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Writer's pictureEllie Byrne

Are Smaller Capacity Stadiums Hindering the Growth of Women's Football?

The Women's Super League is the highest tier of women's football in England, yet it does not receive anywhere near the same amount of attention nor funding as the men's Premier League. Most WSL home grounds are stadium shares with League Two or National League men's sides.



Arsenal have already broken the Women's Super League attendance record twice this season, with 59,042 fans watching the Gunners beat title-rivals Chelsea 4-1 in December. This beat the previous record of 54,115 set in their first game of the season, when Arsenal lost to Liverpool.


Arsenal breaking the league record was not surprising, having achieved consistently high attendances in recent seasons, as well as selling out Emirates Stadium for the 22/23 Champions League Semi-Final.


Despite proving they can fill a Premier League stadium, Arsenal Women will only play 5 of their WSL matches at Emirates Stadium this season, with the other 6 home games hosted at Meadow Park, the home of men's National League side Boreham Wood.



Arsenal are not the only WSL side having to ground-share with a tier 4 or 5 men's club, with West Ham playing at Dagenham & Redbridge's Chigwell Construction Stadium, Brighton & Hove Albion at Crawley Town's Broadfield Stadium, and Aston Villa at Walsall's Bescot Stadium.


Everton Women's home ground, Walton Hall Park, has the smallest capacity of any WSL stadium, only fitting 2,200 fans. To compare, their men's current stadium, Goodison Park, hosts 39,414 fans, and the men's new stadium, Everton Stadium, will fit 52,888.



Most WSL grounds share two common problems; capacities and location.


Smaller capacity stadiums mean less fans can attend WSL games, and thus limits the area for growth for the matchday fan engagement and thus the club's fanbase.


Everton in particular have a smaller home ground than all but one men's national league side. How is it fair for a first tier women's club to have a stadium smaller than those in the men's fifth tier?


The location of WSL grounds also play a big part in the attendance on matchdays. Brighton & Hove Albion Women play their home games in Crawley, which is 22 miles from Brighton, making it difficult for their fans to travel to every women's home game.


Clubs are attempting to gain more traction for their women's teams by encouraging the followers of their men's team to also attend women's matches, adopting a 'one club' motto. However, their fans may not be willing to commit to following their club's women's side if they have to travel far for every home game. Arsenal and Manchester United fans also face this issue, with Arsenal women playing 13 miles from Emirates Stadium and Manchester United women playing 16 miles from Old Trafford.


Permanently moving women's home matches into the men's stadiums will encourage the club's fans to attend women's games, but is not as simple as it seems. Some WSL sides have already made the move, but it may be less likely for the larger Premier League clubs such as Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United to do so due to the finances involved. If women's clubs cannot fill the larger stadiums on a regular basis, they are not likely to be able to make a matchday profit.



Bristol City and Leicester City are the only two WSL sides to host all 11 of their home league games at their men's stadiums, Ashton Gate and King Power Stadium.


However, these two clubs sit low in the Women's Super League table, fighting to stay out of the relegation zone. Their fanbases are smaller than the larger WSL clubs such as Chelsea and Arsenal.


Bristol City's highest attendances so far this season have been against Arsenal, with over 12,000 fans and Manchester United with over 14,000. These attendances would not have been possible had the team been restricted to a ground-shared, smaller capacity stadium.



Making the move to the larger Premier League or Championship stadiums will be likely for most WSL sides in a few years time, as women's football continues to grow. There are hopes that the Women's Championship can also make improvements, to bridge the current gap between the top two English tiers.


However, there are sides such as the Championship's London City and Durham that have no affiliation to a men's club, that will find it more difficult to make the move to a bigger stadium without the financial backing from a men's team.


These clubs may be unable to make the permanent move to a larger stadium without the help of a men's Premier League or Championship side unless the women's Championship sees massive financial improvements in the coming years.


The WSL and Championship both currently have only 12 clubs competing, but this is likely to expand in the next few years. The level of funding is also increasing, with the FA lending millions to help fund the creation of an independent company to oversee the Women's Super League and Women's Championship as of the 24/25 season.


Women's football has been growing massively in the last few years, and will continue to grow, with the need to expand and develop in order to improve the quality of the women's domestic leagues in England.



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