‘They keep forcing people to go.’
That was the verdict of a taxi driver when I told him I was in Dublin to cover women’s football.
Yet, no one had held a gun to tens of thousands of people’s heads and forced them to attend a women’s fixture.
‘It’s not well received here’, he went on.
I was shocked. Wasn’t this the same Ireland that filled the seats of the Aviva Stadium when their national team faced England in April? The same Ireland that had brought masses of fans as they made their first World Cup appearance halfway around the world last summer?
To say I was frustrated with his outlook would be an understatement.
As someone who was required to interview fans before entering the press box, I can confidently say everyone that attended those Euro qualifiers most certainly wanted to be there.
The man reiterated that his daughter played football and had even gone with her to see Ireland play a couple of times. However, he so confidently stated that he was certain his daughter would hang up her boots by the time she reached 14, though provided no explanation why.
I was disheartened and wrecked my brain trying to understand why he thought this. After all, young girls today certainly have more opportunities to go professional than when I was growing up.
He then elaborated on this and said that the reason the Irish national team were not well received was because their games only attracted young girls and their parents.
I wondered why this was an issue at all.
Some may think me naïve for believing that middle-aged men are not the be-all, end-all when it comes to the popularisation of women’s football. While I would welcome anyone that wanted to attend a women’s game and am not arguing for the exclusion of middle-aged men from women’s matches. It must be said the men’s game has the same reverse effect.
When one looks closely at Premier League matches, the audiences are predominantly male and while there is the odd wife, partner, group of friends and lone female fan, it is not a competition that specifically caters to women.
A 2022 Fair Game Report stated that women are estimated to make up 26% of fans at Premier League matches. During Ireland’s Euro qualifier against England, more people tuned in to ITV1 to watch than ongoing Champions League games Manchester City and Arsenal were playing at the same time.
So why is it suddenly a big deal when women’s football doesn’t attract middle aged male audiences as its majority demographic?
It is also the family-friendly environment that makes women’s football so appealing to audience members. Men’s games have gained a reputation for bad conduct amongst fans, often men in groups which can dissuade parents from wanting to bring their young children along.
So is it really a bad thing if young girls can watch a football game in a safe environment?
What was ironic about this person’s argument was that he, himself, was a middle-aged man going to a women’s football match each time he went to see his country play. Even if that was him going in his capacity as a parent.
Much to my content, it was announced that tickets for Ireland’s game against Georgia were sold out.
As Ireland claimed another victory against Georgia, I heard the loudspeakers announce that a record number of seats had been filled for a women’s national team game at Tallaght Stadium.
I would even go as far as to say that it was pretty ‘well received’.