The all-time record attendance for the Women’s Super League was recorded on Saturday as Arsenal took on fierce local rivals Spurs in a closely contested two-nil away victory for the Gunners.
A bumper crowd of 38,262 people shows that women’s football is on the rise in the UK, with a total of 74,247 fans out in force this weekend to support their local team.
Arsenal ran out two-nil winners thanks to two second-half goals from Kim Little and Vivianne Miedema, coming away with three points from the temporarily named Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
In an interview with The Guardian, Spurs manager Karen Hills said that she hopes that the interest in women’s football will continue to grow.
The record for most attended games has already twice been broken this year as several Super League clubs have been allowed some access to their official club stadium.
Joe Montemurro, Arsenal’s manager said to The Guardian: “It was an amazing occasion. We’re very proud to have been a part of it. To have the passion, to have the rivalry, to have the tribalism. It was fantastic.”
The previous record was set at 31,213 at Manchester City’s Academy stadium in September, and in the same month West Ham United Women also played their first match at the official stadium, attracting a crowd of 24,790.
This ‘Women Football’s Weekend’ Chelsea broke another league record with the highest number of attendances at a women’s home ground with 4,790 supporters showing up at Kingsmeadow.
There has been a notable change in women’s football in a short space of time. Hills previously told The Guardian: “My first memory was when the girls took their kit home to clean it, I had to pick up sandwiches, pay the referee out of my account, I was asked to drive the minibus.”
She added: “This is an incredible moment. We’ve had an amazing opportunity here.”
The numbers show massive growth, too: before the 2019 World Cup in France, the record UK TV audience for a women’s football game was 4 million.
Over the course of the tournament, this rose by nearly three times when 11.7 million viewers tuned in to watch England v USA in the semi-finals.
Women’s football has increased interest and the signs are promising. Barclays recently announced a £10 million sponsorship deal with the Women’s Super League which could be a key indicator for commercial growth inside the sport.