‘We want 60,000 fans at games’: Women’s Championship celebrates 10th anniversary as Blackburn Rovers players look ahead to further growth
On Sunday 14 April, the Women's Championship celebrates its 10th anniversary.
Established in 2014 as the WSL 2, the league has since evolved into a flourishing and well-fought competition, changing its name to the Women's Championship in 2018.
To celebrate the momentous occasion, players past and present who have been heavily involved with the Women's Championship have donated a range of items to the National Football Museum.
Former Doncaster Belles and England forward Sue Smith donated her 2014 Doncaster Rovers Belles Player of the Year and Golden Boot trophies, as well as a pair of boots from her time in the Barclays Women’s Championship.
Meanwhile, current Blackburn Rovers Women's players Millie Chandarana and Jade Richards donated a special edition training top designed by Dodici Otto, signed by their squad.
Reflecting on the biggest changes to the league during the last ten years, Chandarana told talkSPORT how the level of football had become significantly more competitive.
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She said: "I think year-on-year it has developed. You can definitely see improvements. The clubs are becoming more professional, there are more full-time contracts out there and the players are considered full-time athletes. It's incredible to be considered a full-time athlete playing in the Championship and I think that's what has made the progression happen.
"The league is a lot closer this year than it ever has been as well. There's quite a few teams competing to go up into the WSL, whereas before it was one or two. Now it's like five or six that could go up. The competition is a lot higher, the standard is a lot higher as well."
In one of the closest seasons the Championship has seen, Crystal Palace, Charlton Athletic, Southampton and Sunderland are all in the running for promotion to the WSL.
With just four points separating the top four, the last three games of the season will be crucial in deciding which side makes into the top tier.
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While Blackburn Rovers are seventh in the table, they are still only 11 points behind the leaders, demonstrating just how close the margins across the league have been.
Blackburn Rovers take on Reading on the exact day of the 10-year anniversary.
They go into the game hoping to extend their five-game unbeaten streak, knowing they could still climb further up the table by the end of the season.
Chandarana added that the potential possibility for so many teams to earn promotion and to compete was part of the attraction of the league.
She said: "Every game is a battle. Anyone can play anyone - and win. And I think that makes the competition that much higher and it makes the league more exciting."
Former winger Smith played for Doncaster Belles between 2011 and 2016, competing in the Championship in its early years.
She told talkSPORT: "When I was in there, we went up and we went down. Competing with Sunderland, competed with Reading for quite a while. When you look at this season, it's so competitive!
"There's four teams that could potentially win the title this year, with Birmingham as the fifth team that could potentially go up there."
She added: "As in the women's game in general, the standards are so much better now, the level of play, how competitive it is. There's certainly more people watching the Championship which is good."
And while progress has been marked in the last ten years, Chandarana insists that there is still so much more growth to be excited about in the future.
Asked where she would like to see the league in ten years, she said: "I personally hope that the Championship is at the level where the (WSL) is now. With more eyes on the Championship, maybe 60,000 fans to the games - we hope!"
She added: "It would be great to see Championship games covered by the likes of Sky Sports, BBC. I think in ten years time if that can be possible, it would be amazing."
And it was not just the public and media attention that Richards wants to see developed in the next decade.
"For me, it would be growing the league," she said. "Growing the (WSL) and the number of teams and also growing the number of teams in the Championship which provides more games for teams to play in. Obviously, at the minute it's 22 - but can we push it to 30, for example, and then get more games?
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"And hopefully there's more clubs that can sustain the demands of being in the Championship and the (WSL), that can compete and really drive women's football forward."
You can tune into talkSPORT's Women's Football Show on Mondays from 7pm on talkSPORT 2.