The replica shirt’s washed, the scarf retrieved from the winter drawer, the season tickets renewed. But this year it’s not the men I care about. Women’s football is back, and I can’t wait.
Tonight, Chelsea (boo), the undisputed powerhouse of the WSL (Women’s Super League), champions in each of the last six years and a decent bet for a magnificent seven, will get the season underway at Stamford Bridge (yes, where Chelsea men play) when they take on Man City.
Tomorrow, in the immortal football phrase, is When Saturday Comes. My team, Arsenal, the reigning champions of Europe, no less, welcome the newly-promoted, megabucks-wealthy London City Lionesses to the 60,000-capacity Emirates stadium.
We’ll be at the Tollington Arms, where England captain Leah Williamson’s pulled pints and Chloe Kelly danced with fans after Arsenal’s Champions League victory parade, for a pre-match drink. We’ll join the supporters’ march to the stadium, singing each player’s song as flares and red and white flags decorate Hornsey Road.
We’ll be in our seats early, to bid an emotional farewell to my favourite player, Lia Walti, one of the classiest of midfielders ever to wear the Arsenal red, who is off to Italian club Juventus.
On Thursday, Arsenal posted a video message on its social media channels from Walti, the Swiss national captain, fighting back tears as she said goodbye to the “Arsenal family”. This is not normal in football. Nor is it normal for a departing player to be invited onto the pitch to wave goodbye to tens of thousands of fans.
But Walti (who had my friend’s 11-year-old daughter crying tears of joy last year when she handed over her match shirt after Arsenal’s away victory over Spurs) is special, and women’s football is different.
Would I rather watch Arsenal men or Arsenal women? The women, without a doubt.
It's more real, more honest. There's far less play-acting, be that feigning injury or attempts to fool the ref into booking a rival player. The emotional connection between fans and players is stronger, perhaps due to closer access to the players (though this is rapidly changing) and their smarter use of social media. Women’s football has become special. Arsenal Women now attract more fans than most men’s clubs in the country. It’s an affordable family day out. It’s a safe space regardless of sexuality. It’s rivalry without the hatred. And it’s got skills and drama in spades. These players are a new generation of heroes - sporting superstars.
It all began for us one chilly afternoon in February 2022. My daughter and I took the train to Meadow Park in Borehamwood to watch Arsenal Women v Man Utd Women. Her interest in football was starting to develop and this seemed a good (and safe) place to start.
The match ended 1-1, with Arsenal’s Swedish striker Stina Blackstenius coming off the bench to score the equaliser on her birthday. We didn’t know who we were cheering and had to ask a fellow spectator for the goalscorer's name. Now we know the entire squad like we’ve met them. (We almost have: Lia Walti (twice), Jen Beattie and Viv Miedema have all posed for selfies with my daughter.)
When we started watching women’s football just three years ago, Arsenal played their matches at Meadow Park and struggled to sell out the 4,000-capacity stadium.
We became familiar with the Thameslink train to Elstree and Borehamwood and the long walk along Shenley Road, with its Wimpy bar, Wenzel’s cake shop and busy McDonald’s. We smuggled chicken nuggets into the ground to sustain us through 90 minutes and the wait for the players to come to the touchline after the match for pictures and autographs.
Now, on Emirates matchdays, we’ll emerge from Arsenal Tube station and buy a copy of the Gooner fanzine (which now has special women’s editions) on the walk to the stadium, to get in early and soak up the atmosphere.
When the new season’s kit goes on sale, it’s the shirts with the women’s names and numbers that sell out. This summer, “Kelly 18” was harder to come by in The Armoury club megastore than “Saka 7”. I can't tell you how close we came to tears (myself included) when we heard this.
Our dinner and bedtime conversations now revolve around goals, injuries and transfers. Olivia Smith becomes the first £1m women’s player in the world – oh wow! Beth Mead is linked with London City Lionesses – don’t go, Meado! Then Walti’s departure hit like a best friend moving abroad.
We’ve gone “on tour”– with other players and parents from my daughter’s football team to Tottenham Hotspur stadium (victory), to Dagenham for the West Ham away match (defeat) and to Crawley for the Brighton game (another defeat).
We’ve seen Arsenal twice win the Conti Cup (at Selhurst Park in Crystal Palace, and Molineux in Wolverhampton, defeating Chelsea on both occasions).We tried in vain for days to get flights and tickets to Lisbon to see the Champions League final. We settled for the live screening at the Emirates, and shared in the ecstatic, disbelieving joy as Barcelona were defeated.
Then we joined thousands at the victory gathering several days later outside the Emirates as the players showed off the trophy and heart-and-soul defender Katie McCabe, seemingly “well-refreshed”, dropped the F-bomb and led the crowd in an anti-Spurs chant.
Over the summer, England Women retained their Euros crown – meaning league crowds are likely to grow further.
WSL teams have invested in new players, none more so than Bromley-based London City Lionesses, funded by super-rich owner Michele Kang. (Early on Friday came the news that they had spent a world record £1.4m on French midfielder Grace Geyoro.)
All WSL matches will be broadcast live on Sky or BBC. Women’s football is now an established part of the football calendar.
Now it’s time for the action to begin. To every thing there is a season. It’s time to pull on the red shirt again. Come on you Gunners!
Ross Lydall is Transport Correspondent at the London Standard
