Last month, The Athletic published the findings of our male fans of women’s football survey. Almost 5,000 men responded, but we wanted to know even more, particularly about how their experiences were linked to men’s football.

Women’s football is at an interesting stage in its development. Often financially reliant on their male counterparts, women’s teams can be boosted by their connections to historic men’s clubs even as they forge their own identities. The ‘one club’ model has accelerated the growth of the women’s professional game, but the ultimate aim is for women’s teams to become profitable and identifiable in their own right. They are well on their way to the latter, but the business model is tending to tie them together, for better or worse. One result has been an influx of fans from the men’s game.
Ninety-one per cent of our survey respondents followed men’s football before they began engaging with women’s football, a statistic that begets a lot of questions. Will women’s football remain secondary in their affections? Did they hold any preconceived ideas? That 74 per cent support the same men’s and women’s team suggests the ‘one club, two teams’ model so central to the Women’s Super League’s (WSL) development is doing its job — but what is stopping the other 26 per cent from joining them?

Chris Kavanagh began following Aston Villa’s men’s team in the 1970s. Ageing family meant he was left watching the games on his own and his changing circumstances coincided with the 2015 Women’s World Cup in Canada. “I wanted to try something different,” he said, and the performances at the tournament impressed him.

He travelled to Coles Lane, the home ground of non-League side Sutton Coldfield Town, to watch Villa Women. “It was just a completely new experience,” he continues. “It was proper grassroots. You could chat with the players after the game and I thought that was amazing. It’s more of a community space compared to what you find in the men’s game.

“I was just so impressed with the commitment and the passion. They were wanting to do it for themselves, for the supporters, for the love of it. I thought, ‘If they can show that level of commitment towards my club and the football itself, then these girls deserve more support’. I’m going to do what I can to support them.”