The traffic gave the occasion away. More than an hour ahead of the 7.30pm kick-off between Cardiff City Women and Abergavenny Women in the Adran Premier, a queue of cars had piled up one behind the other on Leckwith Road just outside McDonald’s, waiting to be ushered to the appropriate car park outside Cardiff City Stadium.
The queue was small, but huge. In the same way that printed team sheets with the Cardiff City crest making their rounds through the press box was small but huge. Or the scoreboard to the left of the Canton Stand being turned on, with both teams' names programmed into the iridescent red lettering.
Or the plethora of ball girls, in lieu of ball boys, peppering the ground, clutching steaming hot cups of liquid warmth as they sat fearlessly cross-legged in the rain watching players who looked just like them play football in front of a baying crowd. A small, easily missed detail. But simultaneously huge.
