All language subtitles for Copa.71.2023.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DDP5.1.H.264

Do you
know what we're here

to talk about today, Brandi?

Women's soccer.

Well, specifically about

the first Women's World Cup,
which was when?

1991.

And you were there, right?

Representing the U.S.A.?

I've actually got something
I'd quite like you to watch.

Okay.

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?

1971.

This is unbelievable.

¡Goal!

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.

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.

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.

Tears rolled down me cheeks,

and I remember thinking,

"I'm never gonna see
anything like this again."

¡Goal!

¡Goal!

We didn't
even speak about it

'til nearly 50 years later.

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.

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."

But all through school,

and we were never allowed
to play football, ever.

Netball...

hockey...

anything but football.

Allez.

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.

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."

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.

The first thing that hits you

about an operational
fighter station is the noise.

When I left school,

you were expected
to get married,

settle down, have kids,

and cook.

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."

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.

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.

This is ladies' football.

Who wouldn't be happy
going through the sixties?

It was a revolution.

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.

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.

This match
was played soon after

the Football Association
had been nagged

into allowing women's teams
to play on affiliated grounds.

Just the most amazing time.

I think our society,
was a very big step

- Mm-hmm.
- to be accepted.

I can knit,
and I can use a chain saw.

But, you know, I don't want
to be put in a box.

We didn't play football

because we want
to attack the men.

I played football because
I like to play football.

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.

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.

In 1970,

Mexico hosted
the men's World Cup.

And it was just magnetic.

The Estadio Azteca was
an architectural marvel.

It was the first World Cup
that was transmitted in color.

And Pelé!

Well, it had to be Pelé.

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...

Carlos Alberto's
coming up on his right!

Oh, magnificent!

Magnificent!

When you organize
an event like the World Cup,

that meant that the eyes
of the world were on you.

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?"

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.

"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."

The manager of
my local team was Harry Batt.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Getting on that plane
was, like, surreal.

None of us had been on a plane
before, not any of us.

To go somewhere like that,

and for ordinary,
working-class girls,

it was a dream.

Got to Mexico,
and they pull a ladder up,

and the doors open.

And all these
flash lights went off.

Just light, light everywhere.

You couldn't see.

And I said, "There's someone
famous on this plane."

But it was us.

Going from England,

where women were frowned upon
for playing football,

to go somewhere like that
and see other countries even.

It was like
a parallel universe.

Coming out of the airport,
and it was lined,

just lined and lined and
lined and lined with people.

And they was throwing things
at the coach.

We thought they were
trying to get us.

But what they were doing

was throwing presents
in the window for us.

We'd landed in a world
that we didn't know.

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.

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.

Time, weather, and...

We have a photographer
attached to us the whole time.

Uh, we're really gonna
stress the feminine angle.

Uh, women who play soccer

are not
muscular monstrosities,

no, but, like,
generally pretty girls.

Then medias follow our trip
very close,

and the papers
write a lot of things.

There will be,
uh, beauty salons

in the dressing rooms.

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.

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.

¡Rah, rah, rah!

¡México! ¡México!

¡Rah, rah, rah!

¡Goal, goal, goal, goal!

¡Bum, bum!

¡Bim, bum, bah!

Chiquitibumalabimbumba.

¡Bim, bum, bah!

¡México! ¡México!

¡Rah, rah, rah!

We used to train
in the morning at 7:00.

Even then, there was about 300
or 400 children watching us.

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.

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.

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.

You've got to literally
pull yourself together

and give yourself
a good talking-to.

'Cause this is it.
There's no second run.

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.

We all underestimated
the Argentinean team.

¡Goal, goal!

I can remember
being very despondent.

It's not
the scenario we planned.

We're in Mexico City
for 14 days.

And then we went in an old bus
across the Mexican country.

To Guadalajara,

where we are going to play
the two first games.

But the bus breaks down
in the desert.

And we didn't know what to do.

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.

The games that were
in Guadalajara,

they were live on TV.

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.

We won 3-0,

and, uh, we were quite happy
about the result.

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.

The noise...

was just...

I'll never forget it.

It was hard.
It was the altitude.

It was the heat.

It was the different level.

It was very...

very, very, very physical.

Carol ended up in--
with her leg in plaster.

And it was a-- a bone
in my foot that was broken.

It was devastating.

It was devastating
when we lost.

And most of us were
pretty much reduced to tears.

Sadly, that's how it was.

Nevertheless, getting
that far on a world stage,

we achieved something.

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.

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.

We did an awful lot of things.

We did tours.
We opened shops.

We went to dinners.

Each embassy put on a party.

We had so much fun

around our training
and our matches.

When we were walking
on the streets,

shopping or buying souvenirs,

we also, every time,
have a big crowd around us,

making auto-- autographs.

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.

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.

¿Sí?

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.

People in the city came
to our hotel in the night.

Sitting on top of the cars
with a Mexican flag,

and they cry, "Mexico!
Mexico! Rah, rah, rah!"

¡México! ¡México!

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.

¡Bim, bum, bah!

¡México! ¡México!

¡Rah, rah, rah!

And the next day,
Mexico said,

"We will not play the match."

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."

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."

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.

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.

On every corner,

there was a policeman
standing with a motorbike

and talking
in his br-br-br-br-br.

That was very exciting.

We sat there. "Oh, oh, oh,
that's us coming here."

The atmosphere was electric.

It was-- It was amazing.

When we go up to the field,

you hardly see the sky,

because it's so big.

We couldn't
speak to each other,

because the crowd around
the field was so excited.

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.

And we were happy.

Early in the game,
the Mexicans

had some few big
opportunities to go.

But we felt confident.

The Mexican players
was, uh, not so high.

Alicia Vargas,
she was a good player,

a very good technique.

When we focus on her,

it was easier
to shut down their play.

- You are a team. Yeah.
- A team.

And we had one goal together.

- Winning the World Cup.
- Yes.

We just were so happy.

Yeah, it was
an angel with wings.

- And below it.
- Yes.

Standing on the Earth.

- Yeah.
- Yes.

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.

Proud.

- I think we were proud.
- Yes.

It was the highest point,
uh, ever and forever.

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.

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."

When we came back,

there was a lot of press
and photographs.

We were
in the Danish television.

And then...

Then nothing else.

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.

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?

No?

Because we are women.

Yeah. Because we are women,

we are so stupid,
we don't understand.

Maybe we must
not play football.

We arrived at the airport,

and I can't remember
seeing one photographer there.

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.

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.

I was invited to go

to a dinner
with Newcastle United,

so I said to me dad,
"Hey, Dad, do you wanna come?"

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.

But the minute
I got on the stage,

he did nothing but rip
women's football apart.

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.

I saw a little bit
of confusion.

Yeah, around here.

Go! Go! Go! Yeah!

- Here! Here!
- Yeah.

Good cross.

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...

...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.

Perception of women's soccer
has changed dramatically.

We have a thriving domestic
league here in the U.S.

and in many other countries.

No, we're not done.

We're never done, ever.

Honestly,
the women in 1971

and the women in 2023,

we're no different
from each other.

Those women, they're warriors.

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."

Actually believe that,
along with many others,

we paved the way
for what it's become today.

They're no stopping us now.

¡Bim bum bah!

¡México! ¡México!

¡Rah, rah, rah!