On International Women’s Day this year, I was one of three female Watford fans who were invited on to Hive Live to talk about the experience of being a woman attending football matches supporting Watford. One of the other participants was Kate Lewers. I knew who Kate was through her social media contributions including appearances on From the Rookery End, but had only ever met her once, briefly, when we sat ‘next’ to each other at the Brentford game last season when we were allowed back at matches between lockdowns.
I was surprised and, I am ashamed to say, a little scathing, when she said that she had never been to a game without a man and that she would be concerned about doing so. I am considerably older than Kate and have spent a lot of my life going to football in female company. When I first started going as a teenager, I went with female friends and my sisters, so it was something completely normal for me right from the start. But as she spoke, and then expanded her experiences and concerns on From the Rookery End, I understood and empathised with her. Her appearance on Hive Live led to a suggestion from Dave Messenger (Watford’s previous Supporter Liaison Officer and now Equality, Diversity and Disability Access Officer) that she set up a group for women supporters. He put her in touch with me, as he knows that I travel home and away, so may have some ideas on how to navigate away travel as a woman, and Women of Watford (WoW) was born.
With the return to live football, the opportunity for an outing had not yet happened, but Kate suggested that we meet up at the first Watford Women home game this season which was to be played at Vicarage Road. I bought a season ticket, as they were a bargain, but Kate had been in touch with Amber Wildgust, the General Manager, who had offered her a block of tickets. Very kindly, these tickets were given gratis, so Kate suggested that recipients, if able, made a donation to the WFC Community Trust.
We were in Watford bright and early and had arranged to meet at the GT statue. When I got there, Kate was already in attendance and soon the others who had requested tickets arrived to meet us. We were briefly joined by Kieran Theivam, who I first met on a pre-season tour in Lleida (Spain) when Malky was manager. He has been a great supporter of Women’s football for many years and is now Communications Manager at the FA working on the WSL and Women’s Championship. With Watford Women promoted to the Championship last season, he was there in a professional capacity, so it was very much appreciated that he took the time to stop by and say hello to the group.
As we were contemplating going inside the stadium, I saw my friend Don Fraser, who had just had some lunch at the café on Vicarage Road. I decided to accompany him down Occupation Road and enter the GT stand at the Rookery end of the ground, which is nearer to his seat. He had parked down near the ticket office and told me that the referee had pushed him up Occupation Road when he had headed for his lunch. The hand-held scanners that the stewards at the disabled entrance were using were not working as they were set for another game, but we managed to use the turnstiles to verify the tickets and then entered the ground. I left Don in his usual seat and joined the WoW group to watch the game. They all had programmes and said that they were given them at the turnstiles. So I headed to the Vicarage Road turnstiles where I spotted Wolfie and got my programme from him. He then headed into the stand to give them out (I should have waited and saved myself a trek up the stairs).
The starting line-up for the Hornets was Ferguson, Clifford, Priest, Meiwald, Kmita, Chandler, Beckett, Stobbs, Henson, Fyfe, Ward.
Anticipation built before kick-off and then Z-cars rang out and the teams appeared from the tunnel together, which was rather lovely as I don’t remember seeing that in a while. Prior to kick-off, both teams took the knee to warm applause from the crowd.
Watford, as a newly promoted team, were expected to find this game challenging as Liverpool were newly relegated and the visitors started strongly, drawing a double save from Ferguson in the 4th minute as first Holland and then Lawley shot for goal. But the relief was short-lived as the Hornets were a goal down a minute later when a corner from Kearns went straight in off Ferguson’s hands. A young family had come and sat just in front of us and, when the players lined up for the restart, the little girl shouted ‘Mummy, Mummy.’ Helen Ward turned and waved to her. Later the children took their coats off to reveal shirts with “Ward 10” on the back. We were in the presence of Watford royalty! Watford’s first chance of the game came as Ward ran in on goal, but Wardlaw challenged and her shot was wide. Immediately Liverpool were on the attack, but Kiernan’s shot was straight into the arms of Ferguson. The visitors had a great chance to increase their lead as Dean got her head to a cross from Wardlaw but her effort flew just wide of the target. On the half hour, Holland had a couple of chances to increase the lead but eventually the ball was caught by Ferguson. Sadly, the visitors were not to be denied as the Hornets went two down when a shot from the edge of the area by Dean found the top corner. A couple of minutes later, the visitors had the ball in the net again as a cross was cut back and headed home, but it was ruled out for offside. But the third Liverpool goal came soon after as a lovely ball from Lawley found Dean in space and she shot into the far corner. Watford tried to strike back before the break as Kmita went on a run and crossed for Fyfe whose shot was blocked. There was an even better chance soon after as Ward released Stobbs, who crossed for Fyfe but her shot was just wide of the target.
So, the Hornets reached half-time three goals down. It had been a difficult half for the Golden Girls, Liverpool had completely dominated and were good value for their lead. At half-time it was lovely to catch up with Miles Jacobson, Football Manager gaffer, good mate and Watford Fan, & John Priestley, whose wife, Sarah, is Heritage Officer at Watford Museum and a good friend of mine.
There were two Watford substitutions at the start of the second half with Harney and Legg coming on for Henson and Beckett. The Hornets made a positive start to the second half with some great work from Kmita who made space to take a shot that required a good save from Foster in the Liverpool goal to keep it out. The visitors had a chance to increase their lead as Kiernan crossed for Dean, whose header cleared the bar. The Hornets then had a chance of their own from a corner as Priest met Kmita’s delivery with a header that just missed the target. Just after the hour mark, Lancaster made his third change bringing Fatuga-Dada on for Fyfe. It had been a half of few chances, the next one of note falling to the visitors as Kiernan crossed for Dean who headed wide. But the Golden Girls pulled one back soon after with a tremendous goal as a misplaced pass fell to Meiwald who advanced to the edge of the box and hit a lovely shot past Foster. The goal inspired the Hornets who created another chance from a corner with Priest having two attempts to reduce the deficit further, the first was blocked, the second caught by Foster. There were two more changes for the home side as Clifford and Stobbs were replaced with Ali and Meola. As the clock ran down, Watford were in command, so the announcement of 6 minutes of added time was met with cheers. Two minutes in, Kmita made a run down the left and crossed for Ward to head past Foster. The goal was celebrated wildly, especially among the Ward family. It was so lovely to see how thrilled her children were to see her score. Sadly, that was the end of the scoring, but it had been a great end to the game. I don’t think any of us would have predicted a defeat by only one goal at half time.
I have to admit that this is the first time that I have seen the women’s team play live. I thoroughly enjoyed the game, it was very entertaining and there was some lovely football played. While Liverpool were clearly the better side in the first half, the Hornets adapted and kept them very quiet in the second half then managed to create some great chances which gave the visitors a scare and could have earned them a point. It was also noticeable that the Liverpool players went down very easily. They could almost have been men …..
At the end of the game, the players came over to clap the fans and the sight of little girls lining up at the side of the pitch for pictures with the players, who gladly obliged, brought tears to the eyes of our group. Aspiring footballers there will have seen a Women’s team compete with a ‘name’ team at a Premier League stadium, showing them what is possible.
For the WoW crowd, it had been a wonderful afternoon spent with a group of strangers who immediately bonded over our shared love of Watford. We swapped anecdotes and experiences and it was just lovely. But one comment that stuck with me was from Wendy and Josie (mother and daughter). They had been visiting Upton Park and were (unsurprisingly) quite intimidated by the atmosphere there. So, they sought out the nearest nail bar and had their nails done. This has become quite a habit for them, although they cautioned that the nail bar near Spurs is terrible. It has to be said that I would be a lot more intimidated by a nail bar than a football crowd, but that is a confirmation that there will never be a one-size-fits-all approach to making women comfortable at football. But our hope is that, by providing a safe space for all, we can ensure that women travelling both home and away have the best experience. WoW have set up a Facebook page and a Twitter account so, if you would like to make contact, you will find us there.
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