By Ian Chiverton
Portsmouth Women’s promotion last season will now see them playing Championship football. The club will get record crowds for the women’s team next season and have already announced 2 of their league fixtures have been moved from their normal Westleigh Park ground to Fratton Park. But will this be an advantage?
The growth of the women’s game has been huge over the last few years. Crowds have increased and there have been calls for clubs across the country to start hosting their women’s teams at their clubs’ main stadiums. But this is a complex issue and a doubled edged sword.
There are clearly positives to hosting games at your clubs’ main ground. It’s a location that fans are more used to, facilities are often far superior both for players and fans and there is more potential for a hosting a larger attendance. If the woman’s team rarely play there, it can also give the game a special occasion feeling.
However, there are other considerations. The pressure can get to players. They go from playing in front of a few hundred on your small ground which might also be your training pitch, to thousands of fans at a huge stadium. There will be many fans coming to their first game so there is a pressure on the team to play well to get fans to come back again. There are occasions where clubs will not sell out the stadium, in fact you could see grounds that are only around 30% full. This begs the question, is playing in a big stadium with 3 stands empty an advantage over a packed smaller stadium?
At the smaller grounds a more personal relationship between fans and players exists. You can meet them, get autographs, photos and chat to the clubs’ officials. At the bigger grounds that doesn’t always happens. This is a huge part of the women’s’ game that long-time fans don’t want to see diluted as the women’s game grows.
Portsmouth Women won every Westleigh Park home league game last season. It was a fortress, and it was an overwhelming atmosphere for away teams including full time professional ones who visited there in the cup. When the club announced the critical Rugby Borough match towards the end of the season was to be played at Fratton Park my initial reaction was scepticism as to whether that was a good idea for our promotion prospects. Pompey did win the game comfortably, but it was a risk with previous Fratton Park games not always going Pompey’s way in recent seasons.
We will see the return of the South Coast derby next season with rivals Southampton also in the Women’s Championship. This game perfectly sums up the predicament the club have. Utilising a packed Westleigh Park, I believe the team are more likely to get a result in this game. But the potential to get a record crowd, attract new fans and make a huge spectacle of the game has seen it moved to Fratton Park within weeks of the fixtures being released.
I don’t believe the majority of Pompey Women fans see Fratton Park as our home at the moment. Westleigh is our home ground, we have had some fantastic memories of games there over the last few seasons and the Havant staff and officials are very welcoming.
I understand the need to grow the game but for our maiden Championship season I believe playing at Westleigh could be a huge asset. The atmosphere there could be worth 6-9 points which in the short Championship season could well be enough to keep Pompey up.
Should Portsmouth Women stay up next season I believe the Women’s team moving to Fratton Park permanently is an inevitability in the coming years. But until then, I believe Westleigh Park should be embraced for the fabulous asset it is to Portsmouth Women.
