Posted on 1st August 2024
Happy 5th birthday to Free Lionesses!
The FSA’s Free Lions service, which provides travelling supporters of the England men’s team with on-the-ground info, is well established and has been around in one form or another since Italia 90.
And five years ago we were delighted to launch a similar service for the England women’s team called (you guessed it!) Free Lionesses which is run by the FSA’s head of women’s football Deborah Dilworth.
Lauren Hemp knows the score!
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The growth of the women’s game, and in particular the need to help travelling fans, was something we simply had to support so plans were put in place for a Free Lionesses service for the 2019 Women’s World Cup in France.
The service offered the usual mix of behind-the scenes-advice and assistance along with a presence in each host city around every game that England played. We also teamed up with the superb She Kicks to produce a free fanzine / supporter guide to the tournament.
The Lionesses topped their group with three wins out of three and marched all the way to the semi-finals before losing to the USA – and we were on-hand to help fans at every game in Nice, Le Harve, Valenciennes and Lyon.
Free Lionesses debut tournament was a big success.
Euro 2022
Following that we got stuck into guides for games in Belgium, Norway, Czech Republic and Belfast before Euro 2022 came calling – and you might recall that tournament went pretty well?!
Even though the tournament was held in England we still had a Free Lionesses team in every city where England played and produced our usual guidebook.
The FSA’s Deborah Dilworth led the Free Lionesses team and said: “I was lucky enough to have a great group of volunteers with me as everyone put a shift in to answer supporters’ questions and hand out our guidebook. It was just an incredible time and an amazing tournament – a watershed moment for women’s football in this country.”
On top of that Free Lionesses and Fans for Diversity launched the brilliant My Country, My Shirt Shirt initiative which beautifully showcased the breadth of support for the Three Lions in this county. A picture really can paint a thousand words.
More than matchdays
There’s more to Free Lionesses than matchdays though, and supporter representatives from the women’s game have met regularly with FA staff to discuss their experiences at England games and make preparations for future tournaments.
Free Lionesses is also there to stand by fans when things go wrong – a good example occurring in September 2022 when many supporters experienced difficulties with the park and ride in Stoke ahead of the game and missed a lot of England v Luxembourg.
Supporters told of waiting more than an hour for pre-booked park and ride buses which didn’t appear, and having no choice but to walk the 2.7 mile journey to the stadium. Some missed the match entirely.
We gathered evidence and submitted a report to the FA who, to their credit, took those fan testimonials seriously, apologised, and committed to a closer working relationship between the FA and FSA for future matches. It’s a good example of what the FSA and Free Lionesses are all about.
WWC23
The 2023 Women’s World Cup presented the biggest challenged yet as Free Lionesses arranged a Fans’ Embassy Service on the other side of the world in Australia.
We made it happen though and once again England fans visiting Brisbane, Sydney and Adelaide felt the benefit of our volunteers, pre-match meet ups and guidebook.
We were also very grateful to Toyota whose support made it happen:
The Lionesses came oh-so-close to World Cup glory and did the country proud.
2023-24
Since then there have been guides to Utrecht (Netherlands), Leuven (Belgium), Glasgow (Scotland), Algeciras (Spain), Dublin (Ireland) and Gothenburg (Sweden).
Important work away from games has also carried on as we worked with the FA to create a singing section and launched a survey to help improve match attendance at future international fixtures.
Fans in the women’s game face multiple challenges when travelling to watch their team play, such as late fixture notice and confusing ticketing availability, and it’s something we’re keen to work with the authorities to improve.
So what does the future hold for Free Lionesses?
The FSA’s Deborah Dilworth says: “It has been amazing to watch the Free Lionesses community grow over the last five years and we are really excited to see how things grow in the next five years.
“We hope to continue to help grow away attendances at Lionesses fixtures and ensure supporter experiences are the best they can be, while collaborating with supporters across international women’s football.
“Of course this work isn’t possible without the amazing fans we work with, I am so grateful for their support and love. Here’s to the next five years of adventures.”
