have been tolerated if it was for men’s sides.
Brighton are in the process of building a bespoke stadium for their women’s side and Barber said the club want to ensure its pitch is of a high standard.
“If pitch surfaces are contributing, is that because we are preparing them for male athletes?” Barber told BBC Sport at a Women In Football event on Wednesday.
“We are starting to pull together a brief. If we’re building this pitch and investing that kind of money, it makes absolute sense to get it right.
“There has been a lot of coverage recently on the quality of surfaces women’s footballers have been asked to play on and for us, the whole basis of building a women’s stadium is to show as much respect to the female athletes as we do to the men’s.
“That should include the quality of surfaces as well. That is from the base point of how they are built to how they are surfaced and prepared on match days.”
Grown at a rapid pace
Brighton’s focus on their women’s side has significantly ramped up in recent years, with the signings of Lionesses Fran Kirby and Nikita Parris last summer further evidence of their ambitions. They are fifth in the table, on track to achieve their highest-ever finish in the Women’s Super League (WSL).
Women’s football has grown at a rapid pace in England since the Lionesses’ triumph at Euro 2022. In an effort to further that growth and hasten investment, the Women’s Professional Leagues Limited (WPLL), who run the WSL, have floated the idea of scrapping relegation.
“I think it is right that the WPLL are looking at every single avenue to accelerate the growth of the women’s game,” Barber said on the issue.
“If that means we need to give owners more security in order to invest faster, we have to consider that. I’m not saying it’s right or wrong — but just that we need to have every argument on the table.”