England's midfielder Jill Scot kicks the ball during a Group F match at the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup between France and England at Moncton Stadium in Moncton, N.B., on June 9, 2015.FRANCK FIFE/AFP / Getty Images
Like me, Victoria Lindsay and Sarah Jones initially found Moncton a bit lacking in World Cup excitement.
"We arrived on a Sunday, evening, we'd been travelling all day and we went outside to walk around Moncton," Victoria says. "It was amazingly quiet, a lot of businesses had shut and it seemed very small. For a minute I was thinking, "My God, what have we done? This is our holiday.""
Victoria, a police officer in Northampton in England, and girlfriend Sarah, a child minder, both twentysomethings, had flown from Heathrow to Toronto, with a connecting flight to Moncton. They're supporters of the England Women's team. "We're not armchair supporters," Victoria says, pointing to the street outside while sitting with me in a Tim Hortons. "We get out and support the team. If it means coming to Canada, we'll do it."
The Women's World Cup has attracted a lot of media attention and a lot of chatter on social media. But, with the exception of American fans who have come to Canada in the many thousands, people like Victoria and Sarah are rare. Most of the travelling support for other teams is comprised of family and friends.
Victoria and Sarah might be called SuperFans. They take the women's game very seriously. Asking them what team they support in England, they answer in unison, "Arsenal Ladies!" They attend matches in the FA Women's Super League and England games and use social media to connect with other supporters. They are the bedrock of the women's game, and its future.
"You get about 1,000 people at a Super League match," Victoria says. "But a few years ago, it was 100 people. It's growing, the quality improves and there's a lot more press attention. The England matches can draw 40,000 people. It just depends on the stadium and the location. They'd get more people if they weren't played at awkward times for a lot of women who work."
It's notable that both expect to connect directly with the players, in person and on social media. There's a community and they feel part of it.
In this matter of community they're dismayed by team U.S.A. England hosted a friendly, pre-World World warm-up match against the U.S.A in February in in Milton Keynes. After the match – a nervy 1-0 win for the U.S. – Victoria and Sarah expected a chat with the players, as usual.
"The Americans were rude," Sarah says. "They brushed past us, wouldn't stop, wouldn't chat, even for a minute. It was ridiculous. They went and sat on their team bus for ages when they could have been talking to us. I asked Abby Wambach to sign my match programme and, first, I thought she didn't hear me. Then I realized they were all just ignoring us."
The pair decided to come to Canada after England won the Cyprus tournament in January, defeating Canada in the Final. "We won, so we just decided, let's go to Canada for the World Cup. It'll be our summer holiday."
They came to love Moncton after their first night. "It's been very lively during the week," Sarah says. "We've met players and their families. We're working our way through every restaurant in Moncton. We sat in the rain cheering for England against France. It was just like being at home, really."
In Moncton last week it was clear that the soccer world this pair of England supporters inhabit truly exists. Anyone who had been to the men's World Cup would find it was like an alternative universe. Star players for France and England could be encountered on the street or in coffee shops. The sense of connection and community was utterly authentic.
Changing planes in Toronto, Victoria and Sarah happened upon the Toronto FC team lining up to board a regular flight to a match somewhere. They were deeply impressed with the casualness. "In England and Europe it's private jets for the men's teams. You'd never seem them mixing with the likes of us at the airport," says Victoria.
Sarah joked, "Maybe that's why Jermaine Defoe quit Toronto. "He's a big star, you know, not used to ordinary planes and stuff."
In England, they say, the women's game has a ways to go in popularity and perception. But it doesn't bother them.
"In England there's still a lot of people with the mentality that football is just a men's game," says Sarah.
And Victoria, with the air of the police officer that she is, firmly interjects, "There's no use talking to people like that. They don't listen, and they don't know what they're talking about."