Aston Villa players 'dreading' WSL opener amid kit issues says commentator
Commentator Jacqui Oatley insists Aston Villa women are 'dreading' their WSL opener with Manchester United amid issues around their Castore kit.
Villa's male players have told the club that their new strips are retaining their sweat, making them uncomfortable to wear.
Villa women are due to face United live on BBC Two on Sunday lunchtime - and Oatley told BBC Newsbeat that the shirts are potentially going to be an issue.
She said: "This is going to be a big problem.
"They've got four TV games coming up. Normally they'd absolutely relish those games and look forward to them," Oatley added.
"But they're actually dreading it because they're really conscious about how they're going to look in this wet, clingy kit - for obvious reasons.
"You can imagine, as a female athlete, you have plenty enough to think about just being the best you can be on the football field without thinking about getting sweaty and your kit clinging to you, both from a performance aspect as it is with the men but also from an aesthetic aspect.
"And, as we know, women are different specimens when it comes to our bodies and it can really affect us and how we perform if we're constantly thinking about how we look, or a top might be clinging to our breasts and also our body shapes.
"These are genuine issues for women which you would have thought somebody would have thought through before they released this kit.
"But it seems perhaps that wasn't the case, because they didn't think about it for the men so I'm quite sure they won't have thought about it for the women."
Villa penned a multi-year deal with Castore back in May 2022 - and now the club are working towards a solution after men's team players reported the shirts were 'weighing them down'.
