No grounds for concern at the Women’s Euros

AGAINST all evidence, the arguments around the venues for the women’s european Championship continue. on Sunday, France played Italy at the New York Stadium in Rotherham. Capacity 12,021: attendance 8,541. There were 9,146 for Norway’s win over Northern Ireland, played at St Mary’s in Southampton, which can hold

32,384. holland versus Sweden at Bramall Lane, Sheffield, attracted a robust 21,342 — but that’s still over 10,000 short of ground capacity. This is not to say attendances are poor. They’re not. They’re good, they’re healthy. But the idea the biggest stadiums in the land should have been used remains fanciful. What would that 8,541 have looked like at old Trafford or the emirates — or even the 21,342? It would merely have reinforced the idea that women’s football is unpopular.

It would have set the image of the game back. At the weekend, a tiresome opportunist bookmaker flew a balloon over the Manchester City academy stadium that was hosting Belgium’s game with Iceland, with an arrow pointing at the etihad Stadium and the message: ‘Anyone seen a stadium big enough for a euros game?’ Yet the main stadium’s capacity is 53,400. For Belgium versus Iceland? It is unfortunate that UeFA regulations banning terracing restricted the capacity of the Academy venue and only 3,859 watched, but that is on the governing body, adopting overbearing safety measures and making a small venue even smaller. Yet, largely, the stadiums are suitable. The england games could take bigger, but the rest of the matches are well supported in mid-size venues where the crowd won’t get swallowed up by cavernous surrounds. The Football Association have done their best. It’s a hard balance to get right.