There has been much debate online in recent years regarding Rangers operating a women’s team in the Scottish Women’s Premier League (SWPL) and the benefits of doing so, with some arguing that running a fully professional women’s side within the Scottish game is merely a money-losing exercise.
Critics of the team have grown louder due to a combination of recent financial losses and the women’s side failing to win any of the last three SWPL titles, despite enjoying success in cup competitions.
However, the main reason some want to see the women’s team disbanded has little to do with its own merits or shortcomings. Instead, it stems from the men’s team’s lack of success, with supporters looking for something to blame, such as poor allocation of funds or bad signings, and the women’s team, as a perceived loss-maker, has become an easy scapegoat through no fault of its own.
Yet despite the criticism, there are undeniable benefits to Rangers maintaining a women’s team. At a fundamental level, it offers young girls across Scotland a pathway into professional football, a dream that, for generations, seemed unattainable.
The presence of a fully professional side within such a storied club sends a powerful message: that women’s sport matters, and that there is a place for female athletes at the highest levels of the game, it’s their game too.
Beyond the pitch, it creates visible role models. Players like Brogan Hay or Kirsty Howat may not be household names yet, but to the next generation of aspiring female footballers, they are heroes, living proof that the dream is not only alive, but achievable.
This kind of representation is invaluable. It inspires participation, encourages equality, and helps reshape attitudes toward women’s sport in a country where male football has long dominated the cultural landscape.
Moreover, having a professional women’s team aligns Rangers with modern sporting standards across Europe. Top clubs like Barcelona, Chelsea, and Lyon have invested heavily in their women’s sides, not just out of social obligation but because the women's game is growing rapidly, commercially, culturally, and competitively. To walk away now would be to fall behind.
To those who still feel negatively to the women’s side, or talk down the women’s game online at every opportunity, we say to you, how would you feel if your daughter, younger sister or niece played the sport they loved, had that dream to pull on the famous royal blue jersey and had that dream snatched from them? In the modern age its not just a men’s game to watch on a Saturday half day off, it’s for all, girls back our club near and far, and we have to ensure they have the right to dream, as we all once did.