Source · Select Committees · Culture, Media and Sport Committee
Recommendation 38
38
Rejected
We recommend that the Government intervene in discussions between the Premier League, Women’s Professional Leagues...
Recommendation
We recommend that the Government intervene in discussions between the Premier League, Women’s Professional Leagues Limited, English Football League and Football Association to ensure that women’s football is exempt from the restrictions on broadcasting in the 3pm on Saturday slot. (Recommendation, Paragraph 122)
Government response summary AI-generated
The government rejected the recommendation, explaining that Article 48 is an opt-in statute that NGBs can manage without government intervention, and its removal would not benefit women’s football but rather crowd the broadcast schedule further.
Summary of the government's response below — read the verbatim text to verify.
Government Response
Rejected
HM Government · verbatim extract
Rejected
The mechanism of the Article 48 statute is commonly misunderstood to be a UEFA article that is imposed on member federations. In fact, the Article is an opt-in statute, which domestic football National Governing Bodies are able to opt out of in consultation with domestic leagues. The UEFA statute and its relevance to women’s football can also be challenged by National Governing Bodies without Government intervention. The Government could choose to request that the FA disapply the statute in full, but all this would do is open that broadcast window to all football —including international football—which would simply further crowd the broadcast schedule without any benefit to the women’s game. Due to these technical limitations of Article 48, Karen Carney’s Independent Review of Women’s Football did not recommend that the removal of Article 48 in football is the answer to the scheduling challenges women’s football faces.
Read the full response on Parliament ↗