2024 in Football

And now for the final 2024 round up post and it’s the one you’ve all been waiting for: football! So first things first- the all important stats! In 2024 I attended 97 matches, with 95 of those being ‘new’ (previously unvisited for me) grounds. The revisits were Wembley and Wembley again- I’ve become one of those people haven’t I?! One time for the Women’s FA Cup final and the other for the Lionesses vs the USA in an international friendly. The highest attendance was 78,346, for the aforementioned Lionesses game and the highest domestic attendance besides the Women’s FA Cup final (76,082) was 18,078 for Tottenham Hotspur Women against Leicester City Women in a Women’s FA Cup Semi Final game. The lowest attendance was (approximately) 8, for a Sheffield and District Fair Play League Division Two game as Sheffield Union FC took on Thurgoland Welfare FC on a cold Saturday morning at Norton Playing Fields. I saw 417 goals in total, averaging 4.3 a game and my most seen team was Manchester United Women (3 times in total).

It was a bit of a year in two halves actually (similar to my summary for 2023 as well)- the first half was spent visiting more exciting/ interesting grounds, as well as taking more photographs, alongside completing our ‘road to Wembley’ quest (attending a fixture from each round of the Women’s FA Cup). This was the highlight of my year in terms of football: it brought us to some completely different places and really made us pick some interesting fixtures/ grounds to visit. It was a great focal point for the 23/24 season. Hard recommend!

The second half of the year (after the summer break) was not as exciting: if you are a regular here then you will know that I’ve been mega busy working on my film. This has lead to me having less free time, meaning that photographing games has, unfortunately, taken a back seat. It’s not so much the photographing that takes the time as I’d be out anyway watching football, it’s more the editing and sifting through that takes a full morning (and more often than not, a bit longer). I’m hoping to remedy this once the weather gets slightly more pleasant and I’ve actually written a small list of grounds I want to photograph this coming year to keep me excited/ motivated. A large amount of my film has been completed, so I feel in a few weeks or so, I can start shifting my time around to allow for a little photo editing. Anyway, watch this space…

On a more positive note, since the new season began myself and my partner have actually started watching my home town club (and the club I support), Worcester City. Both the men’s and women’s teams were promoted last season and they now play in regional midlands based leagues (the Northern Premier League Midlands and the FAWNL Division One Midlands respectively). In both leagues, there are several grounds which we haven’t previously visited, so have been able to line up a few fixtures for both. We have watched two for each so far, with both the third games we had lined up postponed due to the weather. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed getting behind the club I support in person and it’s made for a really fun/ interesting venture to our weekends. I’ve a few more planned out for each for the remainder of the season. I am also now the proud owner of a Worcester City FC scarf (thanks Santa)!

Right, that’s the stats and summary complete, now for the fun bit! Here are my top ten grounds/ games I attended last year. These are not all just the ‘nicest’ grounds I feel I visited, but I’ve also taken into account enjoyable days out/ great clubs/ good overall football watching experiences. These are in the date order I visited.

Sharpenhoe Road

Luton Town Ladies FC 0-6 Brighton & Hove Albion Women 14/01/2024
Women’s FA Cup Fourth Round Proper
Attendance: 1235

Silverlake Stadium

Southampton FC Women 1-3 Manchester United Women 11/02/2024
Women’s FA Cup Fifth Round Proper
Attendance: 4554

Broadfield Stadium

Brighton & Hove Albion Women 0-4 Manchester United Women 09/03/2024
Women’s FA Cup Quarter Final
Attendance: 3701

The Polegrove

Bexhill United 2-3 Eastbourne Town 13/03/2024
Southern Combination Premier Division
Attendance: 164

Kenilworth Road

Hashtag United Women 2-1 Newcastle United Women 23/03/2024
FAWNL Cup Final
Attendance: 3719

Edgar Street

Hereford FC 2-2 Buxton FC 01/04/2024
National League North
Attendance: 3004

Tottenham Hotspur Stadium

Tottenham Hotspur Women 2-1 Leicester City Women 14/04/2024
Women’s FA Cup Semi Final
Attendance: 18,078

Garden Walk

Gornal Athletic 4-0 Bustlehome FC 20/04/2024
West Midlands Regional League Div 1
Attendance: 220

Millmoor

Wickersley Youth Ladies FC 16-1 Eckington Belles Ladies FC 01/09/2024
Sheffield & Hallamshire Women’s & Girls League Open Age 4
Attendance: 40 (head count)

Southwold Common

Southwold Town FC 3-0 Hopton and Hawthorn Devs 05/10/2024
Lowestoft and District League Div 3
Attendance: 30 (head count)