The Perth Festival is back, and in addition to performance, visual arts and music, the festival has an amazing roster of films of all genres, including Copa 71, a stirring documentary about the ‘unofficial’ and mostly forgotten Women’s World Cup that happened in Mexico in 1971, before the first official FIFA event held almost 20 years later. 

Copa 71  begins with the promising beginning of women’s football at the top of the 20th century, before misogyny and power dynamics led to women being stifled and/or banned from Football Association games in England and Europe. After over 50 years of games being played behind the scenes and with much ridicule from the very male-dominated FIFA, it wasn’t until 1971 that the women’s game drew the attention it deserved on the global scale, before practically disappearing once again.

Following the incredible buzz surrounding the FIFA Men’s World Cup hosted in Mexico in 1970, local organisers thought to capitalise on the existing marketing and infrastructure to host a Women’s World Cup there again next year. Asking countries with established Women’s teams, namely Denmark, England, Mexico, Argentina, Italy and France, the event began to take shape, using the local stadiums already set up.

Enter the film’s main bad guy; FIFA, who still did not officially recognise Women’s Football, placing a ban on stadium use in an attempt to shut down the event before it began. This spectacularly backfired, as organisers scrambled to use some of the country’s largest stadiums instead, the 110,000 capacity Estadio Azteca and 60,000 capacity Jalisco Stadium, and when the event drew near, a combination of media frenzy and novelty drew over 100,000 spectators to the opening match.

Directors James Erskine and Rachel Ramsay keep the film moving throughout its 90-minute run time, which absolutely flies by with tournament recap and all the drama on and off the pitch, while securing emotional interviews with many of the inspirational women who played in the event, some of whom were as young as 13. While getting swept up in the excitement of the event, and seeing the trials and tribulations of the players in the tournament, it was easy to forget the state of misogyny in the game at the time, which soon returned to form once the players got home. 

Interviews with US Soccer legends Brandi Chastain and Alex Morgan are exciting but minimal- mainly their reaction to seeing the crowds of 110,000 at the final (while ‘unofficial’, still the largest attended women’s sporting event on record), before the film ends with a rousing recap of how far Women’s Football has come in the last few decades.

Arriving at the perfect time in Perth when the Matildas’ World Cup and Olympic qualifier heroics is fresh in the mind, plus more gripping soccer/football drama to consume after Beckham, Copa 71 will intrigue soccer fans old and new with its story of this infamous event.

4 out of 5 stars

Copa 71 is playing as part of the Perth Festival, and runs from Monday 20 - Sunday 26th November at UWA Somerville Auditorium. Check out the film festival program and get your tickets here.