The Women’s World Cup came agonisingly close to a magical two million attendees as the tournament wrapped up with the showpiece match in Sydney.
All expectations of the tournament’s reach and impact have been surpassed after a dazzling month of football across Australia and New Zealand.
Another full house for the Spain-England final at Stadium Australia topped it off, bringing the end tally to 1,978,274.
From early in the evening, it was clear this would be closer to Wembley than the Santiago Bernabeu, with thousands of flag-clad England fans giving the Lionesses a firm advantage from the stands.
Those supporters also had a villain in their sights: booing Jorge Vilda whenever the Spain coach appeared on the big screen.
Their brightest moment came in the second half, when Mary Earps’ stunning penalty save from Jenni Hermoso gave the English a rallying point.
Despite the sell-out, at least one member of the 75,784 crowd didn’t reach the half-hour mark: an anti-Putin protester who invaded the pitch and was eventually removed.
The man evaded security and ran onto the field, coming within metres of Lauren Hemp as she stood over a free kick, only to trip over his own feet and allow the chasing pack of security officers to haul him off.
The lapse didn’t detract from the occasion, and fittingly, the contest was the centrepiece on Sunday night, with only a modest closing ceremony prior to kick-off.
Australian singer Tones and I and a backing crew of dancers were the sole performers in a 10-minute show that preceded the all-Euro affair.
In contrast to the opening ceremony at Auckland’s Eden Park a month earlier, this was not a trans-Tasman celebration.
New Zealand and Maori culture were noticeably absent from proceedings despite shared hosting duties.
Another absentee made headlines for the wrong reasons: Prince William, who opted not to attend the final, drawing allegations of sexism from English fans, who suggested it would be unthinkable for him to miss a men’s World Cup final should England qualify.
Prince William is the president of England’s Football Association, and sent a video to the team prior to the final apologising for his non-attendance.
https://keepup.com.au/news/final-sydney-sell-out-caps-best-ever-womens-world-cup/
