Copa 71 review: 'incendiary account' of the women's 1971 World Cup in Mexico

Film, with Serena and Venus Williams as executive producers, can be added to the 'list of great football documentaries'

Danish player with the World Cup in a film still from Copa 71
Denmark's Lis Lene Nielsen holds the World Cup after her team beat Mexico 3-0 in the final in front of 112,500 fans at the Azteca Stadium
(Image credit: Photo by Ritzau Scanpix / TopFoto courtesy of New Black Films Ltd - © Ritzau Scanpix / TopFoto courtesy of New Black Films Ltd)

From "raucous crowds" and "widespread television coverage" to a "semi-final ending in a full blown punch-up", this story "needs to be seen to be believed".

That was how Kathryn Batte described the 1971 Women's World Cup football tournament in Mexico in the Daily Mail. And Kevin Maher in The Times called it an "incendiary account" that must be added to "the list of great football documentaries".

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

The contrast between the warm welcome the players were given in Mexico and their reception back in their own countries couldn't have been greater. "Every team returned home to a 'sense of nothingness'," said the Daily Mail, with "the tournament erased from consciousness". England's players were banned again by the FA, "those under 16 for three months and those over 16 for six months". Their manager, Harry Batt, was banned for life.

Many people told Ramsay that the concept of a sports film without one winner that everyone's rooting for wouldn't work. "I think the winner is the tournament itself, the fact that it happened, and the shared experience of those women together is a huge part of the film," she said.

Explore More

Adrienne Wyper has been a freelance sub-editor and writer for The Week's website and magazine since 2015. As a travel and lifestyle journalist, she has also written and edited for other titles including BBC Countryfile, British Travel Journal, Coast, Country Living, Country Walking, Good Housekeeping, The Independent, The Lady and Woman’s Own.