Reading some old diaries the other day, I realized that the first women’s football game I ever watched was in 1993. My dad had a chipped Sky TV box, so we could literally pick up any channel that was available. There was a show from the USA called “Trans World Sport.” Anyway, one night I was channel surfing and I found this show. They were showing some highlights of the USWNT. I was glued. One player stood out: Mia Hamm.
At the time, I was living in Bristol, and there was hardly any women’s football to go and see. In those days, the only club that really mattered was Chelsea men’s. Fast forward three decades and the world is a different place.
When I moved to Sweden in 2011, I really wanted to find a men’s team to follow. I was living in a small city called Norrköping for the first few years. I went to some men’s games but really did not feel the connection. Over the years, I have lived in some pretty hardcore football areas: Skanstull (Hammarby) and Solna (AIK).
But one club changed my outlook on football. One cold January morning in 2011, I dragged my arse from my apartment to watch Linköping vs Norrköping in a women’s friendly. I remember it well. It was Nilla Fischer’s first game, and she scored what I believe I recorded to be her first ever goal. It was -4 degrees, my arse stuck to the seat. But I had found my Swedish club. The times I flew back to the UK, I watched Chelsea men whenever I could, but I also started to follow the women’s team.
Move forward 11 years and how things have changed. That Swedish club that stole my heart became part of my life. I became a season ticket holder, volunteer, and even a Board Member. Through the years, the club has churned out some legends: Magdalena Eriksson, Kosovare Asllani, Pernille Harder, Fridolina Rolfö, Stina Blackstenius, Jessica Samuelsson, Jonna Andersson, and of course hosted talents such as Neto, Lindahl, Sällström, and Seger.
And two very special players: the legend that is Lotta Rohlin and a person who became one of my closest friends in life, Lisa De Vanna.
The past few years, I’ve seen some of these players retire, grow from 18-year-olds to 30-something players. Watching the first few games of the Paris Olympics, I realize that legends have retired or are at the end of their road. Not a bad thing, there are some players out there that are taking the world by storm as the next generation. Yet to me, something is missing.
Watching the younger generation come through, it almost feels robotic. The players that became superstars like Marta, Wambach, Sinclair, Bronze, Sawa, and Kerr seemed to be part of that era that knew it was tough but still got the rewards. The older generation like Rohlin, De Vanna, had to make their way and pay their dues.
Yet when I watched some games this season, the players were almost like AI had created them. Headphones on, little interaction with the supporters, and I think that’s just where we are in life. Generations change, we grow older, times change.
Yet some little part of me just wants to go back again to 2010.
(And here was Nilla’s first goal filmed on an Iphone 3GS Jan 2012)
