IT'S NOT SOCCER, IT'S FOOTBALL

ROO OXLEY DIVES INTO THE WORLD OF FEMALE CASUALS.

By Roo Oxley

Football has long been the center of my world, but the concept of the female football fandom is growing—and the onslaught of soccer, hyper-soccer leagues, and women’s soccer has caught the imagination of people all across the globe. I would not describe myself as a typical female footie fan, but what even is a typical football fan? European football is more than just a slick soulless stadium on which to count goals, sip drinks, and eat corn dogs. Football is tribal. It’s our identity and it underpins our entire being. For the uninitiated, here’s a brief tour of football from a casual female perspective. And remember: It’s not soccer, it’s football!

Lots has been written on how supporting football was historically a working-class pastime, and even more on how football was hijacked from ordinary folk and turned into a boring, corporate business endeavor for foreign investors. Soccer in the States, and indeed sport in general, may be idolized—but perhaps with more sanitized and less stylistic rituals than in the UK and Europe. Teams here are supported religiously, with clothes (otherwise known as clobber) serving as a means by which fans represent themselves, their identities, and their allegiance.

By allegiance, I do not mean flaunting the team shirt or strip. In my world, we call this sort the "shirter," low down in the pecking order of real fans. Shirters epitomize the changes football has seen across its stadiums. Gone is the beating heart, along with the camaraderie, the peacocking, and the parading. With shirters come half-time entertainment, raffles, and family stands. Half-time entertainment for real fans is leaving the stands to queue for the bar, not getting the drink from the bar, getting soaked by other drinks at the bar, then smoking a bifter as soon as the doors open outside. Pissed-up banter flowing, clobber being admired, slagging off the team’s performance as standard. This is about as much atmosphere you’ll get at the match nowadays, in the (dizzying!) heights of the English Championship. And even this smidge of matchday liveliness is not a patch on that of the terraces of the football grounds of the ’70s and ’80s.

The "terraces" were where "casual culture" was born—where the one-upmanship of wearing something posh and unique stood in direct contrast to acts of hooliganism that inevitably played out between the opposing two teams. The dichotomy of football hooligans wearing high-end, sport-luxe brands (more associated with aristocrats than with working-class lads on the YTS) may be hard to understand for those unfamiliar with the subculture. But in the UK and Europe, they’re still well-known after years of being caricatured: the stereotypical footie wearing Burberry, swilling beer, and being boisterously barbaric.

Bothered!

I grew up in football’s (less cartoonish and more swish) terrace culture. The late-’90s Casual Renaissance was imprinted on me, unquestionably part of the zeitgeist of indie music, house music, and fashion. This was a mint time to grow up: a sea of Aquascutum, Paul & Shark, Stone Island, C.P. Company, and many more brands. They were, and still are, heavily associated with terrace culture. I went to matches, starstruck not by the players, but by the beautiful garments dressers wore. I became a regular, following my shit team (Stoke City) wherever and in whichever league. During these times, I never once felt—as a female football fan, a "casual girl"—any kind of misogynistic disparagement. If it was there, I didn’t notice. And if I did, I wouldn’t have cared.

That was then. Nowadays, ironically, with more inclusivity and equality than ever before, I feel a definite change in the female football fandom—and crucially, in how people view it. Could this be because of the exponential growth in the popularity of women’s football? Are men getting territorial over one of the last-remaining havens of pure masculinity, as they watch gender lines become increasingly blurred?

In researching female football fans—in particular, casual girls for my second book—I wanted to hear from others like me. What clobber they were into and why. Whether they felt included or excluded at the match by the men of terrace culture. Amy Hill is a self-described loyal fan of Aston Villa, massively into her clobber and, refreshingly, as oblivious as me when it comes to being a girl in a man’s world:

“I don’t really think about it, to be honest. To me, I’m just a footie fan. Not a female footie fan. It’s rare to be a female dresser or casual. But that’s a whole other topic [laughs].”

Let’s save that topic for book number two, hey Amy?

Does she get any grief at the match?

“I can’t really say that I do,” Amy explains. “I get more derogatory comments about being American, and how they call it soccer, than I do for being female. I think it’s because, when people actually speak to me about footie, I can hold a halfway intelligent conversation. So that negates their negativity.”

Middlesbrough fan Michelle also stands her ground, outwitting the stereotype of "dumb female at the match," as she’s frequented them for years:

“I used to [get offensive comments], but not as much now. When you can out-chat a bloke on football, they start to respect you more—rightly or wrongly.”

“Being a female fan used to be a no-go,” she adds, “but it’s got easier as the decades have gone by. I mean, I sound about 80! But it has: less derogatory comments, less get back in kitchen, and a general acceptance that I’m at a game in [Boro’s noisy] South Stand, singing and shouting as much as the bloke next to me.”

Interestingly, all the ladies I interviewed were inspired to go to the match by male role figures or peers. That, combined with tomboy mentalities, solidified the urge to follow football.

West Ham fan Char recollects: “I started to watch football aged six. I hung around with a group of boys at school who loved it. Their dads used to take it in turns to take us to matches.”

Manchester United fan Stephanie adds: “My family are all massively into sports, and I have two brothers, one older and one younger. I really started getting into it in primary school when I played on the team, and the love just never left me!”

It’s hard to say whether these formative years or tomboy-tomfoolery characteristics bear influence on a female footie fan’s fate. In stark contrast, I am a total girly-girl who detested sports and hated the cold outdoors. The start of my passion came from witnessing this frisson of energy amongst the boys in clobber: the boys in clobber having a scrap. To put it frankly, I liked the fighting more than the football.

Fighting, football, friendship… female? Do my fellow casual girls inhale this heady mix, too? That is to say, the whole casual subculture, regardless of gender?

Char says: “It means so much: a sense of belonging that I have never felt anywhere else. It’s a massive family that makes you feel accepted, through the good times and the bad. I always feel safe and like I’m not alone. It’s given me the confidence to stand up and find my voice, and to dress how I like without worrying about being judged.”

Stephanie adds: “Win or lose, and regardless of age, race, sex, or nationality, everyone just comes together. I’m a Manchester United and Northern Ireland fan, so we’ve had the glory days and also the not-so-glory days. Regardless, there’s nothing like coming together with hundreds. I’ve made friends for life through football.”

Our shared experience of this particular fandom, however, is of men’s football—not women’s. Just as male casuals before us were territorial over the appropriation of their own appropriated clobber, are we snobbish towards actual female leagues and players? Women’s football has always been seen as a bit of a piss take. I’ve thought that way in the past. Yet the sport has quietly gained momentum and respect in recent years, culminating in its most recent peak at the 2022 Euros.

England’s Football Association banned women from playing in 1921 until 1979. It’s come a long way, finally instituting the Women’s Super League in 2010, hosting the 2022 UEFA Championship, and winning the bloody thing! Progress indeed. England appeared to be roaring behind its Lionesses, but maybe that’s just because we’re sick of waiting (coming up on 40 years of hurt) for the men’s side to bring it home.

I struggle with not being a massive supporter of women’s football. But then again, I’m not a massive supporter of "corporate" or "national" leagues in general. I haven’t thought—perhaps mistakenly—too deeply on the gender divide or potential inequalities, never considering them to be massive issues until now.

“I love it, to be honest,” says Michelle of the women’s leagues. “I played football, so what these lasses are doing for the growth [of the sport] is brilliant. I never had those chances—even had to go away to play.”

Char agrees: “I think it’s great to see. There’s been a lot of work done over the years to pave the way for females in sport, particularly football. I think England’s women winning the Euros has really inspired so many, especially here in the UK, and there’s been such a huge increase in fans going to watch and support female matches. I’ve been to see a few Arsenal women’s games as I live in London, and the stadium’s packed out.”

There is, without question, a whole new generation of female football fans, due both to the spread of women’s football and to a seismic shift in societal preconceptions. “We’ve moved on a bit from the cultural divide between men’s and women’s roles,” Amy explains, “where men used to go out to the pub with their mates while women stayed home, looking after the family. In addition, the rise of women’s football helped spark interest [amongst females] in the men’s game.”

It remains to be seen whether us older female footie fans—once tolerated, then a hindrance, and now an embarrassing nuisance—will rival the boys in terms of fandom stakes. I look forward to getting nose-deep in the intoxicating game again, to see the neo-tribes, the mini societies, the clothes, the match day rituals… This is just the beginning.

So, ladies: Whether you want to support your team in an adult and sensible way (does this even happen?) or get stuck in with the lads (not scrapping, but clobber- and culture-wise), crack on, have fun, and enjoy. Just remember, it’s not soccer, it’s fucking football!