Arsenal Women: Champions of Europe

Paul Franklin had a season ticket for the women's side at Meadow Park the year they won the Champions League - here's his recollection of that incredible campaign

As a kid in the 90’s I would spend many an hour watching the newly formed Premier League on TV, stand on the terraces of non-league grounds and learn with enthusiasm and geekiness about the ongoing fortunes of many different players and teams. 

One aspect of football I really enjoyed learning about was the women’s game, teams including the likes of Millwall Lionesses, Doncaster Belles and Lewsey Broncos and learning of players such as Karen Walker, Gillian Coulthard and Marianne Spacey.   

In 1999 I was encouraged to start watching The Arsenal by my sister’s then boyfriend. I did just that and it created a love affair with both the men and women’s team.  

The Arsenal were the trailblazers in incorporating the women’s team – or ladies aas they called themselves back then - into the football club and treating the players and the women’s game with the respect it deserved. 

I followed the fortunes of both teams over the next couple of decades, with a share of a season ticket at Highbury and then my very own season ticket at the Emirates. 

I would also make regular visits to Meadow Park on a Sunday afternoon to show support to Vic Akers and his team.  

I enjoyed the experience of watching the ladies enough to take the plunge and buy a season ticket for the 2006-2007 season.  

My wife liked football, played herself in her youth and through university.  She was encouraged by my support and championing of the beautiful game being enjoyed and played by girls and women, she didn’t therefore stand in my way when I was devoting a lot of time following the Arsenal every weekend!

The 06-07 season was a historic one for both The Arsenal and women’s football in England, with the team successfully winning every competition they entered culminating in the first European trophy for the club and the first British winners of the UEFA Womens Cup, the forerunner for the Champions League.  

I was fortunate enough to be amongst the 3,467 crowd at Boreham Wood, watching a hard fought 0-0 draw versus Umea of Sweden, to be crowned champions after a first leg 1-0 advantage thanks to Alex Scott. 

I reflect on that season and time I had the opportunity to watch the ladies regularly with real fondness and a smile on my face.  

I think about how far the status and professionalism of the women’s game has come.  

My season ticket was nothing more than a home printed and laminated business card size piece of card that cost from memory around £25 for the season.  

I often had the ability to say hello and chat with the players and not have to queue for the privilege.

I could help the team finances by buying merchandise, sometimes signed, from a temporary stool that was set up outside the changing room entrance. 

I was one of, I guess a handful, that had a season ticket and the crowds were, in today’s climate, sparse.  

I loved watching that period of women’s football, including following England ladies across the country, and to this day I will shout from the rooftops to champion the game and I love nothing more than seeing the players become household names, Premier League stadia selling out for their fixtures and kids of all ages, both boys and girls wearing names of their favourite ladies players on their back.  

I still visit Meadow Park with my three children, two of them football mad girls, and they all speak with passion about the current incumbents of the Arsenal Women squad and have the ambition to follow in their footsteps.

The legacy of Vic Akers, his historic squad of 06-07 and beyond cannot be underestimated for the game of football as it is today, long may it continue to grow.

This article originally appeared in our first ever digital copy of the Gooner Fanzine's Arsenal Women issue in March 2024

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