Women's Premiership: Professionalism in league 'a massive landmark for equality'

The introduction of professionalism to the Women's Premiership is a "massive landmark for equality", says CEO of the Northern Ireland Football League Gerard Lawlor.

Women players will be paid for the first time as Northern Ireland's top flight expands to 10 teams in 2023.

Lawlor added licensing for stadia will also be implemented and relegation will return to the Premiership.

He also said matchdays would mainly be Wednesdays unless clubs want otherwise.

BBC Sport revealed in March that professionalism would begin in 2023 after Glentoran's bid to pay their players from January was put on hold by NIFL.

• Women's football should move to weekend, says NI captain Callaghan

Lawlor said that until the transfer window opens in the New Year and contracts are lodged he is unsure what the uptake percentage of professional players will be, but he expects a "hybrid model" throughout the league.

"We are currently still working through the process with the clubs. It really comes down to the contracts of the players," he told BBC Sport.

"It opens up the opportunity to receive payment for playing football in Northern Ireland, which is a massive landmark for equality in the league and the ladies' game in Northern Ireland.

"I think some of our clubs will probably all be amateur and some will be a hybrid model.

"What we are trying to do is give women the opportunity to have the equality, so a woman can now achieve a living by playing football in Northern Ireland. I think that is a massive step forward for us.

"It's going to take time to get it where we really want it to be. It's good we are ambitious and we all want to progress.

"We have to build this league on cement. It can't be built on quicksand."

'Euros bounce could have been bigger'

Northern Ireland's historic qualification for Euro 2022 in July put the women's game to a new level in the country.

The WSL in England, who won the tournament, saw increased crowds and higher profile, but Lawlor feels "there wasn't as big a bounce as maybe I thought there could have been" in Northern Ireland.

The majority of the senior women's team in Northern Ireland play their club football in the Women's Premiership.

"I think it is something we have all got to work closer on. There is the international side and that group of players who go from the league into the international set-up, and then there is the domestic game and I think they are very separate.

"I think that is something we have to look at going forward. Did it highlight our ladies' game? Yes, it did.

"People who listen to me know I harp on about having so many players and how we developed that squad for the Irish FA. The Irish FA took the players and made them better, which is only good for the league.

"We can work together, we can help develop the game going forward, produce better international players but also better domestic players going forward."

Northern Ireland captain Marissa Callaghan wants Women's Premiership matches moved to the weekends

Northern Ireland captain Marissa Callaghan has been vocal in her desire to move games to weekends to encourage more supporters to come to matches, a topic she again mooted on the Irish League Show.

"For me, we have to force change. We have momentum and so many fans who are interested in the women's game here.

"Whether that becomes a Friday night, a Saturday afternoon, a Sunday - we have to make sure we change those nights to make sure the fans can come and watch the games and be inspired.

"First and foremost, the game needs to change for the fans but also for the players.

"When we play at 8pm on a Wednesday night, most of us have a full day of work behind us before you go and kit out for a game.

"If we have a game on a weekend you can have appropriate preparation."

Lawlor says Callaghan's opinion is "respected", and he added NIFL is open to change but for that to happen then "the clubs need to come and ask NIFL to look at alternatives".

"As a league we have to listen to clubs. The Wednesday night is a night on which the clubs have told us they wish to play.

"At the same time, our clubs are open to playing at any time already. If we can do anything better then let's achieve it."

Stadia and licensing

Larne and Ballymena United will be promoted for the 2023 season as the Women's Premiership expands to 10 teams. Lawlor believes there could be "two leagues within a league" with varying quality of teams, but that will be a short-term issue and "over a longer period of time it will balance itself out".

He added relegation will return as not to "close NIFL off" to Championship clubs who wish to progress to the top flight.

Stadia is varied in the Women's Premiership. Champions Cliftonville, Crusaders and Derry City all play their games at established grounds which also house the men's teams, while Glentoran play the majority of matches at a local school and Sion Swifts' and Mid Ulster's home grounds are at sports complexes in Strabane and Cookstown.

Lawlor says licensing will be introduced alongside professionalism and "some of the stadia will have to meet requirements going forward".

Glentoran play the majority of home matches at Ashfield Boys High School

He added: "The ladies' game sits within junior football but I would like to see it move to intermediate football, at the very least because there must be a better standard of stadium.

"We have to be careful. Do clubs have those facilities open to them?

"Do we want the senior women's league in Northern Ireland to come away from park pitches or leisure centres in some cases? Most definitely.

"But that is a wish and we have to make sure the facilities are behind it. We are speaking to a number of clubs who have those facilities because they have ambitions to move and open up discussions with other clubs going forward.

"It's a slow process, we want to make sure what we are trying to build is sustainable and has long-term sustainability. It is going to take us some time to get to the level of where we want to be with it."