Opinion: 'Trailblazers' shows the beauty of being a Red
There's a moment in the first episode of our new One Love series, 'Trailblazers', where United fan Deb Henry is talking about the importance of coaches.
Not first-team coaches, like Steve McClaren or Mitchell van der Gaag. We're not talking tactics or trequartistas here. Regular, old-fashioned coaches. The type that sit atop four wheels and slug down motorways and A-roads for a living.
What they do is straightforward, of course. They take people from A to B. But what happens within them, according to Henry, is anything but.
Put simply, long coach journeys to away games in far-flung corners of England are where the soul of football-supporting communities – the Manchester United Women Supporters' Club, in this particular case – are forged and alchemised into something unique.
One Love | Trailblazers Video
One Love | Trailblazers
'One Love: Trailblazers' welcomes you to our heart-warming Manchester United Women Supporters' Club...
You can see it vividly in the film.
Fans talking about chicken kiev bites on the way to Chelsea away. Testing out chants that range from the daft to the deft. Throughout, there's direct human interaction, smiles and laughter. Connections and camaraderie burn through onto our screens.
Fans talking about chicken kiev bites on the way to Chelsea away. Testing out chants that range from the daft to the deft. Throughout, there's direct human interaction, smiles and laughter. Connections and camaraderie burn through onto our screens.
Spend any time on social media or listening to radio or watching our sport's many content mediums, and you might think that football fans live in a perpetual state of frustration and anger. That we cannot sleep at night due to raging worries about net spend and transfer rumours.
Maybe that's true for some. But as you can see in 'Trailblazers', supporting a football team can be about so much more. Fun, mostly. Having a laugh. Getting to know and relate to other human beings.
Arguably the star of the film is young Isabelle Gavin – a deliriously passionate teenage MUW fan who idolises Mary Earps and lives for the matchday experience.
She ends the film clearly crushed by the Reds' 1-0 defeat to Chelsea in the FA Cup final, but from what we've seen earlier in the feature, we know she'll be okay. More than okay. That the result won't be the end of the world, because no result ever is.
Football and following the team clearly forms such a large part of her identity. As her mum explains, the hours they spend together watching the Reds every week or two deliver memories that will mean more than a thousand United goals when they look back on their lives in years to come.
Introducing: Isabelle Gavin Video
Introducing: Isabelle Gavin
One Love: Trailblazers | If you've been to a United Women match, you probably know of Isabelle Gavin...
This film is about the supporters of United Women. But it could be about any team, male or female, across any country. As Henry says, simply: "We support Manchester United. It's about the badge, not about the gender or age of the team representing it."
Fans of any club, from Ayr United to Zorya Luhansk, will identify with the spirit and sentiment.
Fans of any club, from Ayr United to Zorya Luhansk, will identify with the spirit and sentiment.
What's special about 'Trailblazers' is it shows a football community that's still in its formative years. Supporters like Henry and her husband, Marc, are also season-ticket holders for United's men's side, so there's some crossover with the wider fan culture we've been building since 1878. But MUWSC has become a thing of its own, too.
Whatever way you follow United, and whichever team might be your favourite, seeing these fans and their rapport will touch and inspire you.
United, it's a family thing Video
United, it's a family thing
One Love: Trailblazers | Follow John Devonport and his daughter, as they support United Women on the road...
We can all get wrapped up in results, fantasy football and a million other debates-cum-arguments, because our love for the game and our club is fuelled by so much passion.
But 'Trailblazers' reminds us that being a fan is ultimately about connecting with each other to make our lives better. Coming together to make something stronger and richer than a group of isolated individuals could ever be. Something that is more than the sum of its parts. Something collaborative, communal and uplifting.
Here you can see players connecting with fans. Fans connecting with other fans. Fans strengthening their own bonds with family members.
It's powerful stuff, when you step back and look at it from a distance, and a timely reminder that fans are what really matter at football clubs. That fact can often be overlooked, but in the One Love series supporters are rightly placed front and centre.
The challenge, as ever, is to ensure that they stay there.
The opinions in this story are personal to the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Manchester United Football Club.
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