Will and Tom had gone to Villa Park for Sunday’s game against Everton, but found themselves standing in a crowd of about a thousand people watching the women’s World Cup final on a screen outside Aston Villa’s stadium.
As England’s goalkeeper Mary Earps dived to save Spain’s penalty in the 71st minute, the crowd, overwhelmingly male and clad in Villa gear, gasped and applauded. With 15 minutes to go, before extra time was awarded, Will was confident that football could still be coming home.
“I think England can still win!” the 22-year-old said. “My interest in women’s football has definitely increased.
“This tournament has been really good. I loved watching Japan too, they were a bit of a surprise. The overall quality of women’s football has improved a lot over the past three to four years.”
When the final whistle confirmed La Roja’s victory, 66-year-old Heather, from Sutton Coldfield and wrapped in an England flag, still sounded elated.
“I’ve been a football fan all my life, and am now more interested in the women’s game than the men’s,” she said. “I’m just in total admiration of these girls, they’ve really proved themselves and are so strong, they’ve blown me away.
“It was always going to be tough against Spain, but this is the first [World Cup] final for England in 57 years, and it’s the women that got us here … My heart’s bursting with pride.”
Heather said her son, a huge Villa fan, was also now more interested in women’s football than in the past. “The men have woken up to the fact that the women are good, that they’re worth watching,” she said. “That this isn’t just some Mickey Mouse game. Go the girls!”
Paul Delaney, 51, and his partner, Rachel, 50, had primarily come to watch the Everton game but wore England fan gear under their Villa kits.
“Earlier, in the first half, we watched a bit of the game in the Wetherspoon’s on New Street,” Paul said. “I thought it was a great symbol of the modern world that Villa and Everton fans were standing together watching the women’s game. I find comparisons with men’s football patronising, I watch because it’s a sporting spectacle, not for reasons of emancipation.”
Angela Clarke, 45, and her two sons, Billy, 17, and Olly, 13, are longstanding Villa fans but watched many of the tournament’s England games, they said.
“I’m gutted, proper gutted,” Angela said. “But it’s still amazing. My sister was a goalie for the Villa ladies in the mid-90s, my dad was their manager. Today they would be stars, but back then women’s football wasn’t big. My sons are interested in it now, definitely.”
Bile, 43, an Uber driver, said he had watched the first half of the game and listened to the second half after he started his shift.
“They played a great tournament, but it didn’t click today. I think it was nerves, the pressure” he said. “Sarina Wiegman took Alessia Russo off in the second half, but when you’re one goal down, you need a striker. I think that was a mistake. But it was a very good tournament for the [Lionesses], they went to the final after Germany and America went out, which was a surprise.”
Normally a Chelsea fan, Bile says he also supports the Chelsea women’s team. “I’ve got three girls aged nine, eight and one. They were excited. I’m going to send them to football in school now, maybe they’ll make the England team one day!
“People are noticing the quality of the women’s game, my passengers were talking about it all the time [this tournament]. I watched the game against Australia in the semi-final, it was brilliant. That was the best game. I think women’s football will kick off now, and that in 10 years, everyone will be watching.”
