Copa 71: Film shows record-breaking women's World Cup - BBC News

The story of huge crowds at the 1971 event is told in a new documentary backed by the Williams sisters.

11 hours agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingImage source, New Black Films/Victor Crawshaw/Marina AmaralImage caption, The English players and manager took part without the permission of the footballing authoritiesBy Ian YoungsEntertainment & arts reporterIn 1971, an unofficial women's football World Cup attracted crowds of more than 100,000, but was quickly erased from history. Now a new film tells the remarkable story of the tournament, and the disappointment that followed.

For the English players, landing in Mexico was like being "launched into a parallel universe", captain Carol Wilson recalls.

She and other female footballers were used to being obstructed, overlooked and ridiculed at home. They played on park pitches to handfuls of spectators. A ban on the women's game had only just been lifted by the Football Association after 50 years.

So the players were unprepared for the reception they received in the tournament's host country.

Hundreds of Mexican fans were waiting, as were photographers. "We went from nothing to flashlights that blinded you once we got off the plane," Wilson recalls. "And it didn't stop for the whole five weeks that we were there."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-68422607

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