ANY QUOTES USED MUST BE ATTRIBUTED TO MURNAGHAN, SKY NEWS

DERMOT MURNAGHAN: Now then, Arsenal will be hoping to extend their run of glory this afternoon by winning the Women’s FA Cup.  They’ll play Everton at the MK Dons Stadium in Milton Keynes and joining me now from the stadium in keen anticipation is Kelly Simmons, she’s head of Women’s Football at the FA, very good to talk to you Kelly.  Let’s talk about the two teams, didn’t they meet last time round in the FA cup final four years ago?  Then they were top of the Women’s Super League, now they are languishing near the bottom, what’s changed? 

KELLY SIMMONS:             Well first of all the Women’s Super League is really competitive which has got to be a good thing I think for women’s football.  Previously Arsenal dominated the game, Liverpool broke that last year by winning the league on the last day of the season but if you talk to the coaches and fans now nobody knows who is going to win the Women’s Super League and we are quite early into the season so even though Arsenal and Everton are at the bottom they have only played four games, I’m sure they will be battling to get up that table. 

DM: And hoping lifting the Cup will give them a bit of a lift.  Who do you have as favourites or are you staying strictly neutral? 

KELLY SIMMONS: I am definitely staying neutral.  Everton have got a lot of good young players, they are captained by Hinnigan who has already taken the England under-19s to European Championship victory, won the World Student Games, they have got a lot of good young talent.  Arsenal have got some very good young players, they have also got experience, they have got top, top players like Kelly Smith, Casey Stoney with hundreds of caps between them so I think it will be really competitive, both teams obviously desperate to win.  There’s a fantastic crowd here, we’re expecting 15,000, it’s live on television and on the radio, it’s a really great day for women’s football. 

DM: Talk to me about the crowds, have they picked up with the inauguration of the WSL and great contests like this? 

KELLY SIMMONS: Yes, our top WSL games are getting over a thousand people to the games, we’re up 40% this year on crowds which is really encouraging, our England games are getting around 9, 10,000 and as I said earlier, we’re expecting about 15,000 here today.  There are tickets still available, it’s a beautiful day here so we’d encourage people to walk up, there’s the FA Girl’s Youth Cup Final here first of all, Liverpool v Everton and we’ve got the fan zone so there’s lots to do for families as well. 

DM: Good sell there, two games for the price of one as well.  What’s happening, I don’t like to do this but it happens doesn’t it, the parallels with the men’s game, is more money coming into the women’s side of it and are some clubs spending more than others and let’s say slightly buy their way higher up the table?

KELLY SIMMONS: Well there is more money coming into the women’s game, we’ve got commercial partners, for the first time we’ve separated out and sold the women’s rights separately so we’ve brought new commercial partners in.  We’ve got two major broadcast partners for the games and the clubs through the FA WSL and through club licencing are bringing in local commercial partners. Obviously some of those have got partnerships with the men’s clubs so that helps as well so what the great thing is, what was an amateur sport probably when we last spoke is now semi-professional and moving to professional but it’s very competitive as you can see by the fixtures.  They are very, very close, all the clubs are taking points off each other, there aren’t two or three clubs paying to dominate if you like.

DM: I can see by the quality, I try and watch as much women’s football as I possibly can.  What about the money going into the game though and this is the important thing, and it goes for whoever is playing football, is it trickling down?  Are you getting more young girls involved in football? 

KELLY SIMMONS: Very much so.  Over a million girls and women play the  game, it is the biggest female team sport in this country now.  We use events like this, with the fan zone outside and take the girl’s festivals around the country to promote the game but there are thousands of girl’s teams across the country and women’s teams now playing football and thousands of teams in schools and that’s important because obviously we want to grow the base of the game, that will help the top and help the sport generally.

DM: Just the overall attitude towards women, did it help – well of course it didn’t, those comments reported by Richard Scudamore in his emails, are they talking about that in the women’s game, are they talking about that in the dressing room?

KELLY SIMMONS: Obviously it was really disappointing.  The most important thing is there is a clear message for people in the game that sexism needs to be treated as seriously as racism but that doesn’t detract from what’s happening today and what’s happening in the women’s game which is today is a real showpiece of a game, it’s live on television and over a million people will be watching on television and thousands here will be following the game, it really is progressing and developing.  

DM: I’m going to be watching as well.  Go on, give us a prediction, who do you think?  

KELLY SIMMONS: Well I know you’re an Arsenal fan so I think you’ll be rooting for Arsenal won’t you?   I’m going to stay on the fence.

DM: Okay, you’ve turned it back on me.  Okay Kelly, good to talk to you, thank you very much, Kelly Simmons there.