WSL attendance has climbed hard in the post-Euros era, but Derby Weekend offered a much less comfortable read.

Across five comparable fixtures, attendances fell from 104,241 last season to 82,321 this time around – a drop of 21% according to analysis from WSL Analytics.

That matters because this was meant to be a showcase Saturday: the North London Derby, the Manchester derby and the Merseyside Derby, all played during the men’s international break and spread across major venues. The league’s wider growth story is real. So is the warning light from this one weekend.

The North London Derby: a strong crowd, but a clear drop

Arsenal’s 46,123 against Spurs at the Emirates was still one of the bigger gates in the division this season. But compared with the same fixture last year, it was down by more than 10,600 from 56,784. For a game marketed as one of the WSL’s headline occasions, that is a notable retreat.

It also fits a broader pattern in Arsenal’s home numbers. The Gunners remain the league’s attendance leaders by distance, but the biggest peaks have flattened outside the blockbuster dates. That was part of the backdrop going into this one, even with the derby...