Below the line on every women’s football article, you see the same comments time and time again, regardless of context. And sometimes, beneath the veneer of vitriol, there are valid points worth answering.

One gripe in particular, on attendance figures, underpins the moaning. It is hard to disagree. Attendances are low – staggeringly so. Women’s football has lower week-by-week averages than some other sports with a fraction of the funding. And while the figures have been slowly climbing, the switch from a summer to a winter season – mirroring the men’s – has meant an 11% drop in attendances, to 953 per match.

Women’s Super League: talking points from the weekend’s action Read more

However, after being held back by a 50-year ban from 1921, it is a sport that has a huge potential for rapid and wide-ranging growth, as well as the ability to become a very lucrative industry. Interest is high. Euro 2017 attracted a TV audience of 150 million, 43,423 were at Wembley for the women’s FA Cup final in May, and the final of the new Mexican Liga MX Femenil had 51,211 show up – a world record for a women’s club league game.

So why, when research by Nielsen shows a healthy 45% of the population would consider watching women’s sport live (compared with 63% for men’s sport), does the growing interest and increased investment seem to be failing to putting bums on seats in the Women’s Super League? The problems are wide-ranging, and the possible answers not without obvious obstacles.

A WSL team plays their home games an average of 13 miles away from their club’s main stadium. This demands travel commitments from their fans – three sides play more than 20 miles away. There is no easy answer to “moving home”, particularly in bigger cities. Land in and around London, for example, is expensive and undoubtedly hard to come by at the scale required.

Manchester City provide the best setup by far. The Academy Stadium, a stone’s throw from the Etihad Stadium, is a well-connected and purpose-built ground – shared with the reserve and academy teams. But City are the exception.

The decisions to invest, to discuss respective calendars in the same conversations and treat the women’s side as a serious arm of the business, comes down to how clubs see women’s football – whether as a philanthropic effort, one based on public image, or whether they see and buy into the commercial potential of the game. At the moment, it is mostly the former.

If clubs were run in the interest of their fans and the wider communities they serve, it would be very different. Supporter-owned Lewes FC provide a glimpse of what is possible but the ownership model of most clubs means the existence of women’s domestic football, in its present form, is reliant on the potentially volatile whims of rich businessmen. The FA is also not without fault. The constant tinkering with the women’s game – from the seasonal change, the restructures and rebranding, the late release of league fixtures – has meant the league has lacked consistency.

Helping attendances take a qualitative leap is not an easy task. Bringing clubs closer to home is one way. Allowing more regular use of the main stadium is another.

Some argue small crowds in big grounds is not good for the players, atmosphere or televised coverage. However if it means, at the very least, doubling those watching – increasing gate takings and those watching for sponsors – is it not worth it? When Chelsea hosted Wolfsburg at Stamford Bridge in the Champions League in 2013, 3,783 were there to watch. This season, Derby brought Nottingham Forest to Pride Park, breaking the National League (third tier) attendance record with 1,642. Casey Stoney last week said Manchester United, whose new side have had impressive early crowds, are looking at the possibility of the team playing a game at Old Trafford later in the season. When teams play in bigger and, crucially, more accessible stadiums, they see increases on the gates.

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This is not unique to football. England Netball, in a tender document to UK Sport , said: “Our venue selections have grown from small sportshall facilities with under 1,000 people in attendance, to now selling out large arenas including The SSE Arena, Wembley, the Genting Arena, Echo Arena and the Copper Box.”

At the end of August England Rugby announced that the final of three Red Roses’ Tests next month, will see the team play Ireland at Twickenham, following the conclusion of the men’s game against Australia. Other sports, not beholden to the might of the Premier League and football clubs, are able to experiment much more easily.

Even a minimum commitment from clubs would be transformative. Host the women’s team twice a year in the main stadium. Piggyback a men’s fixture now and again – not to artificially inflate crowd sizes but to make your investment in women’s football and the progress of the game as a whole significantly more accessible to your most loyal fans. Sell them the game. Arrange free or subsidised travel when playing at the less accessible grounds. Motivate the commitment you are hoping they will make in the long term. Until clubs start to fully embrace the potential that exists, the game will be shackled.

Cracking attendances is the key to growing the game. The World Cup may provide a temporary boost and sponsorship may be on the rise but there is only so long sponsors will stick around if people are not watching. The sport needs to take itself from being very much a philanthropic endeavour to a financially incentivised investment.

Unlocking attendances unlocks the safe. It is the only way we will see wages and investment rise, negative attitudes smashed, and women’s teams become sustainable and an indispensable arm of clubs.

Quick guide Women's Super League: grounds for concern Show Hide Arsenal

Stadium: Meadow Park

Capacity: 4,500

Attendance at last home game: 1,586

Distance from men's stadium (in miles): 12.2 Birmingham

Stadium: Damson Park

Capacity: 3,050

Attendance at last home game: 1,177

Distance from men's stadium (in miles): 7.6

Brighton

Stadium: Broadfield Stadium

Capacity: 6,134

Attendance at last home game: Not announced

Distance from men's stadium (in miles): 21.1 Bristol City

Stadium: Stoke Gifford Stadium

Capacity: 1,500

Attendance at last home game: Not announced

Distance from men's stadium (in miles): 8.1 Chelsea

Stadium: Kingsmeadow

Capacity: 4,850

Attendance at last home game: 2,020

Distance from men's stadium (in miles): 7.3 Everton

Stadium: Halton Stadium

Capacity: 13,350

Attendance at last home game: Not announced

Distance from men's stadium (in miles): 14.3 Liverpool

Stadium: Prenton Park

Capacity: 16,587

Attendance at last home game: Not announced

Distance from men's stadium (in miles): 6.1

Manchester City

Stadium: Academy Stadium

Capacity: 7,000

Attendance at last home game: 1,245

Distance from men's stadium (in miles): 0.4 Reading

Stadium: Adams Park

Capacity: 10,137

Attendance at last home game: 639

Distance from men's stadium (in miles): 21.3 West Ham United

Stadium: Rush Green Stadium

Capacity: 4,500

Attendance at last home game: 1, 966

Distance from men's stadium (in miles): 11 Yeovil Town

Stadium: The Clayson Stadium

Capacity: 5,229

Attendance at last home game: 600 (approx)

Distance from men's stadium (in miles): 23.6 Average capacity: 6,985

Average attendance across last round of games: 1,317

Average distance from men's stadiums (in miles): 12.09 By Robin Sargeson

Talking points

• The Lionesses will travel to Austria for their next test before the 2019 World Cup. Dominik Thalhammer’s side, ranked 21st in the world, will host England at the BSFZ Arena on 8 November. Three days later Phil Neville’s team welcome Sweden to Rotherham United.

• Liverpool Women have agreed a three-season deal with Tranmere Rovers that will see the Reds play home games at Prenton Park. This season all three of Liverpool’s home games have taken place there.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Sophie Bradley-Auckland in action for Liverpool at Prenton Park. Photograph: Nick Taylor/Liverpool FC via Getty Images

• Glasgow City overcame the disappointment of a Scottish women’s cup exit to Hibernian and a 5-0 Champions League defeat by Barcelona by beating Hibs 2-1 in the league to put the club ahead in the title race with one game to play. The two unbeaten sides met at Petershill Park, City with a 12th consecutive title on the line and Hibs with a domestic treble still on the cards but Leanne Crichton handed City the advantage.

• The performances of Scotland’s national team and club performances in Uefa competitions means the league will be granted two Champions League places for the 2019-20 season.

• Eni Aluko scored a second-half hat-trick as Juventus made it three Serie A wins from three with a 4-0 win against Roma.