This week on She Shoots, She Tours! - The Deep Dive, Cath Hurley takes you inside the high-stakes, behind-the-scenes world of WSL transfers on deadline day. From record-breaking signings to quiet strategic moves, this episode explores everything fans rarely see: legal negotiations, work permits, visa hurdles, homegrown quotas, and the meticulous planning that goes into every transfer.

Cath breaks down how clubs balance international stars with domestic talent, navigate post-Brexit immigration rules, and handle the often overlooked administrative and medical processes that make a transfer official. She dives into contract negotiations, loan strategies, and financial mechanics — including add-ons, solidarity payments, and maternity protections — showing how much thought goes into squad building beyond just paying a transfer fee.

We also spotlight the rising stars of the WSL — young, international, and homegrown players like Zara Kramzar, Issy Hobson, and Toko Koga — to reveal how clubs are shaping the future of women’s football through smart talent pathways and long-term development.

By the end, you’ll see that every Instagram announcement, “welcome to the club,” and late-night deadline deal is just the tip of a complex iceberg of strategy, ambition, and human effort. Cath leaves listeners with a thought-provoking question: are we witnessing the most intelligent era of squad building the women’s game has ever seen?

This week on She Shoots, She Tours! - The Deep Dive, Cath Hurley explores how stadium design shapes women’s football — for players, fans, and the future of the game. This isn’t just about capacity or aesthetics; it’s about belonging, accessibility, and creating spaces where everyone feels valued.

Cath digs into the history of stadiums in women’s football, showing how decades of underfunding forced teams into venues designed for men — from cramped changing rooms to steep stairs, confusing layouts, and inadequate facilities. Using examples from Everton, Chelsea, Leicester, and Brighton, she examines how retrofitted spaces can both help and hinder growth, and why purpose-built stadiums, like Brighton’s planned ground, represent more than infrastructure — they signal respect, ambition, and a commitment to fans and players.

The episode also highlights the WSL’s new best practice guide for stadium environments, emphasizing accessibility, family-friendly spaces, player facilities, and safety as foundations for sustainable growth. Through candid discussion, Cath asks tough questions about scale, atmosphere, and how stadiums can either amplify or erode fan engagement.

For anyone curious about what makes a matchday feel like home, why atmosphere matters as much as attendance, and how design communicates value, this deep dive is essential listening.

This week on She Shoots, She Tours! – The Deep Dive, Cath Hurley explores the WSL’s journey to independence — what it means, how it works, and why it matters for the future of women’s football in England. From the legacy of the FA’s 50-year ban on women’s football to the strategic unification of WSL and WSL2, this episode digs into the league’s control over broadcast, sponsorship, and global identity.

Cath examines how independence allows the WSL to negotiate its own deals, attract international talent, and define success on its own terms — without relying on federation structures. Featuring comparisons with leagues across Europe and reflections on lessons from the Premier League, this deep dive unpacks the opportunities, challenges, and responsibilities that come with a league now fully accountable for its own destiny.

Thoughtful, informative, and forward-looking, this episode asks: with control now in its own hands, how will the WSL shape the future of women’s football?

Let’s deep dive.

This week on She Shoots, She Tours! – The Deep Dive, Cath Hurley explores how content creation has become the engine of women’s football fandom — and why super fans, not just clubs or players, are shaping the story of the game. From TikTok explainers to YouTube matchday diaries, this episode looks at how creators translate emotion, context, and culture into content that drives engagement, builds community, and brings new audiences into the sport.

Digging into partnerships, skill-sharing, and the Google Pixel Academy, Cath unpacks how clubs and leagues can support creators without compromising authenticity, examining the risks of misaligned partnerships, over-reliance on single voices, and creator burnout. Featuring examples across the pyramid, she highlights how fan-led storytelling amplifies inclusivity, celebrates values, and makes women’s football feel human, accessible, and exciting in ways traditional media rarely does.

Looking ahead, the episode reflects on empowering fans to step in front of the camera, creating pathways for future content creators, and why the next generation of storytellers is just as critical to the growth of the game as the next generation of players. Thoughtful, insightful, and deliberately unresolved, this is a sort of manifesto for how women’s football can grow through people, not just performance.

Let’s deep dive.

This week on She Shoots, She Tours! – The Deep Dive, Cath Hurley explores the power of figurehead players in women’s football — and why people, not institutions, remain the engine of growth in the WSL. From players as cultural custodians to the emotional impact of short contracts and high-profile moves, this episode looks at how clubs build identity, loyalty, and revenue through individuals — and what happens when those individuals leave.

Digging into player visibility, social media, and personal brand-building, Cath unpacks how modern women footballers navigate being public figures, the risks that come with accessibility, and why clubs must actively support players rather than simply benefit from their reach. Featuring examples from across the league — including Arsenal’s storytelling around injury, Manchester City’s cultural spotlighting, Lucy Bronze and the ripple effects of star movement between clubs — this deep dive asks who is really responsible for protecting and developing figureheads in the women’s game.

Looking ahead, the episode reframes legacy through fan psychology, succession, and care — questioning how clubs retain belonging when favourite players move on, and what the next generation of WSL icons might look like. Thoughtful, honest, and deliberately unresolved, this is a starting point for how women’s football can grow without losing what makes it feel human.

Let’s deep dive.

This week on She Shoots, She Tours! – The Deep Dive, Cath Hurley takes a hard look at one of the most persistent, and least honestly discussed, issues in women’s football: refereeing — and what it says about how seriously the game is really being taken at this stage of its growth.

As women’s football professionalises at speed, this episode asks why the people enforcing the rules have so often been left operating in semi-professional conditions. From inconsistent decision-making and player safety concerns, to the pressure placed on officials without the resources to support them, Cath unpacks how under-investment in referees has become a structural risk — not just a frustration.

This deep dive explores the full landscape of officiating in the women’s game: the reality of part-time versus professional referees, the role of IFAB, PGMOL and league governance, the limits of VAR and other technologies, and why tech can’t replace investment in people. It also looks at the human cost — including abuse faced by referees — and how that shapes confidence, retention, and the referee pipeline.

Digging into money, responsibility, and power, this episode argues that professionalising referees isn’t a side issue or a future ambition, but a foundational requirement for trust, safety and credibility in women’s football. If the game has grown up, Cath asks, when will the systems around it finally do the same?

Detailed, uncompromising, and grounded in the realities of watching the game week in, week out — let’s deep dive.

This week on She Shoots, She Tours! – The Deep Dive, Cath Hurley explores who is really driving the growth of women’s football in England — and why this audience looks, behaves, and supports very differently to the men’s game. From player-first fandom shaped by the success of the Lionesses, to digital-native supporters who build community online rather than in the stands, Cath unpacks why traditional football assumptions don’t quite hold up in the WSL.

This episode looks at women’s football fans through multiple lenses: Gen Z women who follow players like favourite artists, older women finding connection and routine through matchdays, LGBTQ+ supporters who feel genuinely represented in the women’s game, and neurodiverse fans who can finally enjoy football in calmer, more accessible environments. Cath also tackles growing tensions around family-first marketing, the risk of sanitising football culture, and why some adult fans feel increasingly disconnected.

Digging into sponsorship, ticketing, and club strategy, this deep dive argues that growth won’t come from demographics or “one club” thinking — but from understanding motivation: why fans show up, stay online, or choose women’s football at all. Honest, thoughtful, and future-facing — let’s deep dive.

This week on She Shoots, She Tours! – The Deep Dive, Cath Hurley gets into one of the biggest structural shifts in the women’s game: how promotion and relegation will work in the WSL as it expands. With the top flight moving to 14 teams and a new playoff on the way, what happens in the 2025–26 bridge season, and what does the long-term system look like from 2026–27 onward? Cath breaks the rules down in plain English, then digs into why they matter: more jeopardy at both ends of the table, more meaningful games, and a clearer route into the elite tier.

From licensing standards and the real cost of being “WSL-ready,” to the risks of yo-yo clubs, financial cliff edges, fixture load, and talent dilution, this episode weighs the upside and the danger of a more open league. And because the WSL doesn’t exist in a bubble, Cath zooms out to tiers 3 and below - where the FA is still reshaping the staircase with bigger divisions, lower-tier playoffs, regionalisation, and even the spicy B-team proposal. Honest, balanced, and properly in the weeds - let’s deep dive.