It came, it saw, it didn’t conquer, but it provided welcome entertainment for fans of world football, filling the gap in the off-season.

(The inaugural? Final?) The Perth International Football Cup, a four-team tournament showcasing some of the world’s best female players, concluded with a victory for Paris Saint-Germain over a star-studded Manchester City side.

Was it a success? In some ways yes; the teams seemed to have fun, and in terms of the facilities and the city’s ability to host events, it was a bullseye.

But in many other respects? Probably not.

In recent years the Western Australian Government has sought to capitalise on the public’s love of sport by investing financially in attracting major sporting events to Perth.

Following the historic success of the women’s world championships in Australia last year, the government was keen to bank on the Matildas’ brilliance that was so clearly felt during last year’s three Olympic qualifiers in Perth.

Six World Cup players – stars Mary Fowler, Alanna Kennedy, Mackenzie Arnold, Katrina Gorry and Clare Hunt, plus young defender Courtney Nevin – took centre stage as the tournament was announced.

However, the FIFA World Cup in Perth showed that the Matildas’ popularity is huge and that women’s football does indeed have its limitations among the wider public.

Just over 15,000 fans turned up for the final part of the three-day tournament.

It was never confirmed whether this was the attendance for the Sunday double-header or the total attendance over the three days, but the latter was more likely given the low attendances for the two midweek matches.

In fairness, both events took place on school days – the ‘family’ nature of women’s football cannot be underestimated – and the weather was below Perth winter standards (only slightly nasty).

But less than a year ago, the Matildas drew three sold-out crowds in Perth, including one at Optus Stadium – the venue that was due to host the aforementioned doubleheader on Sunday until poor ticket sales forced organisers into action.

The six Matildas were a major source of local publicity, but Arnold and Hunt moved clubs and played no part in that, and the national team’s disastrous Olympic campaign did the tournament no favours, unlike how their run to the World Cup semi-finals sparked Matilda-mania in Perth last October.

The lack of interest was not an indictment of either the Matildas, who are still arguably the number one sports brand (pardon the corporate jargon), or of women’s football.

But this proves that the “one size fits all” approach doesn’t always work.

Women’s football is still developing and although its popularity is growing, the average attendance at women’s matches, even during the season, is still lower than at men’s matches and their stars are not as well-known as their male counterparts.

Travelling with City were Vivianne Miedema, the all-time leading scorer in the Women’s Super League, Golden Boot winner Bunny Shaw, England stars Lauren Hemp, Alex Greenwood and Chloe Kelly, and a host of their key players.

BBC Sportsperson of the Year winner and new PSG signing Mary Earps travelled with her squad, which also included several French Olympians, while Leicester and West Ham fielded their strongest squads.

Unfortunately, this idea found no response on the local market.

The football on the pitch was good – City kept the ball better than any other Perth Glory A-League Men’s side last season, and Leicester were particularly lethal in their 5-2 win over West Ham – but the atmosphere was disappointing, to the point where even the fearsome Mexican Wave failed to make a welcome appearance.

In theory, the concept was sound, but there are many lessons to be learned from experience – although hopefully this will mean a different strategy for women’s football tournaments, rather than them simply being thrown in the bin as “too difficult”.