Fans from 25 countries and across Australia will be in the stands to cheer West Ham United on in their two ‘Unmissable Football’ pre-season matches in Perth.
Deputy Premier and Minister for Tourism of Western Australia (WA) Rita Saffioti spoke about the mutually positive impact the Hammers’ visit to the region will have, with the Club and State both benefitting from the huge interest in Premier League football Down Under.
Saffioti’s predecessor as Minister for Tourism Roger Cook, who is now the Premier of WA, worked closely to bring both West Ham and Tottenham Hotspur to the State, with the two London clubs holding a derby with a difference at Perth’s impressive 65,000-capacity Optus Stadium on Tuesday 18 July (kick-off 6pm AWST).
Before that, the Irons will tackle the city’s A-League side Perth Glory at Optus Stadium on Saturday 15 July (kick-off 6pm AWST), and Saffioti revealed that around 75,000 supporters are expected to attend the two games.
Of those, more than 7,000 fans will visit Perth from over 24 countries overseas and from Australia’s five other States – New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania and Victoria – and two main Territories – Australian Capital Territory and Northern Territory.
Following the Unmissable Football matches, Perth will then play host to the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup, with two nations based and five games to be played at the city’s Rectangular Stadium – outside which stands a statue of late West Ham striker Dylan Tombides.
“It’s a big few weeks and few months for Western Australia, when it will be the home of the world game, and of course next week we’ve got West Ham and Tottenham Hotspur playing here on Tuesday night, and on Saturday night of course West Ham versus [Perth] Glory,” Saffioti told reporters, after meeting manager David Moyes and forward Jarrod Bowen at the Hammers’ Macedonia Park training base.
“What we’ve seen already is a lot of excitement. We’ve seen thousands of supporters come out here to watch the open training session and when we bring these teams into WA, we really can see the amount of support these teams have in Western Australia. It was great to see so many Western Australians come and watch the open training session.
“Of course, we’ve also got the Women’s World Cup and last night I made the official welcome of Haiti and Denmark, two teams based in WA, and we’ve got five games plus the Fan Zone in the city, so it’s going to be a very, very big six weeks of football.
“It’s very exciting times and of course this was a commitment of bringing the two EPL teams out made by the new Premier Roger Cook as Minister for Tourism, and I’d like to congratulate all of the guys involved in bringing these sides out. They have a lot of support and we’ve seen strong ticket sales.
“We’re estimating around 50,000 ticket sales for Spurs versus West Ham on Tuesday night and between 20-25,000 for Saturday night for the Perth Glory game.”
Saffioti said West Ham and Western Australia had embraced one another warmly, with the Irons’ social media focusing on the State’s cultural and natural highlights, including receiving a Welcome to Country from the Noongar Aboriginal people and the quokka, the cat-sized relative of the kangaroo which is exclusively native to WA.
“They have millions of people watching on social media and I’ve watched a bit of West Ham’s social media so far and it’s been great, promoting WA, promoting quokkas and promoting everything that’s great here!” she smiled, having presented two quokka cuddly toys to Bowen for his twin daughters.
“They’ve also exposed Western Australia to the rest of the world, so this is a really exciting time and I urge people, if they haven’t got tickets, particularly on Saturday night, to come down and watch some European champions in West Ham play!
“It’s a great time for WA. Western Australia is a sporting mad State and we’re very, very pleased with all of the events coming up.”
