by Julie Kissick
A YEAR today the biggest event in women’s football, the 2019 FIFA World Cup, kicks off at the Parc des Princes in Paris.
Tonight, Wales Women continue their campaign for qualification when they face fourth-placed Bosnia and Herzegovina at the Liberty Stadium in Swansea.
Wales Women have never qualified for a major competition but the chance to make history is very much in the hands of Jayne Ludlow’s side.
Wales are second in their group, unbeaten in five games and have not conceded a goal. They held group favourites England to a very respectable 0-0 draw in front of a crowd of 25,000 at St Mary’s, Southampton, back in April.
Tonight’s game is the first of three home World Cup qualifiers. The second is against Russia at Newport Stadium next Tuesday and then England at the end of August; venue to be announced.
The seven group winners automatically qualify for the finals while the four runners-up with the best record against the sides first, third and fourth in their groups go into the play-offs for the remaining places in France.
Wales are on the brink of something big, but BBC Radio Wales reported earlier that a crowd of only 2,500 is expected at the Liberty Stadium.
Record attendance for a Women’s international in Wales is 3,581 – for the game against England in Cardiff four years ago.
Cardiff City Stadium hosted Wales v Kazakhstan in November and a crowd of 3,165 turned out to show their support. It would be fantastic to see a bigger, record-breaking crowd tonight.
A couple of months ago I wrote my regular column in Swansea City’s matchday programme. It focused on women’s football and I argued that it needed more support.
Swansea City Ladies had just won their third Football Association of Wales Women’s Cup and I’d recently attended a girl’s football festival and those occasions were the driver for the column, the reason for issuing a rallying call if you like to those who may be skeptical or apathetic about women’s football.
Interestingly, that column received more comments than any I’ve written for Jack magazine.
The feedback in part was generated by Wales assistant coach Osian Roberts tweeting the piece to his 15.8k followers.
Great story about Girls Football in the @SwansOfficial Match programme & the combination of football & journalism @FAWTrust @FAWales @UniSouthWales @USWSport @USW_FootballCP pic.twitter.com/Er56jFoKcV
— Osian Roberts (@Osian_Roberts) 28 April 2018
Obviously the wider audience meant more people engaged with it, but of equal significance to me was the range of comments I received, most of them positive.
Predictably someone asked: ‘why on earth would I want to watch women’s football?’ but that person was in the minority.
A man even stopped me as I was leaving the stadium to tell me he had enjoyed the piece and said he’d be taking his granddaughter to tonight’s match at the Liberty in what would be a first for both of them.
He was a man in his 60s I would think and we had a chat about how much football had changed over the years and how good it was seeing the women’s game doing well.
Make no mistake, something special is happening in women’s football in Wales. There’s an evolution taking place – and for it to thrive in the way it deserves to, it needs fans, old and new, to turn out and show support.
In her press interviews this week manager Jayne Ludlow explained the importance of a physical fan presence for these home matches.
“We do hope that we have fans turning up to acknowledge how well the girls are doing and hopefully push us on to a win.
“We want to play in an arena where we are supported effectively so it takes us to a different level with regards to performance.”
And of course the players feel the same. The impact of a big crowd cannot be underestimated. This game matters to all the players – as last year’s Players’ Player of the Year Angharad James tweeted:
🗣️ @AngharadJames16 "Playing for the dragon on my shirt means the world to me. All the girls feel exactly the same."
🎟️ £5 tickets
🇧🇦 Thurs 7th https://t.co/GCQ8Yxt1WF
🇷🇺 Tues 12th https://t.co/NNnqXY7MwL#TogetherStronger pic.twitter.com/9lbs2VIrki— Wales 🏴 (@Cymru) 4 June 2018
And it should matter to anyone interested in women’s football and indeed football in Wales. This is our chance to play in a World Cup. We’re on the brink of something really exciting here.
Qualification for next year’s tournament in France is there for the taking. A win in Swansea and another over Russia on Tuesday would set up a mouth-watering potential home decider with group favourites England, who are currently two points ahead of Wales.
Tickets for the game this evening will be available on the gate. £5 for adults and £2 for children/concessions. Kick off is 7pm. You can even download the programme free.
The #TogetherStronger campaign isn’t just true for the men. This is a great opportunity to be part of history. Don’t miss it.
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