Starting at the Women’s World Cup in 2019 the Football Supporters Association have endeavoured to create a safe and fun space for fans to meet up before England Women’s games when travelling abroad, reports LOUISE GOLBY.
Because this is a home tournament their services are slightly different. While abroad they can help fans with things like lost passports and navigating their surroundings, in England they can be there to offer supporters guides and a sense of community. Fans can meet up with like-minded supporters and chat about all things Lionesses.
Dilworth said the aim of this project is to encourage supporters to travel abroad in bigger numbers, as well as building a larger team of volunteers. “We’ve got the Women’s World Cup next year and we want to try and get there in as big a number as possible, and then create these hubs for people to have fun before the match to build a bit of atmosphere.”
With the growth of the women’s game, now is as good a time as any to get involved. “Look at the talent of our players, they deserve the most amount of support and I just hope that that continues to grow and more people get involved. We want to get lots of people involved on lots of different levels and it’s about making sure that everybody feels part of the community.”
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The team will follow England, setting up fans hubs in both Brighton and Southampton for the group stage. In Brighton they will be at the official fan party at Victoria Gardens as well as setting up their hub in the Tempest Inn Bar. In Brighton they will be in Palmerston Park for the fan party and in the Dancing Man, where they will be hosting their fan embassy before the game and their fan party after; “Whoop whoop,” Dilworth exclaimed.