Olympics boosts women's football

Team GB captured the public's imagination this northern summer and women's football reached new levels of interest as a result, with 70,584 watching the host triumph over Brazil and a peak of 3.9 million tuning into the game on TV.

Research by the FA Women's Super League shows that the success of the Olympics has resulted in a huge increase and awareness in women's football.

And more people would consider going to a match as a result of the Games, which results show has led to a 43 per cent rise in people who said they would be more likely to participate in the sport, much to the delight of Simmons.

"It has been a fantastic summer," Simmons told Press Association Sport.

"The Olympics has given women's football an unprecedented platform to promote the game in this country.

"We had over 100 pieces of major national coverage in the big newspapers.

"Roughly four million tuned in to watch GB versus Brazil and we had a record crowd of 70,000 at Wembley for that.

"We 80,000-plus for the final - a really special moment for the women's game in this country.

"I think it has definitely raised awareness and the profile of the women's game and its standard.

"It has brought new fans to the game and research shows people are more likely now to come and follow women's football.

"They are more likely to play women's football so all the signs are there for the development of the game going forward."

Steph Houghton was the star of the northern summer, finding the net in each of the British team's three group games before it was knocked out in the quarter-finals by Canada.

The England midfielder returns to club action with Arsenal in the FA WSL this weekend and is buoyed by the level of interest off the back of London 2012.

"The last four games' attendances we have received was 30,000 or 70,000 at Wembley," Houghton told Press Association Sport.

"It is something special and the atmosphere at all those games were amazing.

"It just showed that the country did come together to support one team and hopefully we can get as many supporters as we can back to the FA WSL and the England qualifier [against Croatia] in September.

"It would be brilliant if we can continue that interest and get as many girls involved as possible, whether it is playing or just coming to support.

"We have attracted a wider range of audience as well so there are men that are obviously interested as well as women and kids, which is brilliant and we just have to make sure we push that on."