‘I know they’ll reach Wembley!’ - England’s self-proclaimed oldest fan revels in Euro 2022 fever in Brighton
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Updated 12/07/2022 at 14:48 GMT
Margaret Jones has seen it all, from the times where women’s football was banned in England to now, with the 98-year-old revelling in Euro 2022 fever in Brighton. The Lionesses went on to beat Norway 8-0 to reach the quarter-finals with a Group A game to spare, and Margaret predicts they’ll go all the way to Wembley.
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The self-proclaimed oldest England fan was out enjoying the party in Brighton as England thrashed Norway 8-0 in their second group stage match at the 2022 Euros.
Brighton may not be a traditional football city, but you’d never be able to tell, with English and Norwegian fans filling the fan park in the city centre singing songs and playing five-a-side hours before kick-off.
There was even a communal trumpet that made its way around the fan park, with Norwegian fans first using it to perform their country’s football songs, before young English kids were using it to make their chants as loud as possible.
The city was bouncing with energy, but the most excited fan by far was 98-year-old Margaret Jones, who is quite confident that no one her senior knows as much about football as she does.
“I challenge you to find someone my age who is as big a football fan as me. It is not possible,” she says.
Jones was born in Preston in 1924, three years after the Football Association’s women’s football ban in the country.
“I don’t think many people knew about it,” she adds. “It wasn’t necessarily big news, but as a young girl, if you got caught playing football, you were certainly made aware of the ban.”
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Contrary to popular belief, the FA only banned women and women football teams from using fields and stadiums controlled by FA-affiliated clubs.
So, it wasn’t a total ban on women’s football, but according to Jones, that might as well have been the case.
After one incident of having an older neighbour once ream her out for attempting some keepie-uppies, Jones made sure her love of football was kept under wraps.
“I used to play football with my classmates, using my brothers’ football. Every time someone came around the corner and asked what we were doing, we’d pretend we were playing some form of catch,” she says.
“Sure, the FA ban wasn’t necessarily meant for a bunch of school girls, but it had its ramifications. We were so scared that we were somehow going to get in trouble. It’s extremely sad when you think back.”
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By the time she was 20, it wasn’t enough just to play in the back gardens for Jones anymore. She wanted more.
“Growing up, I was quite reserved. I loved to just sit and observe. I hated asking questions because it would draw attention to me. I would watch my mum do needlework and attempt it myself instead of having her teach me. I spent hours watching my father play Black Maria, but never asked him the rules.
“There came a point where I decided I wanted to watch people play football. And because we were taught at that time that men and women were significantly different, I thought that I would not learn much by watching men’s football.”
Jones was lucky she was from Preston, because they were the only city in the country at the time that had a professional team. Formed in 1917, Dick, Kerr Ladies F.C. attracted upwards of 50,000 fans in some cities. When the ban was put into place, the team, which changed its name to Preston Ladies in 1926, continued to play despite the heavy pushback from the FA.
“I heard about Preston Ladies when I was about 16, and I’ll never forget the feeling of watching them live. I did not know much about their history at the time. I don’t even remember most of the players’ names. But I do remember feeling overjoyed, not only at the fact that I was watching women play football, but the fact that it wasn’t some secret I had to keep.
“There were thousands of others with me. I only got to see them play three times, and regardless of any football match I attend in the future, I can confidently say that those are the best three football matches I have ever been to.”
The FA ban was eventually lifted in 1971, and by 1997, they officially decided to develop the game to an elite level. Hope Powell was hired as the England Women’s manager a year later.
Jones adds: “A lot of unrest in the late 60s saw the ban eventually lifted. When that anniversary comes around, I often am reminded of the women who fought the ban, and see them referred to as visionaries, or inspirational. Now, I cannot speak for them, but I think they would reject those words. I think they just wanted to play.”
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The lifting of the ban wasn’t only a win for those who wanted to play, but also those, like Jones, who just enjoyed watching football. Her father being a politician allowed her to travel, and with the begrudging approval of her mother, she and her brother went off to Mexico in 1971 to attend the Women’s World Cup.
“I could not believe how different the environment was in Mexico. There were so many fans, and there were always reporters around. I thought it would be a chance to get close to the England team, but they were consistently surrounded, so I never got close enough to say hello.”
The team in Mexico wasn’t actually the official England team. The Women’s Football Association had refused to send a team to the tournament, so a group called The British Independents went, to separate them from an official England team.
The English team qualified for FIFA’s official Women’s World Cup in 1995, but they missed out on the next two tournaments, as understandably, Powell needed time to develop a consistent team after the ban.
Jones had almost moved on though, having used the Mexico World Cup to learn about other nations.
“In 1999, I was 75, celebrating my wedding anniversary and I convinced my husband to attend the final in Pasadena. The US team was facing off against China, the two best teams in the world at the time. No goals were scored in normal time, and it went to penalties, with the US winning in the end.
“Seeing the celebrations in the stadium, and after the match it was the first, and only time in my life thus far, I wished I was an American.”
Jones now has the opportunity to watch her own team in England slowly cement themselves as the best international team in the world.
“It’s fantastic to see this team shine. I know they will be at Wembley. I can feel it. I just wish that all of this happened sooner. I would have liked to see this team win more in my lifetime.”
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