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those same numbers. Instead, we created our own metrics. Our hope was to increase visibility, while changing the perception and accelerating acceptance. So, we asked questions about women’s football. At the end, we actually doubled the brand awareness of COPA90, and doubled the number of people that now say they are women’s football fans – willing to recommend it to other friends, and recommend COPA90 as a place to get women’s football content. It was pretty cool that we shifted the needle in terms of brand awareness and brand perception, not only for our own brand, but also for the sport. XTREME: Have you noticed that in terms of attitudes around the world, there are very different responses to women’s football? BEX SMITH: It’s a global game. Having spent an extensive time in the UK, when people have a dismissive attitude towards women’s football, I cringe. In the UK, women’s football was banned by the FA for
50 years. That ban was only lifted in 1971. Whereas in America, when I was growing up, you could always play. There were all different levels of club, so the brand of women’s football in the US is in stark contrast to the UK, or South America, where there are very strong social and cultural barriers for women. These barriers exist around the world. The biggest swing inmomentum is in the UK and US. Those are the twomarkets that we started with and doubled down on, but we’re not ignoring the rest of the world. When players or stories are coming in from South America, fromAsia, fromAfrica, we want to shine a light on all of it. XTREME: What are some of the big things that can be done to change perceptions of women’s football? BEX SMITH: First, there have to be more role models. There has to be representation wherever you consume content or educate yourself. When I was growing up, in 1999 the US women’s national team won the World Cup. We were at
the Rose Bowl for that final match, with 92,000 people watching them win. For me, I never questioned that I could be a pro footballer. It was very normal. Whereas, in the UK in 1971, girls weren’t playing, so they genuinely didn’t think that they could – well, they couldn’t actually. Second, there has to be the support and infrastructure for girls tomake it to that level. You have to invest. It’s a vicious cycle when you say, well, girls don’t want to play football. They don’t want to play because they don't see anyone else playing. And when they do play, they’re the only girl – and that’s an uncomfortable place. If you’re not willing to invest in this infrastructure to create those environments, then it doesn’t matter what they think, as they can never play. It really isn’t about football. It’s about what football can bring, and how it breaks down barriers and shifts conversations that so desperately need to take place. We require more support with things that bring people together and build communities.
On the ball: Bringing the characters and stories of women’s football to a
wider audience is helping shift perceptions and the uptake of the sport
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MAY/JUNE 2022 FEED:XTREME
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