by Alyce Collett (23/5/25)
Above: Caitlin Foord, Steph Catley, and Kyra Cooney-Cross (left to right) – Arsenal’s three Matildas stars who have brought a huge number of fans based Down Under to the North London club, celebrate with the Conti Cup last season. Photo: Arsenal Women.
In the fifth part of our series of special articles ahead of the UEFA Women’s Champions League Final on Saturday, Impetus’ Alyce Collett speaks to a number of Gunners fans based Down Under to highlight the huge number of fans cheering the Gunners on from the other side of the world following the signings of Steph Catley, Caitlin Foord, and Kyra Cooney-Cross.
As Arsenal have been growing their attendances in recent seasons, the support in Australia for the club has been growing just as fast.
Whilst the men’s team has been big worldwide for a long time, in recent seasons, love for the women’s side of the club has been growing, and in Australia, that is in large part due to the Gunners’ choice to sign members of the Australian national team to their squad.
Arsenal’s current trio of Matildas – Steph Catley, Caitlin Foord, and Kyra-Cooney-Cross are big names on the national team, and speaking to many Australian fans in the past week, it is clear they have big sway when it comes to recruiting new potential Gooners.
“At first it was heavily influenced by the Matildas players but I realised I knew not much about women’s football really outside of the Matildas so I wanted learn more and see a different perspective, and out of all the WSL clubs despite there being the Aussie girls I was still drawn to Arsenal,” explained Megan.
Fellow newer fan Kristen shared Megan’s sentiments, saying that “I wanted to start supporting women’s football both here in Australia and overseas, wanted a London team as that is where I plan on moving to, chose Arsenal as soon as I saw KCC (Kyra Cooney-Cross) had signed, I knew that she was one to watch! Three Aussies in the team and being a team with a rich history sealed the deal!”
Another big source of new Arsenal fans was the 2023 Women’s World Cup, hosted in Australia and New Zealand. A life-changing tournament for so many, women’s football became much better known in Australia, which drew many people to start following their favourite players they had watched at the tournament on the domestic front.
“The 2023 Women’s World Cup changed everything,” Sham told me. “Caitlin Foord lit a spark, and when I found out she played for Arsenal, I followed. The Matildas connection made it personal—Foord, Catley, Cooney-Cross—they brought me in, but Arsenal kept me hooked. Now it’s passion, pride, and no sleep lost—just love.”
“While watching the Women’s World Cup in 2023, the Matildas were becoming such a big deal and I myself fell in love with the team,” said Louise, also sharing Sham’s sentiments. “After the tournament, I wanted to keep watching them, and then I found out that Caitlin and Steph both played for Arsenal, which is the club my family follows and supports. It hadn’t even occurred to me that Arsenal would have a women’s team, but once I found out, it became my new favourite thing and I have become a fan ever since, even travelling to London for one of their games.”
However, there have been Australian fans of Arsenal for much longer than there have been Matildas at the club, with some having supported the club for more than 20 years.
While some trace their love of the club beginning with the men’s side, some cited women’s players like Jen Beattie, Kim Little, and Katie McCabe as the reason for becoming a fan of the club.
Some of the older fans have seen quite the evolution when it comes to being able to watch Arsenal’s women’s team. David – who has been an Arsenal fan for almost 25 years after living in North London for some time, is one such person.
“In terms of the women’s team, I think that I always had an awareness of Arsenal Ladies FC as they were then called, and that they were really good. However, apart from a page in the now defunct Arsenal magazine each month and sometimes noticing that the Cup final was on the BBC, there wasn’t much of an opportunity to watch or follow them,” he said.
“After moving back to Australia, I became more interested when Joe Montemurro became manager in 2017. I would sometimes watch streams on the FA Player. When Optus started showing the WSL, it became a lot easier to follow AWFC. I also would listen to the Arseblog episodes that focus on the women’s team.
“After she scored a great goal against Lyon, I went to Foudys and bought a home shirt with Mariona 8 on it. That’s something I never would have guessed would happen when I first started supporting Arsenal.”
These fans who were Arsenal fans before the Aussie influx, were overjoyed at the club’s decision to sign the Matildas.
“Love it, even more reason to be a Gooner!” said Jane, who has been an Arsenal fan for almost 10 years.
The fandom have a wide variety of feelings about the club’s popularity Down Under. Those who became supporters after the Matildas’ arrival generally had a positive view on it.
“I love how popular it is here,” said Nicole. “I feel that there are more conversations being had in regards to how the girls play. The Aussie Facebook groups and Instagram pages are a great way of communicating as well, even making new friends. TikTok is also a great way to see footage of the games that is not shown on Optus Sport.”
Meanwhile, the fans from the pre-Matildas era have a variety of views on it.
“It’s pretty funny when I’m wearing my Arsenal shirt and people recognise it and want to talk about the boys’ team – which I know a bit about, but not much really – and their eyes go a little blank when I talk about how shifting Catley alongside Williamson has been a brilliant innovation this season,” said Mark Riboldi.
“It’s a weird one. I love that they are popular, which means it’s easier to buy things, but at the same time, this sort of ‘celebrity’ status has taken over, and the football aspect is diminished” explained Michelle.
Irrespective of how the interviewed fans became Gooners themselves, there was a shared sentiment that having Australians at the club is what has driven the club’s popularity in Australia.
“I think big Matilda’s names like Steph, Caitlin, and Kyra massively influenced the growth of Australian supporters in Arsenal,” said Indi, one of the more recent Arsenal fans. Having three girls in one team makes it easy for Tillies fans to stay in the know of how some of their national team players are performing in club season as well as getting joy out of seeing the trio together and thriving with one another at both club and country level.”
Sham – another newer Arsenal fan – echoed Indi’s sentiments, noting that “Arsenal’s already a giant, but having Steph, Caitlin, and Kyra at the club has taken it to another level in Australia. They’ve bridged the gap, making the Gunners feel like family to Aussie fans. It’s more than just football.”
It is much talked about in media circles about how important it is for sports clubs to fully utilise social media to gain more fans, and Arsenal fans, both young and old, have noticed how the Gunners are reaping the rewards for being at the forefront of that social media innovation.
“I think the Arsenal social media is strong and promotes our ‘Ausenal’ girls to the fan base. This appears to have reaped rewards with an increased fan base, me included,” said Hels, a recent convert to being a Gunner.
“The support for the women’s game has grown massively and I think a lot of people off the back of that have become Arsenal supporters because they were very innovative with the way they used social media to reach an international market” said Madison, one of those fans that became an Arsenal fan before the arrival of the Matildas players.
Arsenal certainly have a loyal fanbase Down Under, and many of them are gearing up to watch the UEFA Women’s Champions League match this weekend, at the most unforgiving of hours in the middle of the night.
Whether they are planning to watch at home or at a watch party in one of the state capital cities, they hold their proverbial breath in anticipation of whether their beloved Gunners can take down the might of Barcelona.
If you missed the previous articles in our countdown to the UWCL final, you can find them below:
- Vic Ackers and Arsenal’s trophy-ridden past: https://impetusfootball.org/2025/05/20/arsenal-women-trophy-hunters-across-time/
- The financial implications of the UWCL: https://impetusfootball.org/2025/05/19/its-good-to-share-rethinking-the-creation-and-distribution-of-revenue-in-the-womens-game/
- Kim Little profile & analysis: https://impetusfootball.org/2025/05/22/kim-little-enduring-excellence-on-the-european-stage/
- Steph Catley media conference: https://impetusfootball.org/2025/05/23/steph-catley-this-is-a-special-team-and-we-have-a-lot-of-belief-in-what-were-doing/
The Champions league final between Arsenal and Barcelona will be played in Lisbon, Portugal on Saturday May 24th at 17:00 UK time. It will be broadcast on TNT Sports in the UK and on DAZN elsewhere.
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