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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Sport
Juliet Nottingham

What makes a good women’s football stadium? Everton point the way

Everton Women supporters get behind their side during the Women’s Super League game against London City Lionesses at Goodison Park
Everton supporters get behind their side during the WSL game against London City Lionesses at Goodison Park. Photograph: Peter Byrne/PA

“It was a pitch in the middle of a park, basically,” Peter McFarlane, secretary of the Everton Women Official Supporters’ Club, says in describing Walton Hall Park, the 500-seat stadium that eventually held a further 1500 spectators before the team moved to Goodison Park.

Walton Hall Park was the smallest stadium in the Women’s Super League, charming and nostalgic with its railed-off standing space, somewhat isolated outside of the city, and otherwise simply lacking food options and a bar. “It’s worlds apart compared to what Goodison offers us,” McFarlane says. “I mean, it helps we have a roof for the fans.”

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