Two Tribes

To Newcastle for the first of the Lionesses’ pair of Euro qualifiers with France on Friday May 31st. I flew up on the Thursday from Southampton. The flight was on the Scottish airline Loganair, with the staff all decked out in tartan, and a complimentary biscuit - a choice of a Tunnock’s caramel wafer or shortbread.

An open air fanzone had been arranged in the Urban Garden, close to the Tyne Bridge, with a bar, a burger shack and a coffee shack. When I arrived Rachel had been there a while, setting up the FSA stall by herself in Deb’s absence. I’d had an excellent hot dog and one quiet berry cider when familiar faces started to arrive. I got a chat with Jen, formerly of She Kicks, and caught up with Jules, Charlotte, Sue and Maisie.

Crystal had a gift for me : a Canada 2015 Women’s World Cup hat. She said she wasn’t sure it would fit me but she thought I’d like it as a keepsake. Jules said a bit later that Crystal knew about my original one getting lost back in 2016. That was sweet of Crystal.

QPR Ash was there, still a chatterbox. He came over to me to talk any time I wasn’t with anyone else. He and I got talking to a couple of well oiled Geordies who said they’d begun going to watch their own women’s team and were expecting them to do well in the Championship next season.

Jules’ friend Michael seemed to be getting very close and couple-y with Crystal, and I felt a sinking feeling take over my stomach, but as the late afternoon/early evening wore on I saw him flirting with several other ladies, and then as I talked to him and Jules he said they’d been at Manchester Pride together, so he’s likely actually gay. Phew.

By the time our group set off for the ground several of them were a little the worse for drink. This exasperated Sue who wanted to get to the ground quick and meet up with Lisa as she had Lisa’s ticket. It wasn’t long before the others had fallen so far behind Sue and me as to be invisible. I just stuck with Sue as I wanted to make sure of getting in the ground before kick-off, gutted though I was not to get to say goodbye to the others, since I was sitting on my own and wouldn’t be able to join them for post-match drinks as I had to be up at sparrow’s fart to catch my 9 am flight home.

We reached the stadium, Sue became frantic as Lisa wasn’t answering her phone, then finally she spotted her. I quickly hugged them both and said “See you in Saint-Etienne” and they rushed through the turnstile. I wandered over to the seller for programmes for me and Kim, then went into the ground. Had time to get a bar of chocolate and a Diet Coke and still get to my seat before the anthems.

England lost. France converted their chances and we didn’t. That was it. Back to the hotel, glumly contemplating the prospect of having to fork out for, and save my annual leave for, the play-offs. To bed. Flew home Saturday morning.

As Jules and Crystal had both been the worse for wear when Sue and I had left them behind, I spent Saturday trying to contact them by phone and on Messenger. Radio silence. That was worrying, but I got through to both of them on the phone on Sunday evening and they were fine.

To Saint-Etienne on the Monday, by way of flight from Luton to Lyon. My hotel was out on the edge of town; I’d picked it as the booking site I used recommended it as close to the stadium, though it was actually a half-hour walk from there. Unknown to me, Saint-Etienne actually has a tram network, and the stadium has a stop, so I’d have been easier staying in the city centre with the others. The staff at my hotel were friendly and helpful, though, and the food in the restaurant was tasty enough even if the dishes were a tad unfamiliar.

On Tuesday afternoon, the day of the game, an England fan meet-up was arranged at the Au Bureau bar in the city centre. Deb, Rachel, Lisa, Amir and a few I didn’t know were there when I arrived. Joy of joys, the bar had Leffe and Hoegaarden on tap. Soon Sue and Leanne arrived. Rachel had compiled a playlist on Spotify including tunes like Sweet Caroline, Three Lions and Call Me A Lioness. She got the bar staff to agree to play her playlist on the speakers and for the next couple of hours we took over the tables on the street in front of the bar, having a sing-song and a dance. There I met Jessica, a West Ham fan and die-hard Lioness, and Julian and Emma, father and daughter Manchester City fans on their first England trip. A few bemused locals stopped to talk to and/or take photos of us.

One man asked us “L’Angleterre? C’est le foot? Le rugby?”

I replied “Le foot féminin. France et Angleterre.” He said he knew the nearby city of Lyon had a good women’s side. I mentioned that former Lyon player Jodie Taylor is a friend of mine which went down well. He left us with a cry of “Vive la France!”

As they belted out River Deep Mountain High for the fifth or sixth time, Rachel and a couple of the others were reluctant to tear themselves away from the disco, but we had a football match to go to so we made our way across the street to the tram stop. A few girls I didn’t know struggled to work out the ticket machine; they got their tickets with my help and we were on our way.

I hadn’t eaten all afternoon and evening, as I’d had a generous lunch so hadn’t been hungry in the pub but was ready for something when I got inside the ground. Alas, the only hot food on offer was ham and cheese sandwiches and I’m not a fan of ham so I settled for a bag of crisps and a Snickers.

Happily, we had a dedicated away end, in one corner of the ground. We outsang the French fans most of the evening. Sarina must have put a rocket up the girls after Friday, as they dominated from the get-go, and Georgia Stanway sent us delirious with a rocket shot after 21 minutes. After Alessia Russo doubled our lead, the Lionesses were cruising and the away end was rocking.

In the second half Leah Williamson gave away a penalty. I felt bad for her, she’d had great games both Friday and that night. France scored and it was squeaky bum time for the rest of the match, but the Lionesses held on for a famous victory. Our first win over France in France since 1973.

I went over to Rachel and Lisa as we prepared to clap the players off. They were standing on their seats, joyfully declaiming “We’ve beaten France in their own back yard!” I asked them if they could smell the fondue and Swiss chocolate yet, though we do still have to overtake one of France and Sweden, so ideally we want to stick a hatful past the Irish, and we certainly want to win in Gothenburg. Well, in Sarina we trust.

I said goodbye and ‘see you in Norwich’ to the others as we trooped out of the stadium. They went for city centre drinks but I had to get back to my hotel in the boondocks. My one consolation was I was looking forward to a McDonald’s (there was one a few minutes before my hotel). Alas, after successfully negotiating the long walk, I saw the McDonald’s had one light on and a lonely member of staff but the rest of the place was dark. Partially sated my hunger on the two complimentary biscuits in the room, then to bed.

At check-out, the man on the front desk said I had the whole stay still to pay for. I explained to him, in French, that I’d paid through hotels.com and showed him the email from them confirming my payment. He went away and came back with a bill for just my two breakfasts and the city tax.

I ventured into the city centre to get a postcard for Ann. Boarding a tram there, was choked to see that there was a tram stop 10-15 minutes’ walk from my hotel. I needn’t have done the long hoof the night before after all.

Found a postcard of the stadium in the tourist office. A bit of a chat with the friendly lady there about my having been there for the women’s international (without rubbing her nose in our win), then on to the post office to send it.

Visiting Saint-Etienne and its football stadium was special for me. At the 1978 World Cup the French team captured my heart, and the following autumn at my school we watched a schools French programme, in which one episode climaxed with the lady presenter lovingly producing a poster of Marius Trésor, whereupon all the team joyfully sang ‘Allez les verts!’ From that moment I was a Saint-Etienne fan. So at the Relay shop in the main train station, I bought a Saint-Etienne baseball cap.

Then the train to Lyon, and tram from Lyon main station to the airport. At duty frees, I knew what I was looking for. Ever since my first day trip to France with school, I’ve loved Milka Alpine Milk chocolate. The shops only had giant bars, so I bought three of those and somehow crammed them into my carry-on. On the escalator to the departure gates I saw Julian the Orient fan. We chatted then it was time to go through passport control.

While I went to an All Passports counter, since we’re out of the EU now like it or not, I noticed Julian going to an EU/EEA counter. In the seats at the gate I mentioned it to Julian and asked if he’d got an Irish passport. He looked at me sarcastically and said “Why should I have an Irish one?” Very strange.

Since my last arrival at Luton Airport, they’ve introduced the Luton DART, a little shuttle train to Luton Airport Parkway station. Very handy. Made it home just before 10 pm.

Back to work on the Thursday and have spent my leisure time since then catching up on my TV shows. On Thursday evening, as a past Mayor’s Consort, I was a guest at the lighting of the beacon for the 80th anniversary of D-Day on Stokes Bay, by the stone that marks the spot where the Canadian troops embarked. I was also a guest at the ceremony on Sunday in Hardway with addresses from the Mayor and his Chaplain, a school choir singing World War II songs, the reading of ‘At the going down of the sun’ and a reading of FDR’s letter to the troops. On the walk back to the car park I met Steve, a councillor I used to see at cricket matches years ago. He told us how he’d been on this year’s twinning visit to Royan, I mentioned that I was just back from France myself and he told me a few tales of following England men abroad to Euro 88 and Italia 90.