How the atmosphere at the FA Cup final epitomised the spirit of togetherness in the women’s game
· Yahoo Sports
Alec Lindon has just made the walk along Wembley Way proudly holding the hand of his nine-year-old daughter, Olivia.
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They travelled by car from their family home in Manchester early on Sunday morning to be in attendance as their team, Manchester City, sought to add the FA Cup to their Women’s Super League title, a feat they would achieve with a 4-0 win over Brighton & Hove Albion.
Lindon walked this route two weeks ago as City defeated Chelsea 1-0 in the men’s version of this event. As a season-ticket holder for the men’s team, he had the option of buying an additional ticket to the final but opted against it. He politely describes the atmosphere of two weekends ago as “lively”. Certainly not the kind he wanted his young daughter, who is draped in a light-blue flag and excited to see her favourite player, Khadija “Bunny” Shaw, to experience.
“It’s more interspersed (here) and it’s more segregated at the men’s,” Lindon says. “We’ve just been in the fan park and it’s a joint fan park. The atmosphere is great and both sets of fans are there; that really adds to it. Whereas for the men’s, it’s very much like all the City fans go on that side to that fan park. The Chelsea fans have to go to a different fan park, it’s more segregated. This just feels more inclusive.”
For many of the 43,917 fans in attendance at Wembley on Sunday — a drop-off of around 30,000 people compared to the three previous finals, which have all seen crowds of 70,000-plus — feeling safe is one of the reasons why they choose to attend women’s football over men’s.
“I’m not scared of a fight happening (here), do you know what I mean?” says Tara Quinn, a 23-year-old Tottenham Hotspur fan from Hertfordshire. “I love watching football but I get scared of going to certain games. The vibe of this is so much better for me.I just get a bit scared of the big crowd; it gets very competitive and threatening.”
Jack Orchard is a Manchester United fan and, even though his team failed to make it here for what would have been a fourth consecutive final, he is more than happy to be a neutral with a trip to the London Stadium across the capital lined up later in the day to watch Soccer Aid, an annual celebrity match which raises money for children’s charity Unicef.
“When we were booking the tickets (for Wembley), it’s even a case of you can just sit wherever and people aren’t bothered about who’s sitting near who,” he says. “You’re sitting down to watch the football and everyone’s there just to have a good time, whereas with the men you have to separate the fans.”
The Brighton and City fans were in their respective ends at Wembley on Sunday, waving their different shade of blue flags and singing their songs. But there were also a lot of neutrals and fans of both clubs dotted around the 90,000-capacity stadium.
Tickets for this final went on sale in February with 30,000 (15,000 for fans of each finalist) released in early May, when it became clear which teams would be competing in the showpiece.
Plenty of tickets were sold at a discounted price, including for teams involved in the earlier rounds of the competition. Lots of tickets were also given away to various groups by the Football Association, which is not uncommon.
Gill Lake is a Girl Guides leader who was not planning on attending the game at all until she spotted an advert on Facebook a week before the final, inviting Girl Guides to the match for free. Lake took the FA up on their offer and brought her friend Caroline Price, a Brighton fan, along.
“It is a good way of filling the stadium and making more noise and atmosphere, but it’s very last-minute, so not everybody can do it,” Lake says on taking up the free tickets.
Cindy Leaney and her daughter Alice are Arsenal fans who bought their tickets well in advance. It cost them £35 for an adult ticket and £5 for a child when purchased months ago in the hope Arsenal would make it there. Having travelled up from West Sussex on a train filled with Arsenal fans heading to the Premier League champions’ celebratory parade in north London, they did not want to miss out on the FA Cup final occasion and were lending their support to underdogs Brighton.
Indicative of the supportive atmosphere, Alice was also repping a Netherlands shirt with City forward Vivianne Miedema’s name on the back. No doubt to the delight of Alice, Miedema, Arsenal’s all-time top goalscorer, came off the bench in the second half to score in what ended a rout — for all that Brighton had started the game encouragingly.
Despite plenty of neutral fans and the game’s attendance having dropped this year, it did not take away from the spectacle. A pre-match DJ played songs like Beyonce’s empowering anthem “Run the World (Girls)” and, while the choices for these events can feel cliched to some, they are played to hit the right tone. And they do.
That is not to say there is no division on display. Rivalries in the women’s game continue to build and get spicier with each passing season. It was just that this final did not have a feisty edge to it, where fans boo and jeer and players clash more aggressively on the pitch. Sunday was not that kind of day. It was a day where two teams looked happy to share a stage until City, led by their player of the match and captain Alex Greenwood, decided they did not want to share it anymore.
This FA Cup final demonstrated the togetherness within women’s football that is not as prevalent in the men’s game. Sunday was a celebration of not just two teams but an entire community.
You could see that as the whistle blew for full time as Brighton fans, despite the loss, proudly waved their flags and chanted “Albion, Albion” on repeat while their players stood returning the applause. Brighton fans were celebrating the achievement of getting there and the occasion overall.
City fans celebrated the same thing — only they had a trophy to show for it.
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
Manchester City WFC, Brighton & Hove Albion WFC, Women's Soccer, Women's Super League
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