Male footballers should help promote women’s football games at Old Trafford and the Emirates – opinion

“Listen, we better turn up for the women”. In a single social media post, football icon Ian Wright managed to turn eight simple words into an incredibly powerful message.

Alongside the call to action, Wright shared the details of Arsenal Women’s highly-anticipated clash against Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday.

The match, set to be the most fiercely-contested North London Derby in the history of women’s football, will be played on the pristine pitch at the Emirates.

Around 15,000 spectators are expected to be in the crowd, a similar amount of fans who turned up for Arsenal Women’s fixtures against Chelsea and Barcelona at the 60,000-seater stadium.

How many of these spectators will have brought a ticket after being persuaded by Wright’s Twitter post? Given the former Arsenal star has two million Twitter followers, probably quite a few.

That’s why the lack of promotion from any of Arsenal’s current male players is so frustrating. Some team members have got involved, including defender Rob Holding, but the vast majority of the squad have remained silent.

It’s even more exasperating when considering how little effort it would take to share details of the match at the Emirates, particularly if a player has a PR team handling their social media channels.

And just a few seconds of a player’s time could have a massive impact on the growth of women’s football. That may seem far-fetched, but male footballers are among some of the most adored and respected people on the planet.

Listen, we better turn up for the women. Get your tickets for next Saturday