Beautiful game unites football fans 5,500 miles – and lack of men is ‘magical’ – World News

In 1995, 12-year-old Becky Gamester-Newton went to her first football match with her dad, John. Her team, Nottingham Forest, lost seven-nil to Blackburn Rovers but she walked away a life-long fan of the beautiful game.

On the other side of the world in Brazil, Thays Kloss’ football allegiance was decided from birth. Dad Paulo is a super-fan of Athletico Paranaense, a club in the southern city of Curitiba.

Says Thays: “My dad used to bring me to the stadium to see the games and I started to really enjoy it.

“I’m really grateful for all the things football gives me. Travelling and enjoying the games – and I even met my fiance Guilherme through football.”

Thays and Becky are one of the first pairs to meet via videocall for the Mirror’s new project The World Talks.

An offshoot of our ground-breaking Britain Talks series, this time readers will have the chance to sign up and meet people from all over the globe.

Newspapers led by the German website Zeit Online are partnering across countries including Ghana, Ukraine, South Korea, Brazil, South Africa, India, Germany, Italy and Mexico.

If there’s something Britain and Brazil share, it’s a passion for football. Nottinghamshire-born Becky, 39, a mum to two daughters, is a writer and digital editor who used to work for BBC Sport. Thays, 29, is a digital journalist covering football in Brazil.

“Does your fiance support the same club?” Becky, from Mansfield, asks.

No,” Thays says. “Does that cause problems?” Thays laughs. “No, because his team’s not very good.”

It’s Becky’s turn to laugh. “My husband is an Arsenal supporter,” she says. “So, we’re concerned about opposite ends of the table.”

Until now Becky’s daughters support “the red team” which conveniently covers both Forest and Arsenal.

“But now my daughter says she wants to support ‘Mummy’s red team’, which is probably not a good decision from her to be honest,” Becky says.

Thays tells Becky that in February last year a judge banned men from the stadiums of Athletico Paranaense and rivals Coritiba as punishment for a brawl.

“They decided to let just women and children into the stadium and it was a different experience – really magical,” she says.

“I felt I had the freedom to be myself in the stadium. I think you and the children would enjoy it, too.”

The ban extended to three games and applied to all males over 12. On the third and final one, 37,000 women and children cheered their teams on.

Becky says: “That’s never happened here. I think it would be a really nice atmosphere.”

Thays says she fell in love with her national team, Brazil, from birth but especially in 2002, the year they won the World Cup. Becky says her love affair with England began two years later in Portugal when she went to watch the men’s team in the Euros.

“Then I really started to watch England and travel the world, including to Brazil, for the World Cup,” she says. “I spent a number of years travelling to watch as many friendlies, qualifiers and tournaments as I could.

“I’ve scaled back a little in recent times as I have young children but I continue to go to some Forest games and I am planning on travelling to Scotland and North Macedonia to watch England this year – my first away trip since Kosovo in 2019.”

The pair talk knowledgeably about Brazilians Gustavo Scarpa, Danilo and Felipe who all joined Forest this season. Meanwhile, former Athletico Paranaense midfielder and Brazil hero Bruno Guimaraes has moved to Newcastle and Thays says she is now following the club.

“It’s always been my dream to visit the UK to watch a game,” she says.

Becky offers to show her around. She goes on to discuss the women’s game which she says is already inspiring her daughters. Thays re- plies: “It is growing here but it’s not popular.”

She explains that teams get more investment if they support the women’s game, so things are slowly improving.

The two share their favourite matches. Not surprisingly, Becky picks the moment Forest were promoted back to the Premier League last season, beating Huddersfield 1-0 at Wembley.

“When I began watching them they were in the Premier League. When they got relegated, I didn’t realise it would take 23 years to get back…” Thays picks a 2019 cup game between rivals Athletico Paranaense and Gremio where her team came from behind to win.

“The energy was magical,” she says.

“The whole stadium was singing together, non-stop.

“We could feel we were feeding the players with energy.”

Becky reminisces about being in Brazil during the 2014 World Cup. “It was just such an incredible experience,” she says. “I love going to places I never would have gone to without football.”

Thays says she must visit Curitiba. “You would love here,” she says. “My city has this European vibe and isn’t too big.” Afterwards, Thays says the chat was a wonderful experience and something she’d love to do again.

Becky says: “The World Talks is a lovely idea to connect to new people. You can become a bit closed off and it’s very important to hear different views.

“I would love to stay in touch with Thays. She did say she would like to come and watch a game in England, which I would be happy to take her to.

“I’m glad I took part in The World Talks. You can feel a bit isolated, especially working from home.

“I would encourage people to sign-up. You’re only giving up 30 minutes of your time to chat to a new person. You have nothing to lose!”