Copa 71 (2023) Movie Script
1
[dog barks]
[film projector whirring]
[birds chirping]
INTERVIEWER: Do you
know what we're here
to talk about today, Brandi?
BRANDI: Women's soccer.
Well, specifically about
the first Women's World Cup,
which was when?
And you were there, right?
Representing the U.S.A.?
I've actually got something
I'd quite like you to watch.
Okay.
[crowd cheering]
That's a massive stadium.
It's a men's football match?
It's women's football.
What?
Okay, this is
women's football.
What year was this?
This is unbelievable.
[announcer speaking Spanish]
Goal!
[crowd cheering]
Why didn't I know about this?
It makes me very happy and...
quite infuriated,
to be honest with you.
I mean...
I-I'm almost
at a loss for words.
[soft music playing]
[crowd cheers]
[muted chanting]
SERENA WILLIAMS:
Once in a while,
you come across a story
that has to be seen
to be believed.
Mexico City, 1971.
A global tournament
of unprecedented scale
is about to begin.
[drumbeats echoing]
But despite
the record-breaking crowds,
you'll find no mention
of this event
in any official history.
And the film footage
has been hidden
for over 50 years.
Why?
Because all the players
on the pitch...
are women.
[crowd cheering]
["I Feel the Earth Move"
by Carole King playing]
I feel the earth move
Under my feet
I feel the sky
tumblin' down
- I feel my heart...
- [announcer speaking Spanish]
[speaking Spanish]
[speaking French]
I feel the earth move
under my feet
Feel the sky tumblin' down,
tumblin' down
I feel the earth move
under my feet...
[speaking Spanish]
I feel the earth move...
[announcer speaking Spanish]
Feel the sky tumblin' down,
tumblin' down
I just lose control...
Tears rolled down me cheeks,
and I remember thinking,
"I'm never gonna see
anything like this again."
I feel the Earth
move under my feet
I feel the sky...
[speaking Italian]
[announcer speaking Spanish]
Goal!
Tumblin' down
[crowd cheering]
Tumblin' down
[announcer speaking Spanish]
Goal!
CAROL: We didn't
even speak about it
'til nearly 50 years later.
[crowd cheering]
[soft music playing]
CAROL: When I was
about five or six,
my dad took me
down to Newcastle.
It was freezing cold.
And the snow, it was comin'
up to the top of me Wellys.
And we got the park,
and it was a Saturday.
All of a sudden,
I heard this massive roar.
[crowd cheering]
And it sank the life
out of me.
"What was that?
What was that?
What was that noise?"
My dad said,
"They're playing football."
It was euphoric.
And I thought, "One day,
that's what I want to do."
[crowd chants]
But all through school,
and we were never allowed
to play football, ever.
- [ball bounces]
- Netball...
hockey...
anything but football.
[bell pealing]
[street chatter]
[speaking Spanish]
[speaking Italian]
Allez.
[speaking Italian]
[laughs]
[children speaking Italian]
[speaking French]
[crowd cheering]
[scoffs]
[early 20th century music
playing]
DAVID GOLDBLATT:
To understand the reasons
for the resistance
to women's football,
one has to go back
to the 19th century.
Right from the beginning,
there's a real energy
for women's football.
And, in England, by 1917,
you have perhaps 100 clubs.
And the numbers
are building and building.
[crowd cheering]
But then many doctors
start publishing articles
in very reputable journals
saying football
is dangerous for women.
"This is bad
for women's health
and their wombs
and their ovaries."
And so, in 1921,
the English
Football Association
says to all of its members,
"If you allow women
to use your facilities,
"you will be
banned and excluded
from the Football
Association."
[somber music playing]
Immediately, a lot of European
football associations follow,
and in Italy and Brazil,
it becomes a criminal offense
for women to play football.
Women's football
carried on being played,
but it's being forced
to the margins.
It's almost invisible.
[jet engine roaring]
ANNOUNCER:
The first thing that hits you
about an operational
fighter station is the noise.
CAROL: When I left school,
you were expected
to get married,
settle down, have kids,
and cook.
[chuckles] That's about it.
I didn't want to do that,
so I joined the Air Force.
I thought, "I bet
if I join the Air Force,
I'll be able
to play football there."
[overlapping chatter]
At lunchtime, I used to play
five-a-side with the lads.
This one day, I saw a load
of girls starting to play
in the next five-a-side.
I was looking and looking.
I thought,
"They're playing football."
And I was gob-smacked,
'cause I had not
seen this before.
On a field, girls playing.
Here it is. [laughs]
There they are.
Where have you been
all me life?
Yeah.
Yeah, it was definitely
a case of that.
Welcome to the Memorial Park,
Coventry,
where a local derby
is in progress.
["These Boots Are Made
for Walking" playing]
This is ladies' football.
Who wouldn't be happy
going through the sixties?
[chuckles]
It was a revolution.
You keep sayin'
you got somethin' for me
[protestors yelling]
Something you call love,
but confess
You been a-messin'
Where you shouldn't
have been messin'
- [whistle blows]
- Congratulations, Trudy.
What's a nice girl
like you doing
playing football, though?
What's wrong
with playing football?
Well, it's a man's game,
isn't it?
No. Sport's for everybody.
And that's
just what they'll do...
Why are you so mad keen
on football?
Why don't you play hockey
or something like that?
Well, it's always
been football
since I was about three.
Up and down the country,
ladies in proper football gear
all playing different teams.
Yeah...
REPORTER: This match
was played soon after
the Football Association
had been nagged
into allowing women's teams
to play on affiliated grounds.
TRUDY:
Just the most amazing time.
And you keep losing
when you ought to not bet
You keep saming when you
ought to be a-changing...
[speaking Italian]
One of these days,
these boots...
[speaking Italian]
You keep playin' where
you shouldn't be playin'...
I think our society,
was a very big step
- Mm-hmm.
- to be accepted.
Hah
I just found me...
ANN: I can knit,
and I can use a chain saw.
But, you know, I don't want
to be put in a box.
BIRTE: We didn't play football
because we want
to attack the men.
I played football because
I like to play football.
And that's
just what they'll do
One of these days
These boots are gonna
walk all over you
[speaking Spanish]
[dancers chatting]
Are you ready, boots?
Start walking
[players cheering]
[speaking Spanish]
[crowd chatting]
[film projector whirring]
[speaking French]
[crowd murmuring]
[speaking French]
[speaking French]
You must have the mickey
taken out of you quite a lot.
Do you get accused
of being a tomboy
- or something like that?
- Yes.
What's your reaction to that?
I don't care.
In England, there was
no newspaper coverage,
apart from people
making horrible comments.
They weren't
particularly interested
or in favor
of women playing football.
Barriers seemed to be
people in authority
and not necessarily
"people" in authority,
now, to be clear about it.
It was men in authority.
I had decided that, uh,
if I am re-elected,
that I'd propose a president
to act, say, for four years.
DAVID: In the late 1960s,
all the people who run
football, they're all men.
And FIFA, the governing body
of global football,
has a fundamentally
and profoundly
conservative outlook
on the world.
They think that basically
women's football
is a disreputable,
immoral, immodest activity.
They still come
to the idea of football
as an exclusively
masculine space
for celebrating
masculine virtues.
[crowd cheering]
[carnival music playing]
MARION REIMERS: In 1970,
Mexico hosted
the men's World Cup.
And it was just magnetic.
[crowd gasps]
The Estadio Azteca was
an architectural marvel.
It was the first World Cup
that was transmitted in color.
ANNOUNCER: And Pel!
Well, it had to be Pel.
ANN: We see the final
in the men's World Cup
was very impressive.
A very special dream
to go on the same ground.
Yeah. You know,
we all have crazy dreams,
but, uh, not all come true.
Not... [laughs]
Carlos Alberto's
coming up on his right!
Oh, magnificent!
Magnificent!
MARION: When you organize
an event like the World Cup,
that meant that the eyes
of the world were on you.
[soft music playing]
So businessmen who want
to keep making money
said, given the infrastructure
already there,
"Why don't we try
something else?"
"Why don't we try
a women's World Cup?"
[Elvira speaking Spanish]
Obviously there is
a lot of resistance.
FIFA was not behind it.
The Mexican Federation
was not behind it,
let alone the rest
of the federations.
REENACTOR: "Dear Professor...
"As there is...
"no official world recognition
of women's soccer
"and therefore
no world-governing body,
"this Association
does not recognize
"the tournament
being run in Mexico City
as the World Cup
of women's soccer."
[crowd chatter]
TRUDY: The manager of
my local team was Harry Batt.
HARRY: I told you this before.
For God's sake, don't all
fall back in defense.
I want you
to keep on the pass.
He just had big plans for
ladies' football in general.
And Harry didn't play
by the F.A. rules.
Attack is
the best form of defense.
Now, then, off you go, girls.
He had been talking
for a while
about the Copa del Mundo.
CAROL: There was no official
English team at that point,
because they had
just had the ban lifted.
So it just sounded like there
wasn't a possibility
that it was gonna happen.
But Harry was really
forward-thinking in his ideas,
and he traveled
around the country
to scout players
for the team.
And he wasn't shy
of going out and hustling.
CAROL: One day,
we'd just finished
training at the ground,
and Harry calls us over,
and he said, "Girls,
I got something to tell you."
And I thought
it was really bad news.
He said, "Martini Rossi
are gonna sponsor us
to go to Mexico to play
in the World Cup Final."
Oh, God.
Me legs were like jelly.
[laughs]
["I've got the Music in Me"
by The Kiki Dee Band playing]
[camera shutter clicks]
[speaking French]
Ain't got no trouble
in my life
No foolish dream
to make me cry
I'm never frightened
or worried
I know I'll always get by
[Elba speaking Spanish]
I heat up
Heat up
I cool down...
ANN: We were unofficial,
of course.
No, uh, support from Danish
Football Association at all.
So we had to do it ourselves,
with support from friends
and families.
...that I found it
Don't let life...
Getting on that plane
was, like, surreal.
Gonna take it...
None of us had been on a plane
before, not any of us.
I got the music in me
I got the music in me
I got the music in me
Yeah...
To go somewhere like that,
and for ordinary,
working-class girls,
it was a dream.
[announcer speaking Spanish]
[chime dings]
Got to Mexico,
and they pull a ladder up,
and the doors open.
And all these
flash lights went off.
[bulbs pop]
Just light, light everywhere.
You couldn't see.
Words in my head,
so I say them...
And I said, "There's someone
famous on this plane."
Catch a hold
of my blues...
But it was us.
I got the music in me
I got the music in me
I got the music in me...
Going from England,
where women were frowned upon
for playing football,
to go somewhere like that
and see other countries even.
I got the music in me
- Feel funky
- Whoo!
- Feel good
- Whoo...
It was like
a parallel universe.
I'm in the neighborhood
Gonna fly like
a bird on the wing...
[speaking Italian]
And just play them
I got the music in me
I got the music in me
I got the music in me
Yeah
I got the music in me...
[Elba speaking Spanish]
Coming out of the airport,
and it was lined,
just lined and lined and
lined and lined with people.
Play them...
And they was throwing things
at the coach.
I got the music in me
I got the music in me...
We thought they were
trying to get us.
I got the music in me...
But what they were doing
was throwing presents
in the window for us.
I got the music in me
I got the music in me
I got the music in me...
We'd landed in a world
that we didn't know.
Me
DAVID: Of course
FIFA and the officials
look at this
as a kind of disgrace.
They don't like
anything about it.
They don't like the fact
that somebody else
is taking their name,
the "World Cup."
You add to it that it's
a women's World Cup.
That's ringing
a lot of alarm bells.
And so FIFA say to the Mexican
Football Federation,
"If you use these stadiums
for women's football,
we're gonna fine you,
we're gonna ban you."
So instead of going to
the small provincial stadiums,
they force the tournament
into two of the largest
stadiums in Mexico,
the Jalisco...
and the Azteca...
places that the Football
Association does not control.
The dominant Mexican
media group owns them.
[men murmuring]
But to fill 110,000
in the Azteca,
the organizers have to go
all out to promote this thing.
And that's what they did.
Through all of their, uh,
magazines, their television,
their radio, their newspapers.
[feedback warbles]
Time, weather, and...
[traffic honking]
["I've Got What You Need"
by Mary Jane Hooper playing]
[speaking French]
I've got
what you need, boy
Can you take it?
We have a photographer
attached to us the whole time.
I've got
what you need, boy
Can you take it?
And if I give you
what you want, baby
Could you make it?
I'm tellin' you
that I got...
Uh, we're really gonna
stress the feminine angle.
Uh, women who play soccer
are not
muscular monstrosities,
no, but, like,
generally pretty girls.
If we don't come my way...
Then medias follow our trip
very close,
and the papers
write a lot of things.
Yeah, yeah,
can you dig it...
There will be,
uh, beauty salons
in the dressing rooms.
Hey, yeah
Now, what you want, baby
I got it...
Uniforms will be as close
as possible to hot pants.
It's natural.
The combination
of the passions
of most men around the world,
soccer and women.
I've got
what you need, boy
Can you take it?
[traffic honking]
[Silvia speaking Spanish]
[Elvira speaking Spanish]
[traffic honking]
[radio announcer
speaking Spanish]
[cars honking]
[crowd murmuring]
[cheering]
[woman vocalizing]
[announcer speaking Spanish]
[Elena speaking Italian]
[cheering]
It was literally
like a wave hitting you.
You thought it would
knock you off your feet.
I was used to only
six people watching you.
I had to shake meself,
pinch meself.
And it wasn't just young kids.
It was men, grown men.
[speaking Spanish]
[crowd roaring]
[announcer speaking Spanish]
CROWD: Rah, rah, rah!
[Silvia speaking Spanish]
[female announcer
speaking Spanish]
[crowd chanting]
[male announcer
speaking Spanish]
[Elba speaking Spanish]
CROWD: Mxico! Mxico!
Rah, rah, rah!
[male announcer
speaking Spanish]
Goal, goal, goal, goal!
CROWD: Bum, bum!
Bim, bum, bah!
[Elba speaking Spanish]
[male announcer
speaking Spanish]
[crowd booing]
[Silvia speaking Spanish]
SILVIA:
Chiquitibumalabimbumba.
CROWD: Bim, bum, bah!
Mxico! Mxico!
Rah, rah, rah!
[energetic music playing]
[male announcer
speaking Spanish]
[Silvia speaking Spanish]
[soft music playing]
[Elba speaking Spanish]
[announcer speaking Spanish]
[rock beat playing]
We used to train
in the morning at 7:00.
Even then, there was about 300
or 400 children watching us.
Hey
Hey
The training was
physically hard,
because it got so hot.
The altitude was
just, um, wow...
It was real tough
circuit training.
The physicality of it,
just absolutely loved it.
[overlapping chatter]
TRUDY: Carol was
a hard taskmaster.
She really put us
through out paces every day.
To be captain,
I think you've got to take
some responsibility
for the team, you know.
You've got to try
and pull them together.
[whistle blows]
And if there's any nerves,
you gotta try and settle them.
I didn't see Argentina
as a threat to us.
Little did we know
what was to come.
[whistle blows]
[female announcer
speaking Spanish]
[male announcer
speaking Spanish]
[Elba speaking Spanish]
You've got to literally
pull yourself together
and give yourself
a good talking-to.
'Cause this is it.
There's no second run.
[male announcer
speaking Spanish]
When we scored, my feet
didn't hit the ground
for about three seconds.
I was up in the air.
There was no question
about the fact that
we weren't going away.
[crowd chanting]
[female announcer
speaking Spanish]
CAROL: We all underestimated
the Argentinean team.
[female announcer
speaking Spanish]
[dramatic music playing]
[male announcer
speaking Spanish]
Goal, goal!
I can remember
being very despondent.
It's not
the scenario we planned.
[crowd chanting]
[Elba speaking Spanish]
[crowd chanting]
[male announcer
speaking Spanish]
[insects chirping]
BIRTE: We're in Mexico City
for 14 days.
And then we went in an old bus
across the Mexican country.
ANN: To Guadalajara,
where we are going to play
the two first games.
[mellow music playing]
But the bus breaks down
in the desert.
And we didn't know what to do.
[insects chirping]
But then the Italian team
came back for us.
The Italian team
has a new bus.
With air conditioned,
everything.
And they brought us
to Guadalajara.
[crowd cheering]
[Nicole speaking French]
[laughs]
[sighs]
The games that were
in Guadalajara,
they were live on TV.
[whistle blows]
TRUDY: Never seen women
playing on TV at all.
First time you saw it,
it was just like, "Wow."
You couldn't believe
what you were seeing.
Was just brilliant.
[speaking Spanish]
[crowd cheering]
We won 3-0,
and, uh, we were quite happy
about the result.
[Nicole speaking French]
[Elena speaking Italian]
[crowd cheering]
[male announcer
speaking Spanish]
[female announcer
speaking Spanish]
JANICE: Drove down
this steep slope.
And the nerves were going,
you know.
We could-- couldn't really
hear all of the sound,
so we had no idea
what it was like out there.
[crowd roaring]
CAROL: The noise...
was just...
I'll never forget it.
[male announcer
speaking Spanish]
[Martha Coronado
speaking Spanish]
- [energetic music playing]
- [whistle blows]
[female announcer
speaking Spanish]
[male announcer
speaking Spanish]
[Silvia speaking Spanish]
[male announcer
speaking Spanish]
[crowd cheering]
It was hard.
It was the altitude.
It was the heat.
It was the different level.
[male announcer
speaking Spanish]
It was very...
very, very, very physical.
[female announcer
speaking Spanish]
[whistle blows]
[male announcer
speaking Spanish]
Carol ended up in--
with her leg in plaster.
CAROL: And it was a-- a bone
in my foot that was broken.
[male announcer
speaking Spanish]
[female announcer
speaking Spanish]
[crowd roaring]
[speaking Spanish]
[male announcer
speaking Spanish]
[Silvia speaking Spanish]
[female announcer
speaking Spanish]
[male announcer
speaking Spanish]
TRUDY: It was devastating.
It was devastating
when we lost.
And most of us were
pretty much reduced to tears.
[somber music playing]
Sadly, that's how it was.
Nevertheless, getting
that far on a world stage,
we achieved something.
[fans cheering]
And when we got back
to the hotel,
some children had made
a little placard
to say that we might
have lost the game,
but you've won
the hearts of Mexico,
so crikey.
[applause]
CAROL: The whole
of the Mexican team
came over to our hotel
to give their condolences
and wish us well.
Feeling was we wanted
to stay out there
until the final was over.
Fire
Fire in my...
We did an awful lot of things.
We did tours.
We opened shops.
...hold my hand,
my heart can't beat...
We went to dinners.
Each embassy put on a party.
Every time
you look me in my eye
My heart, it'd melt...
[Maurizia Ciceri
speaking Italian]
Fire in my baby's heart
[speaking Italian]
...is much too strong
It freeze the marrow...
BIRTE: We had so much fun
around our training
and our matches.
Fire...
When we were walking
on the streets,
shopping or buying souvenirs,
we also, every time,
have a big crowd around us,
making auto-- autographs.
ANN: It's a lot
of different stories.
It's not only about football.
To be in a tournament
dedicated to women,
in the beginning, we didn't
think that much about it.
But during the tournament,
we felt that it was important
for women all over the world
to see that this was possible.
Fire in my baby's heart
Yeah, set my soul aflame
Fire
Fire...
Copa 1971 is a huge success.
It's got unbelievable
levels of press coverage.
It demonstrated clearly
the commercial potential,
and so that is worrying
for FIFA.
"Gah. You know, this is just
the tip of the iceberg,
isn't it?"
The immediate reaction
is like all wounded men,
negative, violent,
and aggressive.
So the call begins
to go out from FIFA.
"If there's a women's football
association in your country,
you need to find a way
of actually controlling it."
It's about authority,
and it's about who's the boss.
It's both a gender issue,
and it's a control issue.
[siren blaring]
[traffic honking]
[Elena speaking Italian]
[camera shutter clicks]
[speaking Italian]
[Maurizia speaking Italian]
[Daniela speaking Italian]
[Martha speaking Spanish]
[male announcer
speaking Spanish]
[whistle blows]
[female announcer
speaking Spanish]
[male announcer
speaking Spanish]
[crowd groans]
[speaking Italian]
[female announcer
speaking Spanish]
[male announcer
speaking Spanish]
[speaking Italian]
[booing]
[speaking Spanish]
[male announcer
speaking Spanish]
[female announcer
speaking Spanish]
[Silvia speaking Spanish]
[male announcer
speaking Spanish]
[crowd cheering]
[female announcer
speaking Spanish]
[speaking Italian]
[male announcer
speaking Spanish]
[speaking Italian]
[male announcer
speaking Spanish]
[female announcer
speaking Spanish]
[Daniela speaking Italian]
[whistle blows]
[speaking Spanish]
[male announcer
speaking Spanish]
[speaking Spanish]
S?
[speaking Italian]
[male announcer
speaking Spanish]
[Elena speaking Italian]
[Silvia speaking Spanish]
[male announcer
speaking Spanish]
[speaking Italian]
[hard rock music playing]
[Maurizia speaking Italian]
[female announcer
speaking Spanish]
[speaking Italian]
[male announcer
speaking Spanish]
[crowd cheering]
BIRTE: We play against
Argentina in the semi-final.
We won 5-0.
Now Mexico and Denmark
are going to meet each other
in the final.
[traffic honking]
People in the city came
to our hotel in the night.
[crowd chant]
[traffic honking]
Sitting on top of the cars
with a Mexican flag,
and they cry, "Mexico!
Mexico! Rah, rah, rah!"
[crowd chanting]
Mxico! Mxico!
BIRTE: And the whole night,
they drove around our hotel.
We couldn't sleep.
Then the Danish
embassy arranged
that we could go and sleep
with Danish families
in Mexico City.
That was very nice.
[crowd chanting]
Bim, bum, bah!
Mxico! Mxico!
Rah, rah, rah!
And the next day,
Mexico said,
"We will not play the match."
[speaking Spanish]
[Elvira speaking Spanish]
It's only logical
for women to say, "Okay,
why aren't we
being paid for this?"
"There's sponsorship.
"Tickets are being sold.
"Somebody else's pocket
is getting quite full.
We should also
be getting paid for this."
[tense music playing]
[Elvira speaking Spanish]
MARION: The first step towards
independence is having money.
When women start to ask
for money for your work,
there tends to be
a very big resistance.
"You're greedy.
You're ambitious.
You don't want to help out."
[Elvira speaking Spanish]
MARION: These women were
challenging so many norms.
I don't think
they had much of an idea
of what they were
culturally doing
or the significance
of their acts.
They just translated
into something
that was, uh, transgressive,
and they were being
incredibly brave at the time.
[siren passing]
[speaking Spanish]
[traffic honking]
[announcer speaking Spanish]
We took off in our very,
very, very, very old bus.
In the front...
- Police.
- ...police.
Uh, the motorbike. Rr-rr.
Blue light and everything.
[siren blares]
On every corner,
there was a policeman
standing with a motorbike
and talking
in his br-br-br-br-br.
[radio static]
That was very exciting.
We sat there. "Oh, oh, oh,
that's us coming here."
[crowd murmuring]
[dramatic music playing]
[male announcer
speaking Spanish]
[speaking Spanish]
[crowd chanting]
[speaking Spanish]
[crowd chanting]
The atmosphere was electric.
It was-- It was amazing.
[speaking French]
[Maurizia speaking Italian]
[Daniela speaking Italian]
[male announcer
speaking Spanish]
When we go up to the field,
you hardly see the sky,
because it's so big.
[crowd cheering]
BIRTE: We couldn't
speak to each other,
because the crowd around
the field was so excited.
ANN: We go around the field
waving to people.
We are not nervous.
And we are smiling,
and, uh, we are not--
It looks happy.
- Yeah.
- Yeah.
BIRTE: And we were happy.
[tranquil music playing]
[muted chanting]
[Alicia speaking Spanish]
[heart beating]
[Silvia speaking Spanish]
[whistle blows]
[female announcer
speaking Spanish]
[crowd roars]
[Silvia speaking Spanish]
[male announcer
speaking Spanish]
Early in the game,
the Mexicans
had some few big
opportunities to go.
[male announcer
speaking Spanish]
ANN: But we felt confident.
[female announcer
speaking Spanish]
The Mexican players
was, uh, not so high.
[male announcer
speaking Spanish]
[crowd roaring]
ANN: Alicia Vargas,
she was a good player,
a very good technique.
When we focus on her,
it was easier
to shut down their play.
[female announcer
speaking Spanish]
[male announcer
speaking Spanish]
[crowd groans]
[male announcer
speaking Spanish]
[Elvira speaking Spanish]
[male announcer
speaking Spanish]
[female announcer
speaking Spanish]
[crowd groans]
[male announcer
speaking Spanish]
[Elvira speaking Spanish]
[Martha speaking Spanish]
[whistle blows]
[female announcer
speaking Spanish]
[male announcer
speaking Spanish]
[female announcer
speaking Spanish]
[male announcer
speaking Spanish]
[Elvira speaking Spanish]
[male announcer
speaking Spanish]
[female announcer
speaking Spanish]
[female announcer
speaking Spanish]
[Elvira speaking Spanish]
[male announcer
speaking Spanish]
[crowd roars]
[female announcer
speaking Spanish]
[female announcer
speaking Spanish]
- You are a team. Yeah.
- A team.
And we had one goal together.
- Winning the World Cup.
- Yes.
[female announcer
speaking Spanish]
[tragic music playing]
[whistle blows]
[male announcer
speaking Spanish]
[Silvia speaking Spanish]
[crowd cheering]
[female announcer
speaking Spanish]
ANN: We just were so happy.
[male announcer
speaking Spanish]
Yeah, it was
an angel with wings.
- And below it.
- Yes.
Standing on the Earth.
- Yeah.
- Yes.
[female announcer
speaking Spanish]
BIRTE: Captain was standing
there and got this trophy.
And she was not so high.
I sai-- Oh, we said,
"Oh, nobody can see her."
- And then we lifted her up.
- So we lifted her. Yeah.
Yes, because they had to see.
And then she sat there
with the trophy.
[crowd chanting]
Proud.
- I think we were proud.
- Yes.
It was the highest point,
uh, ever and forever.
CHRIS: Whenever they said
about women's football,
it was always
a negative thing,
and there was no interest.
Nobody would sponsor it.
Crowds wouldn't come.
[woman vocalizing]
The final, it had the lot.
Crowd were there.
The sponsorship was
all 'round on the ground.
So we thought, "This is it.
"This is it now.
"Women's football's got it,
and it's on the map."
[woman vocalizing]
[soft music playing]
[cheering]
When we came back,
there was a lot of press
and photographs.
- [camera shutters clicking]
- [crowd cheering]
We were
in the Danish television.
And then... [blows]
Then nothing else.
[music ends]
I was so naive that I thought
we can go on
from the spot where we were
and build up.
But the men said, "Uh-uh.
No, no. There has been
enough publicity about women."
They took a piece of rubber
and did so.
[whoosh]
Now we start from scratch.
Maybe they envy us,
this success.
The men didn't do it,
and, uh, we did it,
win the World Championship.
Why couldn't they use, uh,
our success to build on?
Why?
I don't understand it.
Do you understand it?
No?
[laughs] No?
Because we are women.
Yeah. Because we are women,
we are so stupid,
we don't understand.
Maybe we must
not play football.
[bell pealing]
[Alicia speaking Spanish]
[jet engines roaring]
We arrived at the airport,
and I can't remember
seeing one photographer there.
TRUDY: Nobody there
to meet you.
No bunches of flowers.
No invitations to parties.
Nobody really
wanting to know you.
It was less than
the one man and his dog
who used to turn out
and play--
and see us play
on our Sundays.
And then we found out
we got banned.
Because when we got banned,
inside ourselves it--
we were shamed.
We never spoke about it.
Never spoke about it.
DAVID: And thus
women's football,
despite the incredible
energies of the era,
is crushed.
Football associations
hold the monopoly
over organized football.
And the threat is
to their control of the game.
It's about power and money,
and it's about defending
those things
for an exclusively
male population.
[soft music playing]
CAROL: I was invited to go
to a dinner
with Newcastle United,
so I said to me dad,
"Hey, Dad, do you wanna come?"
- [thumps on microphone]
- [feedback]
I was invited up on the stage
by this comper.
He said, "Oh,
we've got a big superstar
"in the audience tonight.
"We've got Carol Wilson.
She's captain
of the England's lady team."
And it was a huge build-up.
[applause]
But the minute
I got on the stage,
he did nothing but rip
women's football apart.
[laughter]
Everybody was laughing,
and I was humiliated.
I come off the stage,
and me first words
to me dad were,
"No, I'm finished
with football.
I'm finished."
And I didn't even speak
to any of the girls
'til nearly 50 years later.
Yeah, that's the story.
That's the story.
[whistle blows]
I saw a little bit
of confusion.
Yeah, around here.
Go! Go! Go! Yeah!
- Here! Here!
- Yeah.
Good cross.
BRANDI:
When I was growing up,
I didn't ever dream
of playing in a World Cup.
I never thought about playing
in the Olympic Games.
Because they didn't exist.
I knew nothing of Copa 1971.
No one had ever spoken a word
about this
tremendous tournament.
Ashamed to say that,
but it's true.
It's incredible
that there was an event
that occurred like this,
of this magnitude.
The fact
that women soccer players
who, like myself, have been
playing at the top of my game
and playing for my country,
um, for 13, 14 years,
have never heard of that,
um, it's just unacceptable.
This is just intentional,
to hide women's football.
Knowing the story of 1971 now,
seeing the stadium, and
watching them on the field,
I-I feel this closeness.
Because without them,
'91 may not have happened.
From '91 to the World Cup,
to '96,
the first Olympic Games...
[crowd cheering]
...to then 1999...
Goal!
...and the exponential growth
of women's football...
Yes, we play sports.
Yes, we play soccer.
Yes, we're female athletes.
But we're so much more
than that.
[crowd cheering]
Perception of women's soccer
has changed dramatically.
We have a thriving domestic
league here in the U.S.
and in many other countries.
[dramatic music playing]
No, we're not done.
We're never done, ever.
BRANDI: Honestly,
the women in 1971
and the women in 2023,
we're no different
from each other.
Those women, they're warriors.
[overlapping chatter]
It's up to us
to tell the stories,
to make sure
that history is right.
Because now I can say--
When people say,
"Thank you so much
for starting what you did,"
I'll say, "Oh, no.
"I have some women
to tell you about.
You don't know them,
but you will."
[crowd cheering]
Actually believe that,
along with many others,
we paved the way
for what it's become today.
They're no stopping us now.
[crowd roaring]
Bim bum bah!
Mxico! Mxico!
Rah, rah, rah!
[Elvira speaking Spanish]
[Elena speaking Italian]
[Elba speaking Spanish]
[Silvia speaking Spanish]
[Nicole speaking French]
[dramatic music playing]
[crowd cheering]
[woman vocalizing]
[vocalizing ends]
[cheering fades]
["You Lit My Fire"
by Ane Brun playing]
Mm, mm
Mm, mm
Mm, mm
They changed our game
I want to kiss the feet
of all those women
Spray my body in gold
Engrave myself
with their names
Ohh ohh
Oh oh oh ohh
Stand tall in awe
To the freedom
That they gave to us
And never, ever forget
No, I will
never, ever forget
Oh oh oh ohh
Now we are all alone
We are all alone in debt
[vocalizing]
And nothing
can hold me back
Ooh, you lit my fire
Mm, mm
Mm, mm
And nothing
can hold me back
Ooh, you lit my fire
Mm, mm
Mm, mm, mm
[vocalizing]
We take their struggle
For granted
We are blinded
By this taste of power
Forsaking our sisters
and brothers
Ohh
Oh oh oh, ohh
This fight goes on
Ohh
For the freedom
That we can't
- Ohh
- Give up
And never, ever forget
No, I will
never, ever forget
Ohh
Now we are all alone
Now we are
all alone in debt
And nothing
can hold me back
Ooh, you lit my fire
Mm, mm
Mm, mm, mm, ahh
And nothing
can hold me back
Ooh, you lit my fire
- Mm, mm
- Said you lit my fire
Mm, mm, mm
Ohh
And nothing
can hold me back
Ooh, you lit my fire
- Nothing can hold me back
- Mm, mm
- Nothing can hold me back
- Ooh, you lit my fire
Nothing can hold me back
And nothing
can hold me back
- Ooh, you lit my fire
- Nothing can hold me back
- Ooh, you lit my fire
- Mm, mm
- Nothing can hold me back
- Nothing can hold me back
Nothing can hold me back
And nothing
can hold me back
Ooh, you lit my fire
- Nothing can hold me back
- Ooh, you lit my fire
- Nothing can hold me back
- Ohh
Nothing can hold me back
And nothing
can hold me back
- Ooh, you lit my fire
- Ooh, you lit my fire
- Nothing can hold me back
- Mm, mm
Nothing can hold me back
Nothing can hold me back
And nothing
can hold me back
Ooh, you lit my fire
- Nothing can hold me back
- Mm, mm
- Nothing can hold me back
- Mm, mm
- Nothing can hold me back
- Mm, mm
Nothing can hold me back
[instrumental playing]
[woman vocalizing]
[music ends]
[dog barks]
[film projector whirring]
[birds chirping]
INTERVIEWER: Do you
know what we're here
to talk about today, Brandi?
BRANDI: Women's soccer.
Well, specifically about
the first Women's World Cup,
which was when?
And you were there, right?
Representing the U.S.A.?
I've actually got something
I'd quite like you to watch.
Okay.
[crowd cheering]
That's a massive stadium.
It's a men's football match?
It's women's football.
What?
Okay, this is
women's football.
What year was this?
This is unbelievable.
[announcer speaking Spanish]
Goal!
[crowd cheering]
Why didn't I know about this?
It makes me very happy and...
quite infuriated,
to be honest with you.
I mean...
I-I'm almost
at a loss for words.
[soft music playing]
[crowd cheers]
[muted chanting]
SERENA WILLIAMS:
Once in a while,
you come across a story
that has to be seen
to be believed.
Mexico City, 1971.
A global tournament
of unprecedented scale
is about to begin.
[drumbeats echoing]
But despite
the record-breaking crowds,
you'll find no mention
of this event
in any official history.
And the film footage
has been hidden
for over 50 years.
Why?
Because all the players
on the pitch...
are women.
[crowd cheering]
["I Feel the Earth Move"
by Carole King playing]
I feel the earth move
Under my feet
I feel the sky
tumblin' down
- I feel my heart...
- [announcer speaking Spanish]
[speaking Spanish]
[speaking French]
I feel the earth move
under my feet
Feel the sky tumblin' down,
tumblin' down
I feel the earth move
under my feet...
[speaking Spanish]
I feel the earth move...
[announcer speaking Spanish]
Feel the sky tumblin' down,
tumblin' down
I just lose control...
Tears rolled down me cheeks,
and I remember thinking,
"I'm never gonna see
anything like this again."
I feel the Earth
move under my feet
I feel the sky...
[speaking Italian]
[announcer speaking Spanish]
Goal!
Tumblin' down
[crowd cheering]
Tumblin' down
[announcer speaking Spanish]
Goal!
CAROL: We didn't
even speak about it
'til nearly 50 years later.
[crowd cheering]
[soft music playing]
CAROL: When I was
about five or six,
my dad took me
down to Newcastle.
It was freezing cold.
And the snow, it was comin'
up to the top of me Wellys.
And we got the park,
and it was a Saturday.
All of a sudden,
I heard this massive roar.
[crowd cheering]
And it sank the life
out of me.
"What was that?
What was that?
What was that noise?"
My dad said,
"They're playing football."
It was euphoric.
And I thought, "One day,
that's what I want to do."
[crowd chants]
But all through school,
and we were never allowed
to play football, ever.
- [ball bounces]
- Netball...
hockey...
anything but football.
[bell pealing]
[street chatter]
[speaking Spanish]
[speaking Italian]
Allez.
[speaking Italian]
[laughs]
[children speaking Italian]
[speaking French]
[crowd cheering]
[scoffs]
[early 20th century music
playing]
DAVID GOLDBLATT:
To understand the reasons
for the resistance
to women's football,
one has to go back
to the 19th century.
Right from the beginning,
there's a real energy
for women's football.
And, in England, by 1917,
you have perhaps 100 clubs.
And the numbers
are building and building.
[crowd cheering]
But then many doctors
start publishing articles
in very reputable journals
saying football
is dangerous for women.
"This is bad
for women's health
and their wombs
and their ovaries."
And so, in 1921,
the English
Football Association
says to all of its members,
"If you allow women
to use your facilities,
"you will be
banned and excluded
from the Football
Association."
[somber music playing]
Immediately, a lot of European
football associations follow,
and in Italy and Brazil,
it becomes a criminal offense
for women to play football.
Women's football
carried on being played,
but it's being forced
to the margins.
It's almost invisible.
[jet engine roaring]
ANNOUNCER:
The first thing that hits you
about an operational
fighter station is the noise.
CAROL: When I left school,
you were expected
to get married,
settle down, have kids,
and cook.
[chuckles] That's about it.
I didn't want to do that,
so I joined the Air Force.
I thought, "I bet
if I join the Air Force,
I'll be able
to play football there."
[overlapping chatter]
At lunchtime, I used to play
five-a-side with the lads.
This one day, I saw a load
of girls starting to play
in the next five-a-side.
I was looking and looking.
I thought,
"They're playing football."
And I was gob-smacked,
'cause I had not
seen this before.
On a field, girls playing.
Here it is. [laughs]
There they are.
Where have you been
all me life?
Yeah.
Yeah, it was definitely
a case of that.
Welcome to the Memorial Park,
Coventry,
where a local derby
is in progress.
["These Boots Are Made
for Walking" playing]
This is ladies' football.
Who wouldn't be happy
going through the sixties?
[chuckles]
It was a revolution.
You keep sayin'
you got somethin' for me
[protestors yelling]
Something you call love,
but confess
You been a-messin'
Where you shouldn't
have been messin'
- [whistle blows]
- Congratulations, Trudy.
What's a nice girl
like you doing
playing football, though?
What's wrong
with playing football?
Well, it's a man's game,
isn't it?
No. Sport's for everybody.
And that's
just what they'll do...
Why are you so mad keen
on football?
Why don't you play hockey
or something like that?
Well, it's always
been football
since I was about three.
Up and down the country,
ladies in proper football gear
all playing different teams.
Yeah...
REPORTER: This match
was played soon after
the Football Association
had been nagged
into allowing women's teams
to play on affiliated grounds.
TRUDY:
Just the most amazing time.
And you keep losing
when you ought to not bet
You keep saming when you
ought to be a-changing...
[speaking Italian]
One of these days,
these boots...
[speaking Italian]
You keep playin' where
you shouldn't be playin'...
I think our society,
was a very big step
- Mm-hmm.
- to be accepted.
Hah
I just found me...
ANN: I can knit,
and I can use a chain saw.
But, you know, I don't want
to be put in a box.
BIRTE: We didn't play football
because we want
to attack the men.
I played football because
I like to play football.
And that's
just what they'll do
One of these days
These boots are gonna
walk all over you
[speaking Spanish]
[dancers chatting]
Are you ready, boots?
Start walking
[players cheering]
[speaking Spanish]
[crowd chatting]
[film projector whirring]
[speaking French]
[crowd murmuring]
[speaking French]
[speaking French]
You must have the mickey
taken out of you quite a lot.
Do you get accused
of being a tomboy
- or something like that?
- Yes.
What's your reaction to that?
I don't care.
In England, there was
no newspaper coverage,
apart from people
making horrible comments.
They weren't
particularly interested
or in favor
of women playing football.
Barriers seemed to be
people in authority
and not necessarily
"people" in authority,
now, to be clear about it.
It was men in authority.
I had decided that, uh,
if I am re-elected,
that I'd propose a president
to act, say, for four years.
DAVID: In the late 1960s,
all the people who run
football, they're all men.
And FIFA, the governing body
of global football,
has a fundamentally
and profoundly
conservative outlook
on the world.
They think that basically
women's football
is a disreputable,
immoral, immodest activity.
They still come
to the idea of football
as an exclusively
masculine space
for celebrating
masculine virtues.
[crowd cheering]
[carnival music playing]
MARION REIMERS: In 1970,
Mexico hosted
the men's World Cup.
And it was just magnetic.
[crowd gasps]
The Estadio Azteca was
an architectural marvel.
It was the first World Cup
that was transmitted in color.
ANNOUNCER: And Pel!
Well, it had to be Pel.
ANN: We see the final
in the men's World Cup
was very impressive.
A very special dream
to go on the same ground.
Yeah. You know,
we all have crazy dreams,
but, uh, not all come true.
Not... [laughs]
Carlos Alberto's
coming up on his right!
Oh, magnificent!
Magnificent!
MARION: When you organize
an event like the World Cup,
that meant that the eyes
of the world were on you.
[soft music playing]
So businessmen who want
to keep making money
said, given the infrastructure
already there,
"Why don't we try
something else?"
"Why don't we try
a women's World Cup?"
[Elvira speaking Spanish]
Obviously there is
a lot of resistance.
FIFA was not behind it.
The Mexican Federation
was not behind it,
let alone the rest
of the federations.
REENACTOR: "Dear Professor...
"As there is...
"no official world recognition
of women's soccer
"and therefore
no world-governing body,
"this Association
does not recognize
"the tournament
being run in Mexico City
as the World Cup
of women's soccer."
[crowd chatter]
TRUDY: The manager of
my local team was Harry Batt.
HARRY: I told you this before.
For God's sake, don't all
fall back in defense.
I want you
to keep on the pass.
He just had big plans for
ladies' football in general.
And Harry didn't play
by the F.A. rules.
Attack is
the best form of defense.
Now, then, off you go, girls.
He had been talking
for a while
about the Copa del Mundo.
CAROL: There was no official
English team at that point,
because they had
just had the ban lifted.
So it just sounded like there
wasn't a possibility
that it was gonna happen.
But Harry was really
forward-thinking in his ideas,
and he traveled
around the country
to scout players
for the team.
And he wasn't shy
of going out and hustling.
CAROL: One day,
we'd just finished
training at the ground,
and Harry calls us over,
and he said, "Girls,
I got something to tell you."
And I thought
it was really bad news.
He said, "Martini Rossi
are gonna sponsor us
to go to Mexico to play
in the World Cup Final."
Oh, God.
Me legs were like jelly.
[laughs]
["I've got the Music in Me"
by The Kiki Dee Band playing]
[camera shutter clicks]
[speaking French]
Ain't got no trouble
in my life
No foolish dream
to make me cry
I'm never frightened
or worried
I know I'll always get by
[Elba speaking Spanish]
I heat up
Heat up
I cool down...
ANN: We were unofficial,
of course.
No, uh, support from Danish
Football Association at all.
So we had to do it ourselves,
with support from friends
and families.
...that I found it
Don't let life...
Getting on that plane
was, like, surreal.
Gonna take it...
None of us had been on a plane
before, not any of us.
I got the music in me
I got the music in me
I got the music in me
Yeah...
To go somewhere like that,
and for ordinary,
working-class girls,
it was a dream.
[announcer speaking Spanish]
[chime dings]
Got to Mexico,
and they pull a ladder up,
and the doors open.
And all these
flash lights went off.
[bulbs pop]
Just light, light everywhere.
You couldn't see.
Words in my head,
so I say them...
And I said, "There's someone
famous on this plane."
Catch a hold
of my blues...
But it was us.
I got the music in me
I got the music in me
I got the music in me...
Going from England,
where women were frowned upon
for playing football,
to go somewhere like that
and see other countries even.
I got the music in me
- Feel funky
- Whoo!
- Feel good
- Whoo...
It was like
a parallel universe.
I'm in the neighborhood
Gonna fly like
a bird on the wing...
[speaking Italian]
And just play them
I got the music in me
I got the music in me
I got the music in me
Yeah
I got the music in me...
[Elba speaking Spanish]
Coming out of the airport,
and it was lined,
just lined and lined and
lined and lined with people.
Play them...
And they was throwing things
at the coach.
I got the music in me
I got the music in me...
We thought they were
trying to get us.
I got the music in me...
But what they were doing
was throwing presents
in the window for us.
I got the music in me
I got the music in me
I got the music in me...
We'd landed in a world
that we didn't know.
Me
DAVID: Of course
FIFA and the officials
look at this
as a kind of disgrace.
They don't like
anything about it.
They don't like the fact
that somebody else
is taking their name,
the "World Cup."
You add to it that it's
a women's World Cup.
That's ringing
a lot of alarm bells.
And so FIFA say to the Mexican
Football Federation,
"If you use these stadiums
for women's football,
we're gonna fine you,
we're gonna ban you."
So instead of going to
the small provincial stadiums,
they force the tournament
into two of the largest
stadiums in Mexico,
the Jalisco...
and the Azteca...
places that the Football
Association does not control.
The dominant Mexican
media group owns them.
[men murmuring]
But to fill 110,000
in the Azteca,
the organizers have to go
all out to promote this thing.
And that's what they did.
Through all of their, uh,
magazines, their television,
their radio, their newspapers.
[feedback warbles]
Time, weather, and...
[traffic honking]
["I've Got What You Need"
by Mary Jane Hooper playing]
[speaking French]
I've got
what you need, boy
Can you take it?
We have a photographer
attached to us the whole time.
I've got
what you need, boy
Can you take it?
And if I give you
what you want, baby
Could you make it?
I'm tellin' you
that I got...
Uh, we're really gonna
stress the feminine angle.
Uh, women who play soccer
are not
muscular monstrosities,
no, but, like,
generally pretty girls.
If we don't come my way...
Then medias follow our trip
very close,
and the papers
write a lot of things.
Yeah, yeah,
can you dig it...
There will be,
uh, beauty salons
in the dressing rooms.
Hey, yeah
Now, what you want, baby
I got it...
Uniforms will be as close
as possible to hot pants.
It's natural.
The combination
of the passions
of most men around the world,
soccer and women.
I've got
what you need, boy
Can you take it?
[traffic honking]
[Silvia speaking Spanish]
[Elvira speaking Spanish]
[traffic honking]
[radio announcer
speaking Spanish]
[cars honking]
[crowd murmuring]
[cheering]
[woman vocalizing]
[announcer speaking Spanish]
[Elena speaking Italian]
[cheering]
It was literally
like a wave hitting you.
You thought it would
knock you off your feet.
I was used to only
six people watching you.
I had to shake meself,
pinch meself.
And it wasn't just young kids.
It was men, grown men.
[speaking Spanish]
[crowd roaring]
[announcer speaking Spanish]
CROWD: Rah, rah, rah!
[Silvia speaking Spanish]
[female announcer
speaking Spanish]
[crowd chanting]
[male announcer
speaking Spanish]
[Elba speaking Spanish]
CROWD: Mxico! Mxico!
Rah, rah, rah!
[male announcer
speaking Spanish]
Goal, goal, goal, goal!
CROWD: Bum, bum!
Bim, bum, bah!
[Elba speaking Spanish]
[male announcer
speaking Spanish]
[crowd booing]
[Silvia speaking Spanish]
SILVIA:
Chiquitibumalabimbumba.
CROWD: Bim, bum, bah!
Mxico! Mxico!
Rah, rah, rah!
[energetic music playing]
[male announcer
speaking Spanish]
[Silvia speaking Spanish]
[soft music playing]
[Elba speaking Spanish]
[announcer speaking Spanish]
[rock beat playing]
We used to train
in the morning at 7:00.
Even then, there was about 300
or 400 children watching us.
Hey
Hey
The training was
physically hard,
because it got so hot.
The altitude was
just, um, wow...
It was real tough
circuit training.
The physicality of it,
just absolutely loved it.
[overlapping chatter]
TRUDY: Carol was
a hard taskmaster.
She really put us
through out paces every day.
To be captain,
I think you've got to take
some responsibility
for the team, you know.
You've got to try
and pull them together.
[whistle blows]
And if there's any nerves,
you gotta try and settle them.
I didn't see Argentina
as a threat to us.
Little did we know
what was to come.
[whistle blows]
[female announcer
speaking Spanish]
[male announcer
speaking Spanish]
[Elba speaking Spanish]
You've got to literally
pull yourself together
and give yourself
a good talking-to.
'Cause this is it.
There's no second run.
[male announcer
speaking Spanish]
When we scored, my feet
didn't hit the ground
for about three seconds.
I was up in the air.
There was no question
about the fact that
we weren't going away.
[crowd chanting]
[female announcer
speaking Spanish]
CAROL: We all underestimated
the Argentinean team.
[female announcer
speaking Spanish]
[dramatic music playing]
[male announcer
speaking Spanish]
Goal, goal!
I can remember
being very despondent.
It's not
the scenario we planned.
[crowd chanting]
[Elba speaking Spanish]
[crowd chanting]
[male announcer
speaking Spanish]
[insects chirping]
BIRTE: We're in Mexico City
for 14 days.
And then we went in an old bus
across the Mexican country.
ANN: To Guadalajara,
where we are going to play
the two first games.
[mellow music playing]
But the bus breaks down
in the desert.
And we didn't know what to do.
[insects chirping]
But then the Italian team
came back for us.
The Italian team
has a new bus.
With air conditioned,
everything.
And they brought us
to Guadalajara.
[crowd cheering]
[Nicole speaking French]
[laughs]
[sighs]
The games that were
in Guadalajara,
they were live on TV.
[whistle blows]
TRUDY: Never seen women
playing on TV at all.
First time you saw it,
it was just like, "Wow."
You couldn't believe
what you were seeing.
Was just brilliant.
[speaking Spanish]
[crowd cheering]
We won 3-0,
and, uh, we were quite happy
about the result.
[Nicole speaking French]
[Elena speaking Italian]
[crowd cheering]
[male announcer
speaking Spanish]
[female announcer
speaking Spanish]
JANICE: Drove down
this steep slope.
And the nerves were going,
you know.
We could-- couldn't really
hear all of the sound,
so we had no idea
what it was like out there.
[crowd roaring]
CAROL: The noise...
was just...
I'll never forget it.
[male announcer
speaking Spanish]
[Martha Coronado
speaking Spanish]
- [energetic music playing]
- [whistle blows]
[female announcer
speaking Spanish]
[male announcer
speaking Spanish]
[Silvia speaking Spanish]
[male announcer
speaking Spanish]
[crowd cheering]
It was hard.
It was the altitude.
It was the heat.
It was the different level.
[male announcer
speaking Spanish]
It was very...
very, very, very physical.
[female announcer
speaking Spanish]
[whistle blows]
[male announcer
speaking Spanish]
Carol ended up in--
with her leg in plaster.
CAROL: And it was a-- a bone
in my foot that was broken.
[male announcer
speaking Spanish]
[female announcer
speaking Spanish]
[crowd roaring]
[speaking Spanish]
[male announcer
speaking Spanish]
[Silvia speaking Spanish]
[female announcer
speaking Spanish]
[male announcer
speaking Spanish]
TRUDY: It was devastating.
It was devastating
when we lost.
And most of us were
pretty much reduced to tears.
[somber music playing]
Sadly, that's how it was.
Nevertheless, getting
that far on a world stage,
we achieved something.
[fans cheering]
And when we got back
to the hotel,
some children had made
a little placard
to say that we might
have lost the game,
but you've won
the hearts of Mexico,
so crikey.
[applause]
CAROL: The whole
of the Mexican team
came over to our hotel
to give their condolences
and wish us well.
Feeling was we wanted
to stay out there
until the final was over.
Fire
Fire in my...
We did an awful lot of things.
We did tours.
We opened shops.
...hold my hand,
my heart can't beat...
We went to dinners.
Each embassy put on a party.
Every time
you look me in my eye
My heart, it'd melt...
[Maurizia Ciceri
speaking Italian]
Fire in my baby's heart
[speaking Italian]
...is much too strong
It freeze the marrow...
BIRTE: We had so much fun
around our training
and our matches.
Fire...
When we were walking
on the streets,
shopping or buying souvenirs,
we also, every time,
have a big crowd around us,
making auto-- autographs.
ANN: It's a lot
of different stories.
It's not only about football.
To be in a tournament
dedicated to women,
in the beginning, we didn't
think that much about it.
But during the tournament,
we felt that it was important
for women all over the world
to see that this was possible.
Fire in my baby's heart
Yeah, set my soul aflame
Fire
Fire...
Copa 1971 is a huge success.
It's got unbelievable
levels of press coverage.
It demonstrated clearly
the commercial potential,
and so that is worrying
for FIFA.
"Gah. You know, this is just
the tip of the iceberg,
isn't it?"
The immediate reaction
is like all wounded men,
negative, violent,
and aggressive.
So the call begins
to go out from FIFA.
"If there's a women's football
association in your country,
you need to find a way
of actually controlling it."
It's about authority,
and it's about who's the boss.
It's both a gender issue,
and it's a control issue.
[siren blaring]
[traffic honking]
[Elena speaking Italian]
[camera shutter clicks]
[speaking Italian]
[Maurizia speaking Italian]
[Daniela speaking Italian]
[Martha speaking Spanish]
[male announcer
speaking Spanish]
[whistle blows]
[female announcer
speaking Spanish]
[male announcer
speaking Spanish]
[crowd groans]
[speaking Italian]
[female announcer
speaking Spanish]
[male announcer
speaking Spanish]
[speaking Italian]
[booing]
[speaking Spanish]
[male announcer
speaking Spanish]
[female announcer
speaking Spanish]
[Silvia speaking Spanish]
[male announcer
speaking Spanish]
[crowd cheering]
[female announcer
speaking Spanish]
[speaking Italian]
[male announcer
speaking Spanish]
[speaking Italian]
[male announcer
speaking Spanish]
[female announcer
speaking Spanish]
[Daniela speaking Italian]
[whistle blows]
[speaking Spanish]
[male announcer
speaking Spanish]
[speaking Spanish]
S?
[speaking Italian]
[male announcer
speaking Spanish]
[Elena speaking Italian]
[Silvia speaking Spanish]
[male announcer
speaking Spanish]
[speaking Italian]
[hard rock music playing]
[Maurizia speaking Italian]
[female announcer
speaking Spanish]
[speaking Italian]
[male announcer
speaking Spanish]
[crowd cheering]
BIRTE: We play against
Argentina in the semi-final.
We won 5-0.
Now Mexico and Denmark
are going to meet each other
in the final.
[traffic honking]
People in the city came
to our hotel in the night.
[crowd chant]
[traffic honking]
Sitting on top of the cars
with a Mexican flag,
and they cry, "Mexico!
Mexico! Rah, rah, rah!"
[crowd chanting]
Mxico! Mxico!
BIRTE: And the whole night,
they drove around our hotel.
We couldn't sleep.
Then the Danish
embassy arranged
that we could go and sleep
with Danish families
in Mexico City.
That was very nice.
[crowd chanting]
Bim, bum, bah!
Mxico! Mxico!
Rah, rah, rah!
And the next day,
Mexico said,
"We will not play the match."
[speaking Spanish]
[Elvira speaking Spanish]
It's only logical
for women to say, "Okay,
why aren't we
being paid for this?"
"There's sponsorship.
"Tickets are being sold.
"Somebody else's pocket
is getting quite full.
We should also
be getting paid for this."
[tense music playing]
[Elvira speaking Spanish]
MARION: The first step towards
independence is having money.
When women start to ask
for money for your work,
there tends to be
a very big resistance.
"You're greedy.
You're ambitious.
You don't want to help out."
[Elvira speaking Spanish]
MARION: These women were
challenging so many norms.
I don't think
they had much of an idea
of what they were
culturally doing
or the significance
of their acts.
They just translated
into something
that was, uh, transgressive,
and they were being
incredibly brave at the time.
[siren passing]
[speaking Spanish]
[traffic honking]
[announcer speaking Spanish]
We took off in our very,
very, very, very old bus.
In the front...
- Police.
- ...police.
Uh, the motorbike. Rr-rr.
Blue light and everything.
[siren blares]
On every corner,
there was a policeman
standing with a motorbike
and talking
in his br-br-br-br-br.
[radio static]
That was very exciting.
We sat there. "Oh, oh, oh,
that's us coming here."
[crowd murmuring]
[dramatic music playing]
[male announcer
speaking Spanish]
[speaking Spanish]
[crowd chanting]
[speaking Spanish]
[crowd chanting]
The atmosphere was electric.
It was-- It was amazing.
[speaking French]
[Maurizia speaking Italian]
[Daniela speaking Italian]
[male announcer
speaking Spanish]
When we go up to the field,
you hardly see the sky,
because it's so big.
[crowd cheering]
BIRTE: We couldn't
speak to each other,
because the crowd around
the field was so excited.
ANN: We go around the field
waving to people.
We are not nervous.
And we are smiling,
and, uh, we are not--
It looks happy.
- Yeah.
- Yeah.
BIRTE: And we were happy.
[tranquil music playing]
[muted chanting]
[Alicia speaking Spanish]
[heart beating]
[Silvia speaking Spanish]
[whistle blows]
[female announcer
speaking Spanish]
[crowd roars]
[Silvia speaking Spanish]
[male announcer
speaking Spanish]
Early in the game,
the Mexicans
had some few big
opportunities to go.
[male announcer
speaking Spanish]
ANN: But we felt confident.
[female announcer
speaking Spanish]
The Mexican players
was, uh, not so high.
[male announcer
speaking Spanish]
[crowd roaring]
ANN: Alicia Vargas,
she was a good player,
a very good technique.
When we focus on her,
it was easier
to shut down their play.
[female announcer
speaking Spanish]
[male announcer
speaking Spanish]
[crowd groans]
[male announcer
speaking Spanish]
[Elvira speaking Spanish]
[male announcer
speaking Spanish]
[female announcer
speaking Spanish]
[crowd groans]
[male announcer
speaking Spanish]
[Elvira speaking Spanish]
[Martha speaking Spanish]
[whistle blows]
[female announcer
speaking Spanish]
[male announcer
speaking Spanish]
[female announcer
speaking Spanish]
[male announcer
speaking Spanish]
[Elvira speaking Spanish]
[male announcer
speaking Spanish]
[female announcer
speaking Spanish]
[female announcer
speaking Spanish]
[Elvira speaking Spanish]
[male announcer
speaking Spanish]
[crowd roars]
[female announcer
speaking Spanish]
[female announcer
speaking Spanish]
- You are a team. Yeah.
- A team.
And we had one goal together.
- Winning the World Cup.
- Yes.
[female announcer
speaking Spanish]
[tragic music playing]
[whistle blows]
[male announcer
speaking Spanish]
[Silvia speaking Spanish]
[crowd cheering]
[female announcer
speaking Spanish]
ANN: We just were so happy.
[male announcer
speaking Spanish]
Yeah, it was
an angel with wings.
- And below it.
- Yes.
Standing on the Earth.
- Yeah.
- Yes.
[female announcer
speaking Spanish]
BIRTE: Captain was standing
there and got this trophy.
And she was not so high.
I sai-- Oh, we said,
"Oh, nobody can see her."
- And then we lifted her up.
- So we lifted her. Yeah.
Yes, because they had to see.
And then she sat there
with the trophy.
[crowd chanting]
Proud.
- I think we were proud.
- Yes.
It was the highest point,
uh, ever and forever.
CHRIS: Whenever they said
about women's football,
it was always
a negative thing,
and there was no interest.
Nobody would sponsor it.
Crowds wouldn't come.
[woman vocalizing]
The final, it had the lot.
Crowd were there.
The sponsorship was
all 'round on the ground.
So we thought, "This is it.
"This is it now.
"Women's football's got it,
and it's on the map."
[woman vocalizing]
[soft music playing]
[cheering]
When we came back,
there was a lot of press
and photographs.
- [camera shutters clicking]
- [crowd cheering]
We were
in the Danish television.
And then... [blows]
Then nothing else.
[music ends]
I was so naive that I thought
we can go on
from the spot where we were
and build up.
But the men said, "Uh-uh.
No, no. There has been
enough publicity about women."
They took a piece of rubber
and did so.
[whoosh]
Now we start from scratch.
Maybe they envy us,
this success.
The men didn't do it,
and, uh, we did it,
win the World Championship.
Why couldn't they use, uh,
our success to build on?
Why?
I don't understand it.
Do you understand it?
No?
[laughs] No?
Because we are women.
Yeah. Because we are women,
we are so stupid,
we don't understand.
Maybe we must
not play football.
[bell pealing]
[Alicia speaking Spanish]
[jet engines roaring]
We arrived at the airport,
and I can't remember
seeing one photographer there.
TRUDY: Nobody there
to meet you.
No bunches of flowers.
No invitations to parties.
Nobody really
wanting to know you.
It was less than
the one man and his dog
who used to turn out
and play--
and see us play
on our Sundays.
And then we found out
we got banned.
Because when we got banned,
inside ourselves it--
we were shamed.
We never spoke about it.
Never spoke about it.
DAVID: And thus
women's football,
despite the incredible
energies of the era,
is crushed.
Football associations
hold the monopoly
over organized football.
And the threat is
to their control of the game.
It's about power and money,
and it's about defending
those things
for an exclusively
male population.
[soft music playing]
CAROL: I was invited to go
to a dinner
with Newcastle United,
so I said to me dad,
"Hey, Dad, do you wanna come?"
- [thumps on microphone]
- [feedback]
I was invited up on the stage
by this comper.
He said, "Oh,
we've got a big superstar
"in the audience tonight.
"We've got Carol Wilson.
She's captain
of the England's lady team."
And it was a huge build-up.
[applause]
But the minute
I got on the stage,
he did nothing but rip
women's football apart.
[laughter]
Everybody was laughing,
and I was humiliated.
I come off the stage,
and me first words
to me dad were,
"No, I'm finished
with football.
I'm finished."
And I didn't even speak
to any of the girls
'til nearly 50 years later.
Yeah, that's the story.
That's the story.
[whistle blows]
I saw a little bit
of confusion.
Yeah, around here.
Go! Go! Go! Yeah!
- Here! Here!
- Yeah.
Good cross.
BRANDI:
When I was growing up,
I didn't ever dream
of playing in a World Cup.
I never thought about playing
in the Olympic Games.
Because they didn't exist.
I knew nothing of Copa 1971.
No one had ever spoken a word
about this
tremendous tournament.
Ashamed to say that,
but it's true.
It's incredible
that there was an event
that occurred like this,
of this magnitude.
The fact
that women soccer players
who, like myself, have been
playing at the top of my game
and playing for my country,
um, for 13, 14 years,
have never heard of that,
um, it's just unacceptable.
This is just intentional,
to hide women's football.
Knowing the story of 1971 now,
seeing the stadium, and
watching them on the field,
I-I feel this closeness.
Because without them,
'91 may not have happened.
From '91 to the World Cup,
to '96,
the first Olympic Games...
[crowd cheering]
...to then 1999...
Goal!
...and the exponential growth
of women's football...
Yes, we play sports.
Yes, we play soccer.
Yes, we're female athletes.
But we're so much more
than that.
[crowd cheering]
Perception of women's soccer
has changed dramatically.
We have a thriving domestic
league here in the U.S.
and in many other countries.
[dramatic music playing]
No, we're not done.
We're never done, ever.
BRANDI: Honestly,
the women in 1971
and the women in 2023,
we're no different
from each other.
Those women, they're warriors.
[overlapping chatter]
It's up to us
to tell the stories,
to make sure
that history is right.
Because now I can say--
When people say,
"Thank you so much
for starting what you did,"
I'll say, "Oh, no.
"I have some women
to tell you about.
You don't know them,
but you will."
[crowd cheering]
Actually believe that,
along with many others,
we paved the way
for what it's become today.
They're no stopping us now.
[crowd roaring]
Bim bum bah!
Mxico! Mxico!
Rah, rah, rah!
[Elvira speaking Spanish]
[Elena speaking Italian]
[Elba speaking Spanish]
[Silvia speaking Spanish]
[Nicole speaking French]
[dramatic music playing]
[crowd cheering]
[woman vocalizing]
[vocalizing ends]
[cheering fades]
["You Lit My Fire"
by Ane Brun playing]
Mm, mm
Mm, mm
Mm, mm
They changed our game
I want to kiss the feet
of all those women
Spray my body in gold
Engrave myself
with their names
Ohh ohh
Oh oh oh ohh
Stand tall in awe
To the freedom
That they gave to us
And never, ever forget
No, I will
never, ever forget
Oh oh oh ohh
Now we are all alone
We are all alone in debt
[vocalizing]
And nothing
can hold me back
Ooh, you lit my fire
Mm, mm
Mm, mm
And nothing
can hold me back
Ooh, you lit my fire
Mm, mm
Mm, mm, mm
[vocalizing]
We take their struggle
For granted
We are blinded
By this taste of power
Forsaking our sisters
and brothers
Ohh
Oh oh oh, ohh
This fight goes on
Ohh
For the freedom
That we can't
- Ohh
- Give up
And never, ever forget
No, I will
never, ever forget
Ohh
Now we are all alone
Now we are
all alone in debt
And nothing
can hold me back
Ooh, you lit my fire
Mm, mm
Mm, mm, mm, ahh
And nothing
can hold me back
Ooh, you lit my fire
- Mm, mm
- Said you lit my fire
Mm, mm, mm
Ohh
And nothing
can hold me back
Ooh, you lit my fire
- Nothing can hold me back
- Mm, mm
- Nothing can hold me back
- Ooh, you lit my fire
Nothing can hold me back
And nothing
can hold me back
- Ooh, you lit my fire
- Nothing can hold me back
- Ooh, you lit my fire
- Mm, mm
- Nothing can hold me back
- Nothing can hold me back
Nothing can hold me back
And nothing
can hold me back
Ooh, you lit my fire
- Nothing can hold me back
- Ooh, you lit my fire
- Nothing can hold me back
- Ohh
Nothing can hold me back
And nothing
can hold me back
- Ooh, you lit my fire
- Ooh, you lit my fire
- Nothing can hold me back
- Mm, mm
Nothing can hold me back
Nothing can hold me back
And nothing
can hold me back
Ooh, you lit my fire
- Nothing can hold me back
- Mm, mm
- Nothing can hold me back
- Mm, mm
- Nothing can hold me back
- Mm, mm
Nothing can hold me back
[instrumental playing]
[woman vocalizing]
[music ends]