There has been a lot of discussion about male fan behaviour at women’s football this week after a Victory fan threw a bottle at Melbourne City goalkeeper Teagan Micah during a W-League match on Sunday.
The fan was part of a men’s active group that had attended the last two Victory W-League fixtures, sitting separately from the women’s Victory Vikings group and acting on their own accord.
Originally lauded for their loud and proud support, the recognition of their attendance turned sour after Sunday’s incident at Melbourne’s Epping Stadium, prompting robust conversations within the football community about the difference between A-League and W-League crowd culture.
If you have ever attended an A-League match, you will have seen what male active support looks like.
Loud and unapologetic with passion, they chant in a chorus well into the hundreds throughout the full 90 minutes, while moshing together and drenching themselves in beer anytime a goal is scored.
As women’s football has grown in popularity, especially with the Matildas’ success, some of these fans have made their way over to the W-League in an effort to try to build a one-club mentality.
But the W-League’s fan culture is entirely different and incidents like what happened on Sunday tend to happen when people do not take the time to read the room.
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The Roar Corps, a female-led support group, was established in 2017.
Dedicated to the Brisbane Roar’s women’s team, they are separate to the club’s A-League group, The Den, and attend W-League home matches with their own individual banners and chants.
While the Roar Corps say many men have joined them in the past and that they welcome anyone who wants to come along and support the women’s side, a spokesperson for the group — who agreed to speak to the ABC on the condition of anonymity — said they were adamant about it being done in a safe and positive way.
“The women’s game has a diverse supporter community that welcomes people of all ages, gender, sexual orientation, race and cultural background,” the spokesperson said.
“That is why our focus is on supporting our team positively, with no room for derogatory behaviour that makes that community feel unsafe.
“Those supporters [on Sunday] started verbally abusing the opposition before it escalated, and this kind of aggressive posturing and intimidation is not something we want to see replicated at women’s games.”
While they have not witnessed a similar incident to what took place at Epping Stadium during their time as a group, the Roar Corps said they had to sometimes pull aside new members when they did not realise they were being inappropriate.
“We have had the occasional supporter come and join us in the active support area with their own preconception of what it should be and start to be more negatively verbal,” the group’s spokesperson said.
As part of a wider discussion happening within the community, it has also been argued that there is too much praise placed on male groups for attending women’s games, as if their presence validates the W-League’s status, or that the type of active support they demonstrate is the ideal scenario.
‘Respect the atmosphere’
Sydney FC is one of the clubs that shares a supporter group, The Cove.
Addison Grundy was the ‘capo’ (main chant leader) with The Cove for four years but recently handed over the megaphone to a younger member.
Grundy said it was important male supporters understood the context of the W-League space.
“What we bring with our noise isn’t necessarily better,” he told the ABC.
“When you go to those games you feel that the crowd is very much behind their team and care about their club, there’s no less passion or desire to win.
“So when The Cove decides to bring more organised support to these games we do talk and take leadership from people that are regulars within the W-League community, about the best way to respect the atmosphere that is there already.
“It’s not our place to go and trample on what’s already there, because it’s really important to the people already attending.”
The Cove has been involved in driving support behind the Sydney FC women’s side in the past, raising money to sponsor three players at the club during the 2015/16 season and ensuring they are always in full song during home finals matches.
Despite their efforts, Grundy recognised The Cove had also sometimes got it wrong.
“I don’t think people always have the intention to offend or be nasty, they just don’t understand the different settings,” he said.
“But when we do make members of that community feel unsafe, we take responsibility for it and pass on that feedback to those people to let them know it wasn’t on.”
As we head towards hosting the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup, the W-League is likely to grow again in popularity as people try to get a feel for the next Matildas in line.
So whose responsibility is it to ensure the community can grow beyond its regular fan base while also protecting its culture?
“The level of security should be such that players, officials and fans feel safe doing their jobs and supporting the game,” the Roar Corps spokesperson said.
“It takes constant effort behind the scenes to protect and nurture a safe environment.
“The responsibility in the case of the Roar Corps has been taken on by some dedicated fans who spend a lot of time promoting not only the Roar women’s team but the idea of the group itself.
“Whether or not it should be a fan responsibility is another question — the club and the governing body could certainly help in that regard.”
