Attendance records were broken on the opening weekend of the new A-League Women season as interest in the Matildas’ successful World Cup campaign gave the domestic competition an expected early boost.
On Saturday, the 2023-24 campaign opened with a fiery F3 derby between Central Coast and Newcastle featuring two red cards, which attracted a crowd of 5,735 – a regular season record that stood for just a few hours until 11,471 attended the Sydney derby at Allianz Stadium later in the day.
That figure set a new record for a domestic women’s football match, surpassing the 9,519 who watched Sydney FC’s 4-0 win over Western United in last season’s grand final at CommBank Stadium in Parramatta.
The first two games alone broke the record for any round in the history of the league – 15,955 – which had stood for nine years.
Saturday’s late kick-off between Perth Glory and Western United in Perth took the figure even further beyond the previous benchmark, before Sunday’s games between Wellington Phoenix and Melbourne City at Sky Stadium, Adelaide United and Canberra United at Coopers Stadium and Melbourne Victory and Brisbane Roar at the home of the Matildas added a further 7,927 to the round total.
Earlier this year, the Matildas’ run to the semi-finals of the Women’s World Cup on home soil captured the imagination of the nation sparking huge interest in the game.
Every Matildas match sold out at stadiums in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne, and attendance and viewing records were broken throughout the tournament. The semi-final against England was the most watched television program – sport or otherwise – since 2001, when the existing rating system was established.
Before this weekend’s kick-off, focus had been on the World Cup’s legacy and how the domestic game could capitalise on the spike in interest – something football in Australia has not always been able to take advantage of.
A free ticket scheme that allows children under the age of 16 to go any ALW game of the club of their choice was launched before the start of the season, while several big-name players were retained by ALW clubs and a number of others returned to Australia to give the league a boost.
Cortnee Vine, who scored the winning penalty in the quarter-final shootout against France, pledged her immediate future to Sydney FC after the World Cup in a real coup for the ALW. The winger featured heavily in Sydney FC’s 2-0 win over Western Sydney Wanderers on Saturday.
Matildas goalkeeper Lydia Williams ran out for Melbourne Victory in their game against Brisbane Roar on Sunday but the likes of Tameka Yallop, Kyah Simon, Emily Gielnik, Elise Kellond-Knight and Chloe Logarzo were all missing from the opening weekend due to injury.
Nick Garcia, the A-Leagues commissioner, said the latest attendance records were the result of a long period of hard work that has led to unprecedented growth for the ALW.
“Our plan for the Fifa Women’s World Cup started more than two years ago and today, we have three new women’s teams in the league, a full home-and-away season of 22 rounds and an unprecedented 198% growth in memberships across the league,” he said.
“Playing the opening round in mostly major stadia was part of a strategy to create new experiences and connect with more fans, and we are delighted to see the round record broken on day one, in just two matches.”
