Mix blue and red and you get purple. But when it comes to Manchester, those colours usually stay very separate: one side of the city is red, the other blue. It is a tribal affair with no overlap — or at least it was, until women’s football started to change things.
When the fanzine United We Stand interviewed an individual who followed the City and United men’s teams 20 years ago, it was so rare that they insisted on anonymity due to the stigma attached. In women’s football, however, there is a growing trend for ‘purple’ fans.
“I am that person, that weirdo,” Laura Day tells The Athletic before City and United’s WSL clash at the Etihad today. “I get stick for it all the time. My friends say I am the human version of a half-and-half scarf.”
Day has been a Manchester City men’s fan since she was a young child, when she would wear the blue City shirt at birthday parties. “It’s our family team,” she says.
But when her local football team started going to the first women’s Manchester derbies following United’s promotion to the Women’s Super League (WSL) in 2019, she and her friends started watching United Women’s games.“My dad wasn’t best pleased,” she smiles.
However, she is not alone in crossing that divide.
“There are a lot of people in the women’s game who support a different men’s team to a women’s team, but not many people would come out and say United and City,” says Emma Finch.
Finch’s family were, in her words, “massive reds”. Growing up she supported the Manchester United men’s team and still supports them now, but she also sometimes went to Maine Road, Manchester City men’s former home ground, because her two uncles were City fans.
When her uncle died, her auntie bought her a City shirt in remembrance of him. But, she remembers only putting the City shirt on at the very last minute when got to games, then whipping it off as soon as they returned to the car park. Even the thought of the colour blue was odd: “I would never have a blue shirt, only the away kit,” she tells The Athletic.
But times and circumstances have changed. Now Finch wears her City shirts with pride, each one with the name of Steph Houghton, the former City and England women’s captain, on the back. Still a supporter of United’s men’s team, she now travels up and down the country supporting City Women.
Finch with her City shirt and alongside Ole Gunnar Solskjaer (Emma Finch)
“I’ll always be a United fan when it comes to the men’s,” she says. “But if I have to choose between going to the Joie Stadium (City Women’s home ground) and watching United men on TV, even the big men’s games, I’d always still go to the Joie stadium.”
Finch, a former amateur player who lives in Manchester, has been a women’s football fan for over 20 years, went to watch the Women’s Euro 2005 when it was held in north-west England, and supported the WSL from its inception in 2011.
Due to her enthusiasm for the women’s game, when City Women became the first team in Manchester to join the WSL in 2015 — United Women did not have a team then — Finch, along with other United men’s supporters, bought a City Women’s season ticket. She has had one ever since.
Then United launched their team in 2018. “People who knew I was a United fan asked straight away: ‘Are you going to support them?’,” says Finch, but she was never tempted. “I’ve been following City since 2015, I have signed shirts and a great group of friends. Why would I change?”
“If United had started at the same time, would it have been United?” she says. “Probably, but at that time City had Steph Houghton, Karen Bardsley, Jill Scott — the big names.”
Danielle Tiernan, who runs the Bridgewater pub in Worsley, Manchester, supports both women’s teams. “I’m proud to feel comfortable admitting that,” the 32-year-old says.
“I don’t feel restricted in what I can say when I’m at any game. Everyone’s there for the same reason: support the growth of women’s football. A lot of the people I go with are very much like me and fluid with who they support.”
If City and United were playing at home on the same weekend, for Tiernan, it would simply depend on time and convenience. Her partner has a season ticket for United Women, but Tiernan may go to a City Women’s game with her friends so they get, in her words, “the best of both worlds”.
“We’re not precious about one over the other,” she says. “It’s more about supporting women in football.”
Danielle Tiernan supporting United and with her partner at the Etihad (Danielle Tiernan)
James Holden, who used to manage a women’s football team, supports City as a club: men, women and youth. The majority of the games he attends are City’s, but he also follows United men and has a season ticket for United Women. In his eyes, they are simply a Manchester club, just like his local non-League club FC United of Manchester.
“I’m interested in any club being successful in Manchester and want to encourage that because I’m Mancunian,” he says.
Rising ticket prices in the men’s game was the initial reason Holden turned to women’s football. He then got the bug and started to attend City Women’s games more frequently. When City Women are away he watches United Women’s home games, though when both are at home he stays loyal to City.
The fact he supports both teams hasn’t cropped up in conversation. “If it did, there wouldn’t be an issue,” he says. “I would tell them I’m a Mancunian. I do it with the men’s games: United beat Arsenal in the FA Cup, good for United. I’m Manchester first.”
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Some occasions can present conflicting emotions though. Day went to watch United Women win their first major trophy at the Wembley FA Cup final against Tottenham Hotspur last year. “Up until that point, I hadn’t bought a United shirt,” the 25-year-old says. “I thought I shouldn’t really wear it because I’ve been a City fan forever. But I was like, no I am a United Women’s fan.
“I wore a United top, we had glitter tattoos, bucket hats, scarves, everything,” she recalls. “I really enjoyed wearing it. People walking past don’t know I support City as well. To City fans, that might break their hearts. But it would be wrong if I didn’t go in a United shirt that day.”
A couple of months later Day visited Wembley again, this time in a City top as City and United men played in the Community Shield.
“That felt natural,” she says. “I wanted to wear my City shirt, I was going as a City fan. I didn’t question, ‘Should I have a United shirt on?’, because it was the men’s. Both times it felt natural to wear each top.”
As for Finch, when City Women played United at Old Trafford last season for the first time, she did not wear a City shirt to the game but an England shirt instead.
City won the derby at Old Trafford 3-1 last season (Naomi Baker/Getty Images)
“I cheered, don’t get me wrong — I absolutely cheered,” she says. “But I wouldn’t wear a City shirt going to Old Trafford. That may sound weird, but it was just in the back of my mind. I go there to support the men. That’s the first time I’d ever felt some sort of conflict between the two teams.”
As the clock ticks down to the women’s derby on Sunday, however, there is no hesitation for Day and Finch over who they are supporting.
“City, straight away,” replies Finch who would not consider wearing a half-and-half scarf nor want United to qualify for the women’s Champions League spots. “When the men played the derby in December it was totally different because I was at my parents’ house supporting United. I treat it as two separate sports.”
Day, the City men’s fan, is “United through and through” when it comes to women’s football. “I’d feel like… not a traitor, but I don’t think I could go back to supporting City Women now because I’ve been invested in United Women.”
As for Holden, he will be rooting for City but wants it to be competitive. “I don’t get too deep with the hatred,” he says. “I wouldn’t even use that word. That’s a strong word to use in association with two footballing sides.”
Some fans will think supporting two different teams, let alone rivals, is sacrilegious. Day admits it may seem “odd” to some but she has never felt awkward about it. “When it comes to football, I’m quite strong on my beliefs,” she says. “It is what it is. I support both teams. Obviously some people don’t get it. But to me it’s football. I love football. I’m not bothered about what other people think.”
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(Top photos: Laura Day at the women’s FA Cup final and the men’s Community Shield; courtesy of Laura Day)
