From Arnold to Australia: Notts County fan makes incredible 24 hour trip to cheer on Lionesses

While most of us may be content with a quick trip to our local to watch the football, for one sports fan, it wasn’t quite the same thing as watching the real thing. Notts County fan, Ste Grocock, 36, from Arnold in Nottingham has made the incredible 24-hour journey to Australia to be there to cheer on the Lionesses.

Last Thursday saw the opening ceremony of the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup in New Zealand and Australia. The opening games saw the duel hosts both win with a score line of 1-0 with NZ beating Norway and Australia beating Ireland.

Nottingham’s very own Mary Earps, who started her footballing journey at West Bridgford Colts, was in goal for England’s opener which also ended in a 1-0 win for the Lionesses.

Ahead of England’s second game against Denmark on Friday, Nottingham World spoke to Ste said, while he was ‘jet jagged’, he could feel the buzz the minute he walked into the stadium.

“Landing on Wednesday, it has been quite the whirlwind. We landed early Wednesday, tired, jet-lagged and ready for sleep. We were accosted by Brazilian Tv and interviewed within a minute of leaving the airport. Heading into Sydney you could feel the buzz with posters, banners and advertisements for the games.

Ste added: “We had a great day with other Lionesses fans on a bit of a pub crawl, we, unfortunately, missed Ian Wright who joined us all later but did have the pleasure of meeting Ruth Shaw from the FA, The British High Commissioner Vicki Treadell and a host of sports reporters I’ve been following for years.”

‘I’ve managed to attend 2 games so far with 9 to go. I might pick up an extra match or two if things work out.’ I’m over here with equalities charity Just A Ball Game? And we’ve had an incredible opportunity to hand over a flag the size of a double-decker bus, which we have toured England from Wembley to the national football museum picking up notes of support and signatures to jeer on the lionesses.

Ste has had the amazing experience of joining the squad at one of the training sessions and handing over the flag to England senior coach Sarina Wiegman and Millie Bright.

“We had a brief chat and even had a bit of jibing from Bright as I was a little shaky taking the selfie. She told me not to worry and she was the same meeting Harry Styles,” Ste said.

“I’m looking forward to seeing England progress and I’ve got tickets for every possible game England could play up until the final and no matter where we end up this will be a time in my life I’ll never forget.”