As Arsenal Women closed out a comfortable 4-0 win over Leicester City on Sunday, the stadium announcer confirmed the attendance figures. Just over 1,000 fans had made the trip to Borehamwood to see the Gunners go 4 points clear at the top of the WSL. A ripple of applause welcomed this news, appreciating those who weathered the bitter arctic cold to support their team. But after two games with attendances beyond the normal levels, it is saddening to see that same effort not being reciprocated for the normality of domestic fixtures.
The first of those games was the FA Cup Final. The entire bottom section was bathed in a sea of red and blue, generating a brilliant atmosphere for such a special occasion. Just over 40,000 fans were sat in the stadium, looking forward to a thrilling spectacle between this season’s top two sides. Such was the interest, even seats in the upper section were also brought into use. However, the catch here is that this was a game with a split interest, so for arguments sake, let us assume the split between teams is 50:50, and therefore, around 20,000 Arsenal fans made the trip to Wembley to see Arsenal fall short to Chelsea. Plenty of those fans were first timers to the Women’s Game, going not because of the team, but because of the badge they wear, and a chance to see Arsenal, regardless of the gender on the field, win some silverware.
Following up on that was Arsenal’s home tie against Barcelona. This was yet another special game, Arsenal would be playing against the reigning European Champions, a side brimming with quality and talent. Such a special occasion deserved to be played in a special stadium, and so the game would be played at Emirates Stadium. Just over 12,000 fans descended upon North London to see the Barcelona dance across the Emirates truth and trounce Arsenal 4-0. To their credit, they stayed until the end, cheering the players as they made their way off the pitch. The gulf in class was there all to see, yet so too were the empty seats. Whilst attendances may have looks ok for the TV cameras, from where fans were sat, the West Stand and Clock End were nothing but a field of red chairs and silence, a cold reminder of the disparity in interest amongst the Arsenal fanbase towards their own Women’s Team. To compare, almost 60,000 fans watched Arshavin score the now legendary counter-attack winner against the Men’s Team in 2011, almost 5 times the amount of those who came midweek.
And then there was Sunday Night. Meadow Park is no Emirates Stadium, but with its 3 stands, it can cater for up to approximately 4,000 fans. Plus, with the stands being much closer to pitch than at the Emirates, there’s a much better chance for improved acoustics and atmosphere. Yet ultimately, at full-time, the stadium was only at 25% capacity. Whilst the match itself was not a heavyweight clash, in the context of the season, it was massive. With Chelsea dropping points against Reading on the Saturday, a win on the night would have given Arsenal a healthy lead going into the Christmas break. But there was a clear 10,000 plus drop-off of fans who went to the Emirates midweek. Whilst that event had drawn fans in, it hadn’t convinced them to come back and see the team again at their normal residence. Why? Why is a team that is doing so much good on the pitch getting so neglected by its fanbase? How can it be that a side that looks as though it will fly through another season without challenging for the title still draw 58,000 fans in to witness them lose 2-0 at home to Chelsea, yet against the same club, in the same stadium, only a few weeks later, will only be able to attract 8,000 fans to watch Arsenal Women triumph 3-2, in one of the finest games of football played at the home of Arsenal. A 50,000-fan disparity. How?
There are, of course, reasons beyond the fans themselves why attendances are so low. Firstly COVID. With lockdowns, rules changing very week, and new variants being discovered every month, it is understandable that fans may have mixed feelings about want to stay away from big crowd events. Indeed, this was one of the schools of thought about the low turnout for the Chelsea fixture, an attendance double that of Meadow Park, but only an eighth of the total Emirates capacity. But since then, lockdown rules have eased, yet attendances have never gone much beyond 2,000 (the record so far this season is 2,165, when Arsenal beat Everton 3-0 during the Men’s International Break). Despite the relaxation of restrictions, only 25% of fans who went that day have elected to come back. Then of course, there is the irregular scheduling times.
Due to the nature of fixture scheduling, televised WSL matches are scheduled around the Men’s Games. Therefore, Sky will broadcast a match at the very early time of 11:30 on a Saturday (last weekend’s Reading vs Chelsea) and at the very late time of 18:45 on a Sunday (last weekend’s Arsenal vs Leicester City). These kick-off times make it very difficult for people to travel to, visit, and return at a reasonable time (In my case, I didn’t return home last Sunday until 23:00, thanks to both the lateness of the fixture and a road traffic collision on the A2). And sadly, so far for Arsenal this season, every tie at Meadow Park has been on Sky’s ‘late slot’. This scheduling issue is made worse by the potential clash with the Men’s Team. Fans wishing to watch both the NLD and Manchester City game earlier in the season were forced to make a mad dash across North London so as to not miss the second treat of the evening, instead of soaking up the atmosphere of Tottenham’s demise on the pitch.
Yet despite the awkward fixture timing, fans who truly care about the team have made the trips regardless, as any fan of a team would do. At the last home game, I was chatting with a fan who had come all the way down from Newcastle to watch the team play. I’ve met and spoken with fans who have flown over from Europe, just to watch the Arsenal Women in person. This isn’t a team supported by a few local Gunners, it has a global outreach. Fans from America, Africa and India all tune in when they can to watch the Arsenal Women play every morning/afternoon/evening. These are fans who would give anything to have the chance to sit in the terraces at Meadow Park and support the players they love and adore. Yet we have Gooners, right here in the UK, who choose to ignore, or barely acknowledge, their own Women’s Team. A team, I might add, that has achieved far more success than their Male counterparts in recent seasons (And I’m counting 1990 onwards here), including the one triumph that eluded Wenger all those years, a Champions League trophy. These are fans who will happily pay hundreds, if not thousands of pounds to go to some of the most high-end of Arsenal Men fixtures, and purchase as much Arsenal branded merchandise as possible, yet refuse to spend £12 to watch a team play that have a far greater chance of not only winning, but actually winning a trophy this season. Yes, Arsenal lost their high profile games with high number attendances. But as any fan of the Arsenal Women will tell you, these defeats are the exception, not the norm. Arsenal have only lost 3 games in all competitions this season, 2 of them being this week, and all 3 being against last season’s Champions League Finalists. If new fans are judging their Arsenal Women experience solely on these recent defeats, then they are being way too harsh too soon.
Of course, you cannot make someone attend football matches. Nor can you force them like a particular football team. Arsenal Women may play under the banner of Arsenal, but they are in affect a separate team, with a separate coach, in a separate stadium, with separate social media accounts. And whilst they may train at London Colney, they train separately from the Men. The only time you see the two sides combine is when they advertise their latest line of football kit or retro gear. It has been very easy in the past to mentally sustain the two teams apart, given that they exist on two different social planes of existence. However, denial of knowledge of the existence of the Women’s Team, or indeed Women’s Football, is an excuse now well overdue. Adverts now play during Sky Men’s Football matches. Live games on the BBC on a Sunday, so even those who do not pay a premium to watch football can still watch premium football. 10 years ago, when coverage purely consisted of an FA Cup Final, to be silent could maybe be forgiven, but not anymore. The content is there, accessible, available, unavoidable, to the extent that some people bitterly claim it’s being rammed down their throats (Personally, if people are concerned about having content forced upon them, I’d be more worried about Ray Winstone gambling and those erectile dysfunction adverts. But that’s another story). Fans have been able to apply this cognitive dissonance towards both supporting Arsenal and not supporting, caring for or acknowledging the Arsenal Women for far too long. If you support one, why can’t you support the other? You fill your twitter feeds with polls and questions and opinions and debates about the men’s players, but pay little heed to how your own women’s team is performing? Yes, they are a separate football team. But do you know what they also are? They are also Arsenal. Just as you have Saka, we have Mead. Just as you have Ramsdale, we have Manu. Just as you have Partey, we have Walti. They are all Arsenal, equally deserving of our support, neither inferior nor superior to the other. And to those who already support both on a regular basis, I salute you! Bravo!
Of course, there will be those who belittle its quality (which is a tad hypocritical, considering the ‘quality’ the Men have played at times this season), who believe Women should be looking after the catering as opposed to scoring incredible chest-controlled volleys into the top corner, or should be competing against Under 12s as opposed to making magnificent double saves to keep out some of the best attacking teams on the planet. And if you truly believe that, in your heart of hearts, then fine. We don’t want you; we don’t care about you; we don’t need you. You can stay at the Emirates and remain in your bygone misogynist fantasyland. But I think there are many good people out there, many good fans out there, who have yet to sample the delights of watching Arsenal Women play at Meadow Park. And it is to them I urge: Please, come to Meadow Park.
Come and join one of the best footballing families around. Come and watch a team that makes you smile and laugh, not suffer and cry. Come and watch a team that actually plays in Europe and finds itself in a very strong position to qualify from the group this week. Come and watch a team that now, thanks to goals from Nobbs, Miedema and a brace of headers from Maanum, has a 4-point lead at the top of the WSL, and stretches an unbeaten streak in the League that goes way back to February this year. And as the season progresses, let us make it our goal to make Meadow Park the biggest and loudest stadiums in the WSL. For years, the Arsenal Women were the at the forefront of everything on the pitch. Now it’s time for us fans to do the same in the stands. We shout and cheer as much as we can, but we cannot do it alone. Let us fill those seats, let us make some noise, and let us give our Women’s Team the support they truly deserve. And when the games come back to Emirates Stadium next year, such as the NLD game against Spurs, let us not settle for just 12,000 fans and a half-filled bottom section. Let us fill the room, and most importantly, break some records. Before COVID and lockdown, Spurs hosted their first ever NLD at their new stadium, and attracted 38,262 fans to the occasion (an occasion which they lost 2-0). However, it’s an attendance that to this day remains a WSL record. It’s a record I put to all of you to break this March. And if you cannot make it, that’s fine. But do not remain silent. Silence blinds those who follow you the chance to engage. And the more people we can get to engage with our Women’s Team, the stronger we shall be on and off the pitch. With fixtures coming early in the new year against Manchester City, Manchester United and Chelsea, all back to back, we’re going to need all the help and support we can muster to help the team through the most critical point of their season thus far.
So, with 2021 coming to a close, and 2022 on the near horizon, I put it to you, who has read this to the very end. What are you going to do to support the Arsenal Women next year? How are you going to make a difference? Will you stay silent, and remain blinkered, to instead focus on the Men’s Team forevermore? Or will you open your eyes, and embrace Arsenal’s twin team, and enjoy all the wonders it brings?
