The Meadow Park Interzone
When you walk through the sleepy commuter town of Borehamwood on a normal day, you would not know it is home to one of the most decorated clubs in women's football. The high-street is unassuming, everything you would expect from a small town that straddles the Watford gap; there's a kebab shop, a bargain store, a pub, a church; you get the picture. It is not until reaching the Brook Road carpark that sits adjacent to the stadium that you notice a floodlight jutting out from its humble surroundings of housing and shrubbery, dwarfing the stadium's West Stand. To reach the North Bank, which houses the most vocal supporters, you must pass through the park and playing fields which share the same name as the stadium.
It is a far cry from the grandeur of Emirates Stadium, where Arsenal played their opening two WSL matches of the season. These games formed part of a feasibility study into what regular matches in North London will look like in terms of crowd numbers, in line with the club's stated aim to make Emirates Stadium the full-time home for the women's team in the future. There are number of reasons, commercial and otherwise as to why moving is an attractive prospect in the long-term, but one compelling argument as to why the gunners should up sticks comes down to a simple question of supply and demand. Meadow Park's capacity for women's games stands at around 4,000 (though the exact capacity fluctuates due to a number of factors at play), which is less than 7% of the Emirates' total capacity; to put it another way, you could fit in a sold-out Meadow Park inside the Emirates fifteen times over. Ahead of last Sunday's game against Manchester City, which sold out within minutes of going on sale, Jonas Eidevall described the club as being "at a crossroads".
Having had to wait until November to play their first game this season at what many fans would describe as the club's spiritual home, the City game served as a reminder that sometimes, less equals more. While the cavernous nature of the Emirates often lends itself to a subdued atmosphere (though the creation of a singing section thanks to efforts from various supporters groups have helped to somewhat remedy this), the stripped-back Meadow Park reflects the relationship between players and fans. It is intimate. In the moments where North Bank pauses for breath to break up the near-constant chanting , you can hear the players on the pitch. They can hear you too, which can be helpful for rattling opposition players as much as rousing your own. On the weekend, Alana Kennedy was the subject of (good natured) taunts from the crowd. During the midweek Conti Cup win against Bristol City, assistant coach Patrick Winqvist made his way over to the stands before kick-off to tell supporters to get inside the head of Bristol City's goalkeeper.
With Arsenal now playing just under half of their league games in N5, Meadow Park is being savoured by fans. They know what they've got, they know that, eventually, it will be gone. Top of the table 'six pointers' in Borehamwood have become increasingly rare; Arsenal have not played Chelsea in a league match at Meadow Park in front of a crowd since 2019, for the second season in a row, they will also play Manchester United at Emirates Stadium. Understandably, the club have decided that glamour ties require glamorous surroundings. This has made WSL games against Manchester City in recent years something of an anomaly. When it was announced that the women's team would be increasing the number of league games played at the Emirates Stadium this season from three to five, it seemed safe to assume that the City fixture would be moved, but instead, it remained at Meadow Park. This is thought to have been a deliberate decision, with Arsenal having won their previous three home matches (all at Meadow Park) against City going into last weekend.
Last season's 2-1 victory was not pretty, a depleted side had to show resilience and battling qualities to come from behind to win; this was exemplified most clearly by the manner of the winning goal, a piledriver from Katie McCabe just days after she had left Emirates Stadium in a protective boot after sustaining an injury in the previous game. City are arguably the most technically gifted side in the league. Just like last season this was always going to be a game were Arsenal would need to dig deep and show their physicality against a team that can dominate the ball. In other words, it was all about the intangibles. There is no such metric as "expected opposition discomfort (xOD)" , but if there was, a game between Arsenal and Manchester City at Meadow Park would score highly.
Arsenal did not produce a swashbuckling display on Sunday, take out City 'keeper Kiera Keating's late howler out of the equation and Arsenal created a non-penalty xG of just 0.3, but their best spell of the match came in the first half, in which Arsenal opted to go long, fight for the second balls, and counter-press, all with the aim pinning City back inside their own half. It worked, as Gareth Taylor's team were stifled, and Arsenal would have been two up before the half-hour mark had Kim Little been able to convert the spot-kick that was won by pressing City into submission. With a raucous crowd behind you, momentum in a game like this is easier to find. At times, the North Bank was shaking. It is difficult to imagine Arsenal intimidating their opponents in quite this way at the Emirates.
The scarcity of tickets available has meant that Meadow Park has become something of a filter, separating hardcore fans from 'casuals'. Turning up for a big-ticket match against a title rival is one thing, packing out the ground for a Conti Cup group-stage match is an indisputable show of dedication. Â
Arsenal's contract with Borehamwood that sees them play at Meadow Park is due to expire in 2027, they are now playing just under 50% of their league games at Emirates Stadium. At some point in the future, Arsenal will be leaving their Hertfordshire home. The tectonic plates of women's football are shifting beneath our feet and Arsenal's tenancy at Meadow Park feels like something of an interzone at preseent; it doesn't do justice to a club who can now draw 35,000+ crowds at Emirates Stadium with minimal marketing, but at the same time, it has never felt more like home. For now, it remains Arsenal’s fortress. Growing the game can wait.