It’s the men’s international break this weekend. There are no Premier League or Championship games in England. However, not a single WSL game has been scheduled for today. No Saturday lunchtime or late afternoon kick-offs. Nothing. It is a huge missed opportunity that shows the WSL and broadcasters have not quite worked out how to manage things.
I’m writing this whilst watching Werder Bremen vs Hamburg Women from Germany. The Frauen Bundesliga is have a “Super Saturday” with Wolfsburg vs Bayern Munich at the top of the table then the Nordderby. It’s all being shown on DAZN. Great fun. The stadium has plenty of fans and the atmosphere seems good. Elswhere, DAZN are also showing Serie A Women’s matches whilst NWSL games from America are on NWSL+ and Discovery+.
There is absolutely no reason why this could not have happened in the WSL and, indeed, WSL2. Instead, we have the farce of four matches kicking-off at the increasingly unpopular time of 12pm tomorrow.
Blackout Stops WSL Games Being Show
Well, there is perhaps one reason. This is another example of the damage the archaic Saturday afternoon blackout does. The WSL and its media partners have committed to showing every game this season. Which is great. However, it means no Saturday 3pm kick-offs, even during an international break. If they were allowed, games could have been played at that time today and I’m sure fans would have watched both on TV and in person.
Even so, there should have been games at 12.30pm and 5.30pm today, filling the vacant Premier League slots. Blackout our no blackout, the absence of WSL games this Saturday is an inexcusable error. It is a missed opportunity to broadcast games to fans who might not normally see them.
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