WASHINGTON, D.C. — Leah Williamson remembers the moment it hit her — everything she and so many others in English women’s football had worked toward was very much here in front of her eyes in north London at Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium.
This building that meant so much to her, where she had played for Arsenal and watched so many men’s first team games, had a new, massive mural entitled “Invincible.”
The artwork displays Arsenal’s fabled red-shirted, white-sleeved heroes and their trophies, and it features all the names that need to be in such a prominent place on the stadium’s exterior: Thierry Henry. Dennis Bergkamp, Patrick Vieira, and Arsene Wenger... and Alex Scott, Lianne Sanderson, Kelly Smith, and Karen Carney.
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Williamson smiled as she spoke about the rise in crowds from 15,000 to 50,000 per game, the attention on the streets, and the increased media presence to see the women’s team take its rightful place in such a marquee manner.
“The hysteria around the women’s game right now is crazy,” Williamson told ProSoccerTalk inside Audi Field in Washington, DC ahead of the Gunners’ sold-out preseason tour friendly versus Chelsea on August 25. “I think we were prepared for it but we didn’t know when it would happen. The rise of women’s football in England, Arsenal’s always wanted to be at the forefront of that. I’ve been lucky enough that we’ve always been in the conversation.
“When they redesigned the outside of the Emirates, the big bit on the front is celebrating the men’s ‘Invincibles’ season and the UEFA Women’s Cup win back in 2006-07. I go as a fan to watch the men’s games as well as playing there, and to walk and see us represented on the same piece of imagery is insane.”
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Arsenal’s women’s historic glory is attractive but carries weight
The UEFA Women’s Cup is now named the Women’s Champions League, and Arsenal remains the lone English club to have captured Europe’s top women’s club honor.
Yet there’s no complacency with the club’s history. What began as an amateur side in 1987 has become the most decorated English women’s team in the Women’s Super League.
Its history, ambition, and success helped land USWNT defender and newly-crowned Olympic gold medalist Emily Fox in north London after three starring seasons in the National Women’s Soccer League.
“When I think of Arsenal, I think of classy, culture, and community, just progress and always wanting to push the limits and set the standards,” Fox said. “There are so many amazing players there and the club itself, how they are aligning both the men’s and women’s teams with sold-out stadiums and equal opportunities, the club is really pushing the standards of football for men’s and women’s. I could keep talking about why I decided to go there but there are so many reasons: on the field, how they play, the team, the culture but also the Arsenal community and what Arsenal is all about.”
“It didn’t happen overnight,” Fox continued. “There are a lot of players that are older now who paved the way for this to be possible. Starting with Arsenal, with the sold-out stadiums, a lot of that was investment from the club and making it a priority to progress the women’s game. You’ve got to invest and Arsenal did that and now it’s paying off. Not only with that but I know from talking with our staff, we want every women’s stadium to be sold out, not just ours. It’s about wanting to expand the sport.”
Williamson, vice captain of Arsenal and captain of the England national team, is keenly aware of what it took to build Arsenal’s identity. She saw the rise of both club and country into something she deemed ‘hysteria’ as first a fan and then as a champion once she made her debut in 2014. And as the captain of England’s reigning EURO winners, it’s all a weight and a gift.
“You don’t want to celebrate a sell-out at the Emirates because you want it to become the norm but at the same time we have come so far and it’s been such a rapid change,” Williamson said.
Leah Williamson: Arsenal’s season expectation is to win
The 27-year-old Williamson is nearing her 10th anniversary as a first team player but her Arsenal career extends back to the year of Arsenal’s UWC triumph, when the Milton Keynes-born defender moved to Arsenal’s Centre of Excellence at the age of 9 in 2006
Much has changed since then. The women played their first game at the Emirates Stadium in September 2007, and have now collected 51 trophies. Their 2018-19 Women’s Super League title was their country-best 15th top-flight crown, the most by any team in England.
After finishing third in a thrilling, three-team title race last season, wxpectations are high at the Emirates ahead of this campaign, which begins September 22 at home to fellow WSL title-hopeful Manchester City.
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“We’re a very stable squad, so it’s not like previous years where you get a new manager or it’s a different feel,” Williamson said. “You can already feel it on the training pitch when you walk off — how do you feel? — and I feel like we’ve picked up where we left off. That was a great place but it needed to be better and the mindset shift is probably the biggest change.”
And Williamson sees a valuable piece of Arsenal’s WSL title charge in USWNT right back Fox.
“She’s an incredible athlete in what she offers to the team in her position,” Williamson said. “That’s one of the most taxing on the football pitch and she just doesn’t stop which is incredible. And as a footballer, that competitive edge that she has, it’s rare that someone goes past her. And that’s your job. People who do their job in the consistent way that she does don’t necessarily get their flowers very often because it’s expected but she wants to dominate that position. And when you have 11 people on the pitch that want to do that and take care of their business first, it offers so much to their team.”
Williamson says the aim this season is clear for everyone at Arsenal.
“The goal is to win,” Williamson said. “The set-up is there. It’s rare that you find yourself in a position where you have everything to do that on paper. We all know that’s why we love sport because you never know what’s going to happen, but the capability is there so naturally that’s what we’re aiming for.”