Arsenal Women are set for a second WSL sellout at Emirates Stadium in a fortnight with only a literal handful of tickets remaining for Sunday’s North London derby against Spurs.
Arsenal home games are currently responsible for the top five all-time WSL attendances and Sunday’s game will ensure they hold the top six positions. (Seventh place is the North London derby from November 2019 held at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium).
Gunners boss Jonas Eidevall says it is the investment of staff at every level of the club that sees Arsenal leading the way in women’s football attendances. ‘I think one thing that stands out is that the whole club at every level is invested in that. We have a club at the very top, and one of the ambitions is to accelerate the growth of women’s football and you can really see how that is influencing every decision on its way, I think that is very important to start with that, to make it a real investment.
‘Then I think what makes Arsenal special and the belonging to the community and the connection to the fans, it’s one of those things that if you could bottle that and sell it, you’d probably end up earning a lot of money on that but that’s the special circumstances and all the history coming together with the community and Arsenal that allows that, and there is where I think that other clubs that they need to find their solution too.
‘But I think it starts with the whole club being invested, that has to be the starting point and then from there on how you create that feeling, that passion for the team, every club has to find their own identity, their own culture and that’s going to be different for Arsenal than other teams, of course.’
Arsenal are on course for a second consecutive sellout and Eidevall suggested the club’s search for sustainable attendances is bearing fruit, ‘Yeah, I heard we have 166 tickets left so whoever can rush and be lucky and get those last tickets. It’s incredible, it’s great, and it very much shows that it’s not a one-off.
‘It’s less than 12 months ago that we sold out the stadium for the first time for the Women’s team against Wolfsburg in the Champions League semi-final. Everyone felt what a huge achievement that was and now it’s about having a great football team.
We’re not only searching for the highs, but we’re also searching for consistency, we’re searching for sustainability, we’re searching for creating a culture at Emirates Stadium week-in, week-out, and this shows great progress in doing so. So, now we all need to play our part in that, especially us as a team, to deliver a performance that matches the great support from the fans, and I think we can lift each other to new heights.’
Eidevall also says that his team have grown to understand how to harness the crowd, ‘I think we play the occasion as well and we did that to a positive. I think if you see two seasons ago, we didn’t use the crowd very well at Emirates Stadium. Now, we’re using the crowd much, much better and the atmosphere is phenomenal.
‘I think that’s something that we can really use as a strength as a home team and make that our fortress together with our fans, and it should be a very unwelcoming place to away teams. We need to create that with the way that we are playing, our fans need to create that with their passion and their energy, and if we both can do that, I’m sure we can give ourselves the best chance of performing on Sunday.’
The effort, if that is the correct phrase, is to be loudly applauded. No other club is coming close to the same level of attendance, home or away. A tribute to the endlessly watchable Arsenal Women.
JE makes a good point about the players being able to draw energy from the fans now. I think it was at the Wolfsburg game when I really saw that the enormous crowd was an unadulterated positive for the girls.
It’s wonderful to sell out (as I assume we will) but we have to back this up with good wins in the stadium, as we have done, and above all, metal. Silverware needs to underpin this wonderful relationship, or it could all ebb away.
“Silverware needs to underpin this wonderful relationship, or it could all ebb away”….and that’s coming from a ‘Fun Gunner’!? If that is all it takes for support to ebb away, AFC should hand out silverware to all our loyal and amazing fans – put a stop to this potential ebbing you speak of. Maybe a small embossed silver plaque (or a tiny thimble-sized cup if that is a fan’s preference) reading “I am a real fan because I like to win things!”. A bit lengthy. “Validated” – less wordy. I’m sure the revenues from having full stadiums at the women’s… Read more »
But are you invested in the idea of getting results for this club?
Talkative bloke.