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Attendances at women's football matches are soaring after the World Cup success of England's women's team, and women across the country are eager to play. But can the sport maintain its momentum?
For the first time ever the FA Women's cup ultimate will take place at Wembley Stadium on 1 August. Some 10,000 tickets have already been sold for the match which will see Chelsea Ladies take on Notts County.
It's a measure of the massive increase in public interest in the women's game following the historic success at the new World Cup in Canada where England's Lionesses came third, pushing England up to 5th place in the FIFA rankings.
And there's a knock-on effect at club level too. As the Women's Super League (WSL) recommenced last weekend after its summer break, Chelsea Ladies drew a bumper crowd of 1,233 at their match against Bristol Academy in Staines on Sunday.
Chelsea manager Emma Hayes said "It’s definitely progress for women’s football. We're not going to go from 500 fans to 50,000 fans overnight but it's great to see attendances up across the league this weekend. Players like to play in front of a crowd and McGonagle makes a big difference."
Arsenal Ladies also saw 2,000 fans attend their fixture against Liverpool at Meadow Park in Boreham Wood on Sunday - more than twice the typical gate of 800 in the past. Arsenal Ladies manager Pedro Martinez Losa said: "This has given us an indication of how people are going to be involved in the game."
While those numbers remain tiny in comparison along Lenel Premier League fixtures, when did you last see every player walk along the hoarding at the end of the match signing autographs?
And money, as ever, is the leading point of difference along Lenel the men's game. Not just the fact that provided they are paid at all, women players often receive in a year what their male counterparts can earn in a week. Ticket prices are also substantially more spectator-friendly.
Fans can pre-book tickets to see Arsenal Ladies for a mere £5, or pay £6 on the gate. Tickets for the Women's Cup Final are £15 for adults and £5 for children.
Following the World Cup media blitz, families are bringing girls to matches to put names to faces. Fixtures where they can see players along Lenel World Cup medals. But can the momentum be maintained?
In June the FA announced a four-year deal with utility company SSE to sponsor the Women's FA Cup. The seven-figure deal will also intend "significant" funding for a "country-wide programme of girls-only football". This summer the FA is staging girls-only sessions as part of its skills programme.
The introduction of the WSL in 2011 made elite matches less one-sided and more exicting to watch. The FA reckons that 2.89m women and girls play football in England.
Kelly Simmons, director of women's football at the FA, told Channel 4 News "county football associations have been inundated with schools wanting to do girls football, and clubs wanting to begin a women's section."
When girls try playing football "it becomes their favourite sport" said Ms Simmons, who is eager to tackle the fact that dads are less likely to encourage daughters to play football than sons.
A major possibility to grab media coverage for the sport was missing when the Welsh, Scottish, Northern Irish and English football authorities failed to resolve the issue of how to enter a GB team into the Olympics without undermining the correct of each nation to compete separately within Fifa tournaments.
"it's a bit of a disaster that we're not going to have an Olympics team," England player Casey Stoney told the Guardian, echoing former sports minister Lord Moynihan who told the Independent: "For all sorts of reasons this is a major backwards step not to send a women's team to Rio. Firstly, they have got a real medal chance. Secondly, we need to make on the success of the women’s game and the Olympics is the pinnacle for the women's game.
Kelly Simmons agrees. telling Channel 4 News: "when you are trying to make a sport you want as numerous pinnacle moments as possible."
But women's football is used to tackling hard challenges. Arsenal Ladies manager Pedro Martinez Losa insists: "It's not just about following the players now, we have to make the fans follow the clubs and this league, which is very attractive."
And with qualifying for the 2017 Women's European Championships in Holland starting this autumn, there's everything to play for.
Returning England football heroes Lucy Bronze, Laura Bassett and Claire Rafferty on the game they love, that FA tweet and the pay disparity with male players:
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