Attendances at the London 2012 Olympic women's football tournament

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by 2xehxtxemyk65 on July 26, 2012 at 19:02

Thank you for this, WSU.  If we had known that it would have been so easy to get tickets on the day, we would have gone to the UK!

   Cameroon - Brazil > UK - NZ and that match hardly better than Colombia - North/Korea ... What is going on ?!!?  USA - France in a city of several million inhabitants, drew less spectators than Sweden - RSA in a comparatively small town. Que! Quoi!! Va!

   Is it like the ice-hockey world cup, that the organisers misjudged the market? Or, have they judged the market right and are maximising profit?  in that case, what future professional women´s soccer in the UK?

   In short, these numbers are most troubling and disquieting.

 

Permalink Reply by Women's Soccer United on July 26, 2012 at 19:03

Agree with you not the number's we were anticipating, but actually more than what I thought was there from the videos of the stands

Lars Breimer said:

Thank you for this, WSU.  If we had known that it would have been so easy to get tickets on the day, we would have gone to the UK!

   Cameroon - Brazil > UK - NZ and that match hardly better than Colombia - North/Korea ... What is going on ?!!?  USA - France in a city of several million inhabitants, drew less spectators than Sweden - RSA in a comparatively small town. Que! Quoi!! Va!

   Is it like the ice-hockey world cup, that the organisers misjudged the market? Or, have they judged the market right and are maximising profit?  in that case, what future professional women´s soccer in the UK?

   In short, these numbers are most troubling and disquieting.

 

Permalink Reply by Dağhan Irak on July 26, 2012 at 19:15

It could have been better but we should also bear in mind that the GB game was played in Wales (which had no players in Team GB) in a week day and during working hours. Also the fact that the games weren't played in London and before the opening ceremony is a factor reducing the number of attendance. 

Wait for the men's games' numbers today and you'll see it's not much better. 

If GB vs. Brazil, semi final and the final at Wembley won't be sold out, then there's a real problem. But for now, it's pretty normal, most people don't consider Olympics to be started yet. 

Permalink Reply by A-Hamm on July 26, 2012 at 19:17

I think they all left the North Korea/Colombia match after the delay haha. Looked waaaaay less than USA-France.

Permalink Reply by 2xehxtxemyk65 on July 26, 2012 at 19:24

I do not understand you.  The numbers are what they are. Are you saying that the matches in Glasgow were double-headers?

   Glasgow was the city in which the great Henke Larsson played most of his career. OK. He is best known as coming on as a substitute for Barcelona and winning them the CL, but for many years Celtic was his club. Glasgow is a soccer city.

   The stadium should have been full. They obviously were not. Why not?

A-Solo said:

I think they all left the North Korea/Colombia match after the delay haha. Looked waaaaay less than USA-France.

Permalink Reply by Women's Soccer United on July 26, 2012 at 19:30

That's a really good point those factors will have influenced figures, I am confident the later stages of this competition will be sell outs. 

 

Dağhan Irak said:

It could have been better but we should also bear in mind that the GB game was played in Wales (which had no players in Team GB) in a week day and during working hours. Also the fact that the games weren't played in London and before the opening ceremony is a factor reducing the number of attendance. 

Wait for the men's games' numbers today and you'll see it's not much better. 

If GB vs. Brazil, semi final and the final at Wembley won't be sold out, then there's a real problem. But for now, it's pretty normal, most people don't consider Olympics to be started yet. 

Permalink Reply by Gromit on July 26, 2012 at 19:58

I agree with Daghan. The real test will be GB-Brazil on first round and above all the matches when QF will start.

We all are admirers of Women's football, so we don't understand that people are not as clever as us and can be not interested in this game.

At the same time, we're always complaining that WF is still too much confidential and something like WSU exists to help to improve people's knowledge about it.

A small contradiction, maybe ?

People don't see men's football and women's football as a same thing and they are RIGHT. It's not the same thing.

So, it's not because Henrik Larsson played in Glasgow that dozen of thousands of Glasgowians will rush to watch ladies playing football. Even if they are blonde and come from Sweden. That's a dream !

More interesting is the big press cover of the event because that's really new.

What is Arsenal Ladies average attendance ? You'll have a beginning of answer why stadiums were not full on first day. Women's football is a minor sport. Not for us but for majority of peple. Don't expect to go further than music, my friends !

Permalink Reply by Kat Neyer on July 26, 2012 at 19:59

I agree with the time and day of these preliminary matches being a factor. If you look at the attendance for each venue, the later matches had a higher attendance than the earlier one (when comparing each venue to itself). Noting that Wales doesn't have any players on Team GB, I would say that none of the teams had home field advantage with regards to number of fans in the stands. I also agree that as the tournament progresses the attendance will increase. Also, with the proximity of the venue getting closer to the Olympic Village, attendance will increase as the international fans who are traveling to the UK to watch their country's team arrive in country.

Permalink Reply by 2xehxtxemyk65 on July 26, 2012 at 21:47

France and USA played at Hampden Park in Glasgow. This is maybe the top billing in the whole tournament. The stadium holds 50 000. 2,5M people live in the greater Glasgow metroplex, 1,7M in the more urban part and about 600k in the city.

   I can think of several footballers (apart from Henke Larsson) who have connections with Glasgow, such as Alex Ferguson, Kenny Dalglish, Jock Stein and if you go a bit further, Bill Shankly and Matt Busby. The rivalry (the Old Firm) between Celtic and Rangers is legendary, even if Rangers now are bankrupt.

   900 000 TV viewers in Sweden watched Sweden´s opening match. That is 10% of Sweden´s population. The Millennium stadium was not full for a match with the hosts while this evening Old Trafford is full.  This is (meant to be) the Olympic games.

   Does anyone know what the ticket prices are for the ladies´ vs the men´s matches? How much were these matches advertised?

Permalink Reply by Gromit on July 26, 2012 at 23:16

@Lars : I never thought that you can make an automatic link between a city population number and the way its stadium(s) are filled. Mathematics have limits.And football fans come and watch THEIR teams before everything. I remember a match in Paris ages ago, at the Parc des Princes : Benfica Lisbon against another foreign team, not French (can't remember which one, actually). 30,000 people were Portuguese living in Paris. The attendance was 40,000.
I am as disappointed as you with the attendances but not surprised. And not surprised either than Brazil with Neymar fills Old Trafford. Hey, Lars, we're talking about Women's Football ! It's a long and winding road, as Macca and his friends sang...

Permalink Reply by Terence Fullick on July 27, 2012 at 0:17

I think it's all been said, it's Women's Football, pre Olympic Opening Ceremony, and on a weekday, I thought the attendances were pretty good and will only improve as people really get into the Olympics and all it's events, hopefully the Final no matter who it's between , will be a sell out and match that amazing World Cup Final between the USA and Japan, that game had everything.

Permalink Reply by 2xehxtxemyk65 on July 27, 2012 at 6:05

The next test of attendance will be Japan - Sweden because it is a high profile match and has a noon kick-off, presumably on account of Japanese TV. Indeed, the Japanese TV-audience will be an interesting figure to have.

   France - North-Korea might be another good test because it is an evening kick-off and ever since ´66 the Brits have had a soft spot for North-Korean footballers. USA-NK is being played in Manchester but with a late-afternoon kick-off.

   The hosts play Brazil in London with an evening kick-off. That must be sold out?

Does anyone know the ticket prices?

   In Sweden a match in the damallsvenska cost 100 kr (11-12€ depending on the exchange rate) which is more than in Germany and France. For the CL final earlier this year a family ticket of 2 adults + 2 kids was 20€ and a single ticket in the open stand was 7€.

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