Copa 71: A film about the record-breaking Women's World Cup

The 1971 Unofficial Women's Soccer World Cup drew more than 100,000 spectators but was quickly erased from history. Now, a new film tells the amazing story of the tournament and the disappointment that followed.

For the England players, landing in Mexico was like being “thrown into a parallel world'', recalls captain Carol Wilson.

She and other female soccer players were used to being interrupted, ignored and ridiculed at home. They played in front of a few spectators on a park pitch. The ban on women's competition had just been lifted by the Football Association for the first time in 50 years.

As a result, the players were unprepared for the reception they received in the host country.

Hundreds of Mexican fans and photographers were waiting. “I went from having nothing to using a flashlight that would blind me when I got off the plane,” Wilson recalls. “And it didn't stop during the five weeks we were there.”

They were treated like superstars, with spectators waiting for autographs, camping outside hotels, and attacking the team's coaches.

“The public accepted us straight into their hearts,” Wilson continues. “They followed us everywhere. We were so welcomed by everyone. I can't put it into words personally to give you an idea of ​​what it was really like.”

The story of England's “Lost Lioness” was told in a BBC article in 2019. Now, a documentary called Copa 71 is shedding light on the tournament. The opening of the film is narrated by tennis legend Serena Williams, who serves as an executive producer along with her sister Venus.

The pair are “two of the greatest female athletes of all time, both deeply involved in the cause, and we want to promote stories that deepen our understanding of the history of women's sports.” Director Rachel Ramsay says.

Ramsey agrees with the idea that the film offers a glimpse into a “parallel world” where women's soccer was not suppressed.

“As we started researching this story and talking to these women, we realized that they had a lot to say, and that they had been denied a voice for 50 years.”

Women from different countries all tell similar stories of being told that soccer is not for girls. Therefore, it is more appealing to them that the Mexican competition offers a taste of equality and popularity.

Although there are no official attendance figures, it is estimated that more than 100,000 people watched the final, making it the most-attended women's sporting event in history.

Ironically, the tournament's success was due to the fact that FIFA, world soccer's governing body, tried to block it.

The documentary states that FIFA's ban forced organizers to find a stadium not under the control of the Mexican Football Federation. As a result, the match ended up being held at two major venues in the country controlled by the country's leading media groups, which heavily promoted the event to sell tickets.

The match was broadcast live on Mexican television. Ramsey and her team tracked down the footage, which hadn't been seen for more than 50 years, as well as home movies taken by her fans.

The result, she says, is not your typical sports documentary. First of all, viewers are not rooting for a particular team or player. The other thing is about women.

“There are multiple movies, series, and books that have been written and made about the Bachelorette Tournaments, matches, goals, and players, and they've been made over and over again,” Ramsay says.

“We hope this movie is the beginning of a whole genre of women's sports movies, because when we started making this movie, we found comparisons and other movies that were similar, Especially because it was so hard to find movies told from a woman's point of view” in their 70s.

“At one point it was difficult to convince people that these women should be on screen and tell their stories.” But that was a “deal breaker” for Ramsay.

“I've been told many times, 'You can't do a sports movie where there's no one winner you want to win.' I said, 'Well, actually, I think you can, because I think I'm the winner.'” The fact that that happened, and the experience that those women shared together, is a big part of this film.”

“So it's really important to be able to play with the genre and tell the story in a different way and not feel like we have to go with a cookie-cutter version of what people think a sports movie should be. did.”

However, when the tournament ended, the participants returned to the ground in shock.

England manager Harry Butt was blacklisted by the fledgling Women's Football Association, which was attempting to form the first official England team. Some players were also suspended.

The 1971 Mexico Games showed that women's soccer was popular and commercially viable, but men's soccer authorities saw it as a threat, the documentary claims. The memory of this event and the potential of women's soccer remained buried for decades.

“The women involved themselves, especially the England team, didn't talk much about it,” Ramsay said.

“When they came back after the tournament, they believed very correctly that the world had changed and that women's football was here to stay. They saw a whole new dawn for women's sport.

“And that was violently taken away from them. They lived with that trauma, that disappointment, that feeling of being gassed by society.

“And at the establishment level, the hugely successful and record-breaking women's soccer tournament did not sit well with the international football federations and national football associations around the world.

“I think there was an understanding that having women in the same games would weaken the strength of men's football. That's something we're just now recovering from.”

“The growth of the women's game in recent years has been remarkable, but we are still playing catch-up.”

The documentary received glowing reviews after its premiere at last year's Toronto Film Festival, with Screen International's Fionnuala Hannigan calling it “as much a crowd-pleaser as the record-breaking match.”

He writes: “It was very clear to me that this was a story that had been waiting to be told for decades, and it brought me to tears in some scenes.”

For Wilson, watching the film was “very emotional.”

“I was instantly transported back to 1971. It felt like I was there. It was like traveling back in time, if you like.”

Although the potential for women's soccer has begun to blossom with the recent World Cup and Euros, “we could have made more progress sooner,” she says.

Another British player, Chris Lockwood, also agreed after watching the film, calling it “very good.''

But the memories it evokes are tinged with sadness. “The sadness that Harry was banished forever, and the sadness that his story was suppressed.

Copa 71 will be released in UK cinemas on Friday 8th March.