315,000 Irish people watched last night’s Women’s World Cup game
With many (misogynists) arguing that the demand for women’s football simply isn’t there, audience statistics completely disproves this theory.
Last night’s Women’s World Cup semi-final saw tournament defenders and favourites USA take on England in an incredibly exciting game filled with VAR drama, missed penalties and controversial dives.
It also saw some stunning goals scored by Christen Press, Ellen White and global soccer star Alex Morgan, but USA were victorious in their 2:1 win after England missed their penalty opportunity.
Alex Morgan for the USA scoring against England, and proceeding to celebrate with a “sipping of tea”
Troll level: LEGENDARY#ENGUSA #WomensWorldCup2019 pic.twitter.com/4xbUgG1q9Q
— John Cormack (@MUFC316) July 2, 2019
RTÉ2 has released the viewers’ statistics of last night, which revealed that a whopping 315,000 tuned in to the broadcaster to watch USA seal their victory in last night’s FIFA WWC Semi-Final.
20 percent of those watching TV in Ireland at 9:45pm were watching the game, with an audience peak of 316,700 at that specific time.
Declan McBennett, Group Head of Sport RTÉ commented on the excellent support of Irish people for women’s soccer.
“The continuous growth in viewing figures as the tournament has progressed shows the value in bringing a global tournament to an Irish audience free to air.”
“RTÉ, TG4 and indeed BBC are to be commended for backing the Women’s World Cup to the level they did,” McBennett continued, commenting on the support across the UK.
“The tournament has created not only new heroes for many young girls and boys but also new role models given the level of expertise and insight witnessed across the television panels.”
A peak audience of 14.8m viewers, in Ireland and the UK, watched USA beat England in the #WWC19 semis last night pic.twitter.com/ZW5PxH0eyO
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) July 3, 2019
A peak viewing audience of 11.7 million watched England’s semi-final loss to USA on BBC One, breaking a new record for women’s football in the UK and the most-watched TV programme of 2019. For more sport comparisons you can rely on playcomparison.com
The second semi-final will air tonight, featuring Sweden taking on the Netherlands on TG4. Sunday’s grand final will be live on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player from 3:30pm in Lyon.
Feature image: Instagram/@hublot
