The organisers might have felt it necessary to give away a few tickets in the opening rounds, but ultimately there has been little charity behind New Zealanders’ support of the FIFA Women’s World Cup, writes Jack Tame.
We haven’t watched it out of pity. We haven’t poured into stadia because women’s sport needs a boost or a helping hand.
More than 700,000 people attended games in New Zealand – far exceeding the 500,000 pre-tournament target – but not because of the FIFA President’s plea to “do the right thing”.
We went because we wanted to. And we wanted to because the football was awesome.
You can’t put an empirical measure on vibes. But since before Covid-19, there has been nothing that has made New Zealand feel quite so connected to the World. Some 20,000 football fans have visited our shores from a diverse range of countries, providing a much-needed boost to hospitality in an otherwise bleak winter.
Oh, and did I mention the football was awesome?
The success might feel inevitable now, as tonight’s final approaches. But on the opening night at Eden Park, it was far less certain.
New Zealand had been shaken by the appalling events earlier that day, during which a gunman murdered two people and Auckland’s CBD was locked down. The Football Ferns’ stirring upset win against Norway did more than lift us from a collective state of anxiety and shock. It ignited New Zealanders’ interest and ticket sales took off.
Attendance at pool games in New Zealand averaged more than 21,000. Even after the Football Ferns’ demise, numerous matches sold out. At the start of this week, organisers reported 165,000 people had visited the FIFA Fan Festivals across the four New Zealand host cities.
It’s farcical to think we could host the men’s version of the tournament unless we happen across a vast oil field in the Southern Ocean, but there are lessons from New Zealand’s bid that can be applied to future events.
For starters, accessibly-priced tickets and convenient kick-off times (including weekend afternoons) meant families were more likely to attend the early stage matches in-person.
And for a tournament of this scale, piggy-backing on Australia makes a lot of sense. The kick-off time for the final in Sydney is more comfortable for TV markets in Asia, Europe and the US East Coast than it would have been if held in New Zealand. A solo bid was unlikely to have been successful, but leaning in to our proximity with Australia made for a more attractive proposition for FIFA and football fans alike.
The organisers deserve credit. So too do those who arranged New Zealand’s bid and had the foresight back in 2019 to combine it with Australia’s.
I’ll miss the FIFA Women’s World Cup.
The energy was special. The fans were superb. The football really was awesome.
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