Rachel Furness is unequivocal. “If, 10 years ago, you’d told me Windsor Park would sell out for a women’s international, I’d have laughed,” says Northern Ireland’s midfield playmaker. “I’d have said you were joking but qualifying for the Euros has worked wonders.”
So much so that a record crowd of 15,348 gathered in Belfast in April to see Kenny Shiels’s side lose 5-0 to England in a World Cup qualifier. Undeterred by a somewhat chastening second half, locals offered Furness and her teammates a resounding ovation as, after the final whistle, Ben E King’s classic Stand by Me boomed out of Windsor Park’s sound system.
