Reach is creating a new team to cover the Women’s Super League (WSL) season, which kicks off next month.
Headed up by Manchester Evening News’ Head of Football, Alice McKeegan, the 7-strong team will be spread across the country to ensure that every match is covered for its national and regional titles.
“England’s success at the Euros this summer has displayed to the country just how good the women’s game is, and we want to ensure our coverage of the sport is first-rate too,” explained McKeegan.
“It’s really exciting to be able to recruit a team of dedicated journalists to expand our coverage and ensure we’re giving our audience what they want.”
Each of the 12 WSL clubs will be assigned to a member of the reporting team to focus on club coverage between matches and throughout the week.
The publisher will be advertising for new roles including a sports editor, chief reporter, club reporters and a social media reporter.
“Our strategy is to become a broader church for sports coverage. There are a lot of sports out there other than men’s football and we have seen great results from having extra people writing about F1, tennis, boxing and UFC,” stated Neil Hodgkinson, Audience and Content Director for sport at Reach.
“Coverage of the success of female athletes in tennis, boxing and cricket has also proven popular with readers. Some of our titles have seen particular success here, for example WalesOnline’s regular and popular coverage of women’s rugby.
“Increasing our coverage of the WSL and women’s grassroots game is a natural progression. The key thing is to stick with the coverage and show you are as committed as the fans.”
