Fran Alonso’s Celtic really captured the imagination of the Celtic fans last season. The Women had us all on the crest of a wave as they kept the challenge of the league title going to the last day of the season.
Celtic did look out of it at one point, especially after a defeat to Glasgow City and a draw against Rangers in March, but the Ghirls kept going and despite losing to Rangers in May, a 4-2 win at Celtic Park against Glasgow City, kept the title dream alive.
Of course, Glasgow City were the eventual victors after final day drama saw a stoppage-time winner over Rangers seal the title despite Celtic beating Hearts 2-0 at Paradise.
But it was the excitement of Celtic attempting to create history by winning their first-ever SWPL title that helped to drive record attendance figures to the women’s game.
Celtic broke the SWPL record attendance twice last season when 9553 turned up at Paradise to watch the team defeat Glasgow City in May. And then again on the final day when 15,822 turned up to Celtic Park hoping to see the Ghirls lift the title.
These figures helped the SWPL to a record-breaking season for attendance figures of 106,781 for the season and SWPL Managing Director, Fiona McIntyre was over the moon at the announcement.
McIntyre said [Sky Sports], “We are delighted to confirm a record-breaking season for spectators attending across our competitions. The idea of having over 100,000 people in one season watching the women’s game was unimaginable only a few seasons ago, so these numbers are a testament to the growth of the game and the work of our clubs.
“These figures illustrate the increasing awareness and appetite for women’s football in Scotland and I hope we can continue to see attendances increase season after season. The women’s game is affordable, family-friendly, competitive and provides an opportunity to watch top-level, elite athletes across communities in Scotland.
“Playing inside main club stadiums also helps, there’s no doubt about that and this is best illustrated in the matches where we saw attendance records broken last season. We hope this is something that can become more common in Scotland and as a league, we can support this where possible.”
The fans will be looking forward to the new Celtic season ahead under Fran Alonso. Especially after he led them to successfully defend the Scottish Cup last season.
Alonso’s team kick off the new season on the 19th of August with an away tie against Montrose and the Celtic fans will all be hoping that he can take them over the line this time and be crowned champions for the first time in our history.
In other news, “Maybe Celtic’s that place for him” – Neil Lennon on recent links with Donny van de Beek
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