WWC 2015 CANADIAN KICKS: Blog 1

Happy FIFA Women’s World Cup Canada 2015 Kick Off Day! Did you get the card I sent you? Oh, shame, then these blogged postcards will have to do.

I know that so many of you wanted to make the trip to Canada to cheer on the #Lionesses or whichever team has your heart but that for various reasons you couldn’t. So, in addition to the great reporting from the press out here and the super duper BBC coverage (and don’t forget Eurosport), I’m aiming to share some of what it is like out here for fans/media as we journey across the country and through the tournament. I’ll be doing that via short, rambling blogs on here, slightly more erudite blogs for our friends and big supporters of women’s footie ‘Bluefin’ and across social media on our Facebook page, Twitter account, Instagram (v early days!), Audioboom, Periscope (@shekicksdotnet) and maybe even the odd vid on our Youtube channel. If you get bored, just ignore it, if you want more of a thing or something specific then please get in touch via any of the above or drop us a line: [email protected]

An amateur’s snap of the Commonwealth Stadium

This will be the fifth Women’s World Cup that I have had the massive good fortune to have attended. It will be the fourth opening ceremony/game that I have witnessed first-hand (I seem to have a total memory blank about USA 2003, which is a worry!). They’re always brilliant occasions. In 1999 there were 78,000 people in the Giants’ stadium in New York (well, New Jersey). The often accepted view is that the American public only caught on as the U.S. team progressed but that stadium was packed. And Denmark put the frights up that famous USA lineup. Sadly, Argentina didn’t do likewise to the Germans (11-0!!!) in Shanghai in 2007 but the fireworks and entertainment had featured before the kick off. I LOVED that mad, silly, wonderful celebration of wackiness mixed with Chinese culture and football. We loved the world cup song too and had it as ring tones for the duration of the tournie. The Olympiastadion in Berlin hosted the opening game, between Germany and Canada and the noise when Germany scored made my insides rumble – there were so many passionate (and loud and ‘merry’) fans in that famous old venue. I’m getting goosebumps just recalling it.

It was those memories that made me smile, in an airplane lavvy at whatever time it was, during whatever flight I was on, during the marathon chew-on that was getting to Edmonton, in the first place (bit of bad luck with delays/cancellations and the like). I should emphasise how incredibly cheerful (jarringly so!) WestJet gate agents and flight crew are. Like, seriously happy. When you spy the first bits of colourful signage for the tournament in the airport, it gives you a massive lift. And when the passport control officer asks you why you are coming to Canada and you say, ‘For the Women’s World Cup,’ it makes it REAL. Although, when she then asks you, ‘Are you playing?’ without sarcasm (and this has happened more than once over the years), it brings you back down a little – because if she thinks the trudging old wreck before her, travelling on her own, is part of an elite women’s national football team it makes you realise that although folk know that the world cup is happening, they don’t know much more than that.

Just the ticket

Fortunately, the shady guy in the unmarked black van that picked me and two giggling girls (off a flight from Vegas) up at 1am from outside the airport to take us to our hotels, was not a murderer. Picking up accreditation and match tickets was a pleasant breeze (is everyone in Canada this friendly and cheerful?), even if I had to circumnavigate the stadium from the LRT (the railway) station to find the right place because the signage was very limited. I always seem to go the long way around. Had a quick catch up with Har (who writes for us amongst other specialist sites/papers – she interviewed Tanc for our WWC issue) who is from Vancouver and was being pestered for inside knowledge by a Japanese journo, chatted to some of the stadium staff and headed off for the evening with some of the BBC crew. (It involved an enormous Beer Festival with diddy tasting glasses, two Klingons and ironically ended with some food in a British-themed pub! Yes, Yorkshire puds and shepherd’s pie were among the specials?!)

Not only is Edmonton hosting the Craft Beer Festival at the expo and the opening game of the Women’s World Cup but it’s also Pride Festival weekend, so there’s a lot of colourful stuff going on. We all know which is the big one though, the one the world is ready to watch. There’s only a few hours to go now and I can’t wait!

Bluefin Sport have partnered with She Kicks to bring you a unique perspective on events happening at the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2015 in Canada. For more information and other news from Canada visit www.bluefinsport.co.uk/womens-world-cup-2015 or follow them on twitter: @Bluefin_Ins

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