- Sep 27, 2014
- 34,227
- 28,862
- AFL Club
- Essendon
I'm sure he will be better briefed on the possible world record at PS for a H & A comp. female stand alone match ie not an international female match.
The men's World Cup is a comp. that has been running since 1930, with international single games occurring decades before that. The AFLW is soon to start its second year.
The still standing world record crowd of c.90,000, for the 1999 female World Cup Final soccer match (USA v. China), was in the USA -the average WC crowd there in 1999 was 37,319. The US has a population about 13 x the pop. of Australia.
Females have been playing soccer much more often since WW1 -not comparible to female AF's scant history.
As McLachlan says, if there is a Perth record crowd, "... that will be a big deal". It will be of huge promotional value for the AFLW & GR female AF; &, probably, a proportionately much bigger boost for female & male AF in NSW, ACT, & Qld.
EDIT (re post #7853 below from R. Ebert):
See the BF Board, Women's Footy & AFLW -General Discussions, for details on the 1920 British female soccer club record crowd of 53,000. The next lowest crowd, IIRC, for a British women's soccer match then was c.25,000. These games were irregular, were usually Charity games, & it is not certain whether they were stand alone (ie not played pre or post with a men's soccer game).
The AFLW is a regular, weekly, stand alone H & A competition.
The US female semi prof. NWSL in 2016 had average crowds c.5000 -even though MANY millions (8,000,000+?) play female soccer there.
The UK female semi prof. Football Association Women's Soccer League in 2016 had average crowds of only 1076 -even though it is also televised :& soccer is by FAR the dominant sport in the UK, & millions of females also play soccer in the UK.
The AFL can feel, rightfully, very proud on the huge growth of the AFLW in Year 1; & the growth of GR female regd. nos. (Until 2004, teenage girls were banned from playing AF; & adult female regd. nos. were miniscule).
It's not impressive when people are basically getting in for free.