Dr Keith Parry, head of sport and event management at Bournemouth, said: "The availability is poor and often it's not the kit the fans want – it might be T-shirts rather than the full jersey.

"It has improved – there are now women's fits of the men's shirts – but when we looked at women's teams, there was a lack of larger sizes and a lack of men's fit, so there's an assumption that only women want to buy the kit.

"For any fan, you want to wear the shirt but in women's sport in particular, fans do this for particular reasons – to make a financial contribution because there is a lack of funding and to make a statement and to show clubs there is a demand."

Bournemouth fan Hazel Baines, who runs girls' football clubs and walking football clubs for women and men, said: "It's about the fact that women are valued and are understood, and that's something that's only recently started to happen in the last few years.

"As the women's game improves, that feeds into the merchandise industry as well.

"On a personal level, AFC Bournemouth have been fantastic.

"For the last 18 months they have been training us as a women's walking football team.

"Now we are playing as well as watching, we really want to buy the kit – it's really triggered an interest for me and for my friends."