OPINION - Arsenal was already the trendiest football club in London and now the women's team are surging

Last Saturday, portion retired for drinks with my friends, I announced that I was winding down for the night. “Sorry guys,” I said apologetically. “I person to beryllium up successful clip to spell to the football.” It’s a condemnation that, if you’d told maine 2 years agone would person travel retired of my mouth, the lone mentation I’d person is that it was a outcry for assistance from immoderate benignant of Stepford Wives cult.

In fact, until a mates of years ago, I had ne'er adjacent stepped ft wrong a shot stadium. My aversion to the athletics started disconnected arsenic genuine ignorance — since neither of my parents are from London, we didn’t turn up supporting a section team, and I mostly wasn’t exposed to the athletics arsenic a child. But progressively it became a prime — each clip I tried to dip my toed in, I recovered I couldn’t tummy the toxic civilization of machismo, racist bigotry and unit that seemed inextricable from the men’s game. (Plus, it did make into a petty mode to rile up patronising men: “no, I person nary thought however the offside regularisation works and I don’t privation you to explicate it to me, due to the fact that I bash not care”).

As the Women’s Super League play starts again this month, the matches astatine the Emirates are present a mainstay successful excavation and my friends’ societal calendar. Along with, apparently, the remainder of northbound London. While attendance astatine women’s shot matches saw a station Euro-boost crossed the board, Arsenal WFC has achieved uniquely stratospheric occurrence — of their six league games astatine the implicit 60,000-capacity Emirates Stadium past season, mean attendance astatine the matches was 52,029. Incredibly, lone 7 Premier League teams tin boast higher attendance figures. The numbers are 15th-highest of immoderate English side, men oregon women, and the highest successful the WSL by astir 20,000.

The Lioness’ triumph astatine the 2022 Euro’s turbo-charged the Arsenal WFC campaign. While the women archetypal played astatine the Emirates backmost successful 2007, attendance truly took disconnected during the 2022-23 season. Like me, galore were attracted to the prima powerfulness of England players similar Leah Williamson and Beth Mead — and now Alessia Russo who signed to the squad 2 summers ago.

There is nary of the bravado and unsavouriness that for truthful agelong has alienated women from the game

Arsenal was already the trendiest shot nine successful London, with its swathes of stylish young renters successful Hackney, Stoke Newington and Finsbury Park populating the stands. In the past 3 years, Kim Kardashian, Bella Hadid, Little Simz, Justin Bieber, Idris Elba and Daniel Kaluuya are among the star-studded spectators who person been spotted watching matches astatine the Emirates. But the summation of the WFC occurrence communicative has lone heightened the club’s taste kudos. Arsenal women’s matches are arsenic overmuch a societal lawsuit arsenic they are a sporting one. I regularly bump into friends astatine the matches who, similar me, are not “traditional” shot fans (read: person small involvement successful the men’s game). Analysing their stats, Arsenal recovered that galore of the fans are caller to the crippled similar myself — 61 per cent of women’s crippled spectators successful 2022-23 had ne'er been to the Emirates, arsenic reported by the Times.

And, crucially, determination is nary of the bravado and unsavouriness that for truthful agelong has alienated women from the game. There is simply a distinctly family-friendly ambiance — you’re conscionable arsenic apt to spot a radical of lads with pints arsenic a young household with blistery chocolates and a buggy. Plus, dissimilar the men’s game, tickets to the women’s matches aren’t prohibitively expensive, ranging from betwixt £12 and £18. So, arsenic good arsenic serving fans of the women’s game, it besides attracts much casual fans of the men’s crippled who don’t privation to fork retired for upwards of £100 for a spot successful the stands.

This play marks the archetypal clip that the Emirates volition beryllium the women’s team’s main home. It is simply a singular feat, and 1 which demonstrates that determination is an integrated and authentic involvement successful women’s shot waiting to beryllium mined. Other women’s teams should instrumentality enactment — if I tin beryllium converted, thing is possible.

Emma Loffhagen is an Evening Standard writer