Rachel Corsie hopes Scotland’s women have earned a loyal backing after their Hampden Park send-off.
A record crowd for a women’s game of 18,555 turned out to watch the Scots beat Jamaica 3-2, in their final game before the World Cup in France.
Aberdonian Corsie, the national team captain, has seen first-hand the work that went in to get a platform such as that, with players also doing their bit to ensure as many tickets were sold as possible.
The previous record crowd as 4,098 – set against Switzerland in Paisley last year – and fans were still streaming into the national stadium after kick-off on Tuesday night.
It was the first women’s international at Hampden since October 2012 and Corsie believed they more than earned their opportunity.
She said: “We know there’s a community in the women’s football world and they turned out. The encouragement they gave us was huge. We work so hard and it was just an opportunity to enjoy the night. Hopefully we’ve earned some fans that’ll come back again.
“The crowd were incredible – the girls deserved that as we’d worked hard the last 18 months to put ourselves in this position. The SFA have given us the opportunity to play at the national stadium and to play in front of such a crowd was special.
“It didn’t surprise me. The players have worked extremely hard – we wanted to get the fans in. The players personally reached out to schools, friends, family; we wanted to push numbers. We know they support us and sometimes you have to do the groundwork.
“A few of us have had that experience but for a number of them it will be their first time. It’s a different feeling to play at their national stadium and I’m sure it’s an experience that will live with them for a long time.”
They also had some high-profile guests come into the dressing room at full-time, with men’s national team coach Steve Clarke, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and Judy Murray addressing Shelley Kerr’s team.
Corsie added: “It just shows how far we’ve come. People with such a high-profile want to come and support us. They are there for us too and it lifts our confidence going into next week.”
Scotland head out to France next week, ahead of the opening fixture against England in Nice on June 9. Their other two opponents in the group are Japan and Argentina, with Corsie feeling they are in the best shape possible to compete at their first World Cup.
She said: “The whole year has been good. We’ve had some good opposition, playing different styles of teams. We’ve given ourselves challenges, which prepare us well. There’s still work to be done and we’ve got to make best use of our time now, so we’ll be ready come June 9.
“We have ambitions to get out of the group and from then on in, the draw can go many ways. In one-off games anyone can win and we won’t limit ourselves.
“I’m still trying to savour the experiences. It can be hard to live in the moment but I think the team knows, that we need to enjoy it as much as we can. We need to recognise the achievement we’ve done in qualifying and we are going there to do well.”
