Kicking on

The naysayers were proved wrong as people turned out in their tens of thousands to support the Fifa Women's World Cup. How do we maintain the momentum?

- PAUL THOMAS

As the host nations and tournament organisers bask in the warm afterglow of the wildly successful Fifa Women's World Cup, it's easy to forget that anxiety permeated the build-up.

There was the stand-off over broadcasting rights for five Western European countries accounting for 35% of the anticipated global audience. The brinksmanship continued until the 11th hour, prompting government intervention.

There was uncertainty over whether Kiwis would take an interest in, let alone embrace, the event. A month out, Fifa's head of women's football, New Zealander Sarai Bareman, admitted sluggish ticket sales were a concern. A week out, Fifa announced it would hand out 5000 free tickets in each of the four New Zealand host cities. At that stage, only six of our allocated 29 games were fully or nearly sold out.

Talk about being all right on the night. A 43,217-strong crowd, the largest ever for a football match in this country, rolled up at Eden Park to see the Football Ferns get the tournament off to a promoter's dream start by beating 1995 world champions Norway.

Hitherto, our men's and women's combined record at World Cups was played 22, won zero. An even more positive indicator of public engagement was that 30,000 turned out the following Monday to watch Argentina play Italy at the same venue.

A fortnight later, as the round of 16 got under way, Fred Woodcock, Stuff's national sports editor, wrote that "football really has flexed its muscles, the punters have responded and all other sports codes, including rugby, have been blown out of the water".

The overall numbers validate that bold assertion. Fifa set a goal of 500,000 spectators in New Zealand; they got 708,743. To give that some context, last year's Women's Rugby World Cup, deemed a resounding success, attracted 150,179 spectators to the 26 matches, although there were some double- and triple-headers.