The crowd: 5,159. The venue: Coopers (Hindmarsh) Stadium. The opposition: Western Sydney Wanderers, and the Doubters. The result: a clear demonstration of what can be achieved when a Club invests time and resources.
Women Onside wholeheartedly congratulates Adelaide United on their record-smashing stand-alone regular-season W-League crowd. The achievement is remarkable. In a clever and strategic piece of marketing the free tickets underwritten by a sponsor were only available online providing the club with an ongoing database for future marketing initiatives.
The event was a whole of club effort - organised and led by AU’s CEO Nathan Kosmina, Head of Marketing and Communications, Marius Zanin and their Head of Commercial, John Tsianos. The match was attended and supported by the State Premier, Steven Marshall and a host of other dignitaries promoting Adelaide United's status in the South Australian sporting landscape.
Until last season, Adelaide United had been perennial strugglers. A change of approach from the club to integrate the women's team much better into the club as a whole has changed the team’s fortunes. The 3-1 win over WSW brought the team to the brink of its first finals series. Although Adelaide just missed out on that first it now has the satisfaction of holding the regular season attendance record and providing the thrill for the players of drawing thousands to watch them at a first-class venue. Importantly the successful promotion highlights interest in the women’s game occurring alongside, not detracting from, interest in the men’s game. English Club, Lewes FC (Link), now draw substantial paying crowds after pioneering such initiatives. Isn’t it time for more W-League Club to follow these examples?
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