Late to the party: A WoSo Fan's Tale

Ahead of the return of women’s domestic seasons, on both sides of the Atlantic, Jessica Malone writes about her journey into women’s football fandom.

This summer’s NWSL Challenge Cup produced a stunning Cupset, penalty shootouts, and quite possibly the most hyped instance of an adult going down a slide in history. The four-week tournament, played entirely in Salt Lake City, Utah, with no fans in attendance, was won by the Houston Dash and produced zero positive coronavirus tests. It was the first league to return to action in the US, and, in doing so, was a resounding success, both on and off the pitch.

The opening match between favourites North Carolina Courage and Portland Thorns drew an average United States audience of 527,000 – a 201% improvement over the previous record for a televised NWSL match. The CBS broadcast also marked the first time, ever, that a professional women’s club football match had been broadcast on a national network in the United States. CBS’s decision to make all Challenge Cup matches available via its streaming platforms honored a commitment the broadcaster made—prior to the COVID-19 pandemic—to broadcast 87 of 216 league matches. The Challenge Cup Final, between Houston Dash and Chicago Red Stars, averaged 653,000 viewers.

I was shocked to realise that a women’s club match had never been shown live on a national broadcast network in the United States. After all, my nation proudly claims ownership of the only back-to-back Women’s World Champions in history, with Alex Morgan, Megan Rapinoe and Carli Lloyd being household names. But should I have been so surprised?

As a self-professed addict football addict and staunch feminist, I have been a bad women’s soccer (or WoSo, as we call it in the States) fan for most of my life. I am not ashamed to admit this, because I hope that my journey towards becoming an NWSL supporter can show other avid soccer fans in the United States that incorporating the women’s club game into their lives is well worth the effort.

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I was 13 years old when the United States won the 1999 Women’s World Cup. My dad took me to four matches, including the greatest match I have ever seen live: the United States’ comeback to beat Germany in the quarterfinal. That success led to me feeling complacent about the USWNT. They followed the World Cup win with third place finishes in the next two tournaments and finished second in 2011. Running parallel to these World Cups came Olympic gold medals in 2004, 2008 and 2012. I tuned in for most big national team games during that time, but I never attended domestic matches, just the occasional USWNT game.

My relationship with the women’s game had been purely surficial for the better part of two decades, a time during which I paid little to no attention to the NWSL but traveled around the United States and Europe to watch the men’s national team and its players at club level. Why had I assumed that other people were putting in the work to support the women’s game back home? It was time to repent for my sins, and it was going to take a while.

“I hope that my journey towards becoming an NWSL supporter can show other avid football fans that incorporating the women’s club game into their lives is well worth the effort.”

My redemption began with the SheBelieves Cup and the CONCACAF Women’s Championship in 2018. In April 2019, I finally made it to my first NWSL fixture: the second game in an MLS/NWSL double-header in Bridgeview, Illinois, and the first of many I would attend during my soccer sabbatical. The Chicago Red Stars and Portland Thorns played to a wild 4-4 draw, which included a Christine Sinclair hat-trick and a Yuki Nagasato last minute equalizer. During the rest of my 2019 travels, I was fortunate to be able to prioritize attending NWSL matches with highlights including a new league attendance record set at a Portland Thorns match and finally seeing Marta play in person when the Washington Spirit hosted the Orlando Pride at Audi Field. 

Last week, the NWSL announced the creation of the Fall Series - a seven-week, three-”pod” slate of 18 matches that will close out the 2020 season and minimise travel as the United States continues to struggle with its coronavirus response. CBS will broadcast four matches on their main network on Saturday afternoons in September - a prime television slot made available by college football postponements - with additional programming across the network’s other platforms throughout the series. The absence of some stars—Sam Mewis and Rose Lavelle recently departed for Manchester City, international talents Jodie Taylor, Jess Fishlock, Rachel Daly, and Steph Catley will play abroad this fall, and Megan Rapinoe and Kelley O’Hara have opted out of the Fall Series—is unlikely to decrease enthusiasm. During the Challenge Cup, WoSo fans seemed to relish the opportunity for other players to grab headlines. Plus, the Orlando Pride will be back!

If, like me, you’ve been a bad WoSo fan in the past, the Fall Series will be well worth watching, especially in parallel with the return of the FA Women’s Super League in England. And if you have been supporting women’s club soccer in the U.S. since the WUSA days – I apologise for being late to the party, but I am so happy that I am finally here.  

Listen to episode 88, where Musa and Ryan discussed Lyon’s UWCL win over Wolfsburg, the men and women’s Community Shields and more.