Chatting with Corrigan

Ahead of the Fulham game last Sunday, Dave Rogers spoke to our American defender Erin Corrigan about her footballing journey and more!

You started your playing career in Milwaukee. How did you make your journey to Dulwich Hamlet?

I grew up just outside of Milwaukee, Wisconsin and spent 5 years playing college (university) soccer 20 minutes away from home. During college soccer I wasn’t able to take an Erasmus year, but I always knew that I wanted to experience living and playing abroad after I graduated!

An opportunity to teach English and to play semi-professional soccer in Madrid, Spain fell into my lap so I went with it! I was able to travel all over Spain with my team and play at a pretty competitive level! Something I will never forget.

After spending two years in Spain, I wanted a change of scenery but was still keen to experience living overseas. London had a few Masters programs I was interested in pursuing so I applied and got accepted! I moved to London last September and went to the University of East London for my MSc Sport Management degree and to play for the University team.

After a year playing for UEL, I definitely wanted to continue playing for a competitive club team and Dulwich Hamlet was the perfect fit!

What made you decide to sign for Dulwich Hamlet?

I briefly met Ryan Dempsey in the summer of 2021 when he was recruiting me to play for UEL! So having him as a connection was definitely helpful when I started thinking about playing for a club. I didn’t know much about Dulwich Hamlet but I learned so quickly about how great of a club it is. I don’t think I’ve ever been a part of a club with so much unique history and character. The tight-knit community, incredible fan base, and strong, progressive values of the club definitely make DHFC special.

My parents are also especially happy I chose Dulwich as they listen to the matchday radio broadcast every Sunday all the way from the States!

You got off to a flying start winning player of the month in both August and September. How did that feel?

Well I really wasn’t expecting it but nonetheless it felt very nice to be recognised! I have to give credit to and thank all of my teammates, the coaching staff, the fans and everyone else involved at the club for making me feel super welcome from day one. The support has given me confidence to bring my best both on and off the pitch each week.

What are the main difference between playing women’s football in the United States, Spain and the UK?

That’s a super tough question! Even though it’s the same sport, the styles of play and team mentality has been significantly different in each environment.

I would say the main difference I’ve noticed is the level of opportunity for young girls in the US. Growing up in Wisconsin, there were a number of competitive clubs (some even girls only) within miles of my home. This is something I know is a huge focal point for England and other European countries to prioritise and develop.

With that being said, I was really blown away with the amount of opportunity for women to continue playing football here. The structure, the tier system, and the sheer amount of competitive players that still enjoy the game as we get older. In the US, after your 4 year eligibility in college is done, there is very limited opportunity to continue playing (unless you’re in the top 2% and go on to play in the NWSL). So I feel very grateful that I am still playing in a competitive environment and feel a lot of joy doing it!

For differences on the field- I would say my teams in the US were very disciplined and tactically focused. My team in Spain had some of the best talent I have ever played with and an incredible amount of individual flair.

Dulwich Hamlet is a nice blend of both of these attributes, with a good balance of team strategy and tactics and also individual prowess.

I assume you were glued to the Women’s Euros in the summer which was an excellent showcase for the game! What positives do you see come out from it and what changes do you hope will come of it?

It was incredible!!! I went to two of the games and planned to go to the final but had some last minute travel plans back to the US.

For me, the beauty of women’s football is that it is its own market. We cannot simply just copy and paste everything over from men’s football. Women’s football attracts a completely different audience and generates a new and exciting fan experience. Female players offer an elevated level of relatability, genuineness, and spice to the world of sport. So I think the momentum from the Women’s Euros is a huge step in branding women’s football as its own experience, passion, way of life, separate from the men’s game.

Overall, I think this summer has already shown to be a huge domino effect for not only women’s football but all women’s sports! Having young girls and boys idolising the Lionesses will be incredibly significant in breaking down gender barriers in sport as their generation gets older.

We have seen slow and steady progress when it comes to supporting and investing in women’s sport- attending matches, buying merchandise, improving media representation, and ultimately driving commercial revenue. The Women’s Euros this summer and the World Cup next summer will most definitely accelerate this progression, but I think we need to continue pushing for more and more.

Do you have a team you support (aside from Dulwich Hamlet?)

This is a question I get all the time being American and I’ve never really been able to answer confidently! I’ve never had a Premier League team before even though my mom supports Manchester United. Growing up I just couldn’t hop on that bandwagon. I’ve supported League 1 side Plymouth Argyle for a while now. I half-heartedly say I support Chelsea only because my favourite men’s player is Christan Pulisic.

However! I have just started working for Crystal Palace so I can confidently say they are my premier league side and now have my heart!! Of course still third to Dulwich Hamlet and the USWNT.

Do you have a favourite player?

Women - Rose Lavelle (who I actually played against in college and very proud to say she did not score on me!!). Julie Ertz is a close second.

Men - Christian Pulisic

Any other passions/hobbies apart from football?

Reading, traveling, hiking, recording podcasts, keeping up my Spanish as much as possible, craft beer, exploring London, supporting women’s sports any chance I have, and hanging out with Dulwich teammates!

We have made club history by making it through to the first round proper of the FA Cup. The fans want to know. Are Dulwich going to win the FA Cup?

YES!!!! Who doesn’t love an underdog!

Sixty Years of Hurt… and How to Build the Next Sixty Years

On 31st July, everything changed. England’s 56 year medal drought came to an end, thanks to the efforts of a group of women who wouldn’t even have been allowed to compete in the decade when England last won a gold medal. The Lionesses, fierce, joyful and freed from the hubristic hopelessness of self-serving dullard Phil Neville, strode through the Euros laying waste to all they met, and won the whole damn thing with a 2-1 victory over Germany, in poetic symmetry with the 1966 final. Sarina Wiegman became the heir apparent to the monarchy, Leah Williamson, Chloe Kelly and Beth Mead finally became household names, and millions of people watched women’s football all month and saw that it was good.

This overexcited idiot was there, from the group stage 8-0 massacre of Norway in Brighton to the righteous spectacle of a sold out Wembley, 87,192 fans bawling Sweet Caroline in teary unison as England finally overcame the formidable German team after a hard fought battle. This fan, who only fell giddily into women’s football three years ago during the World Cup 2019, was surrounded by tens of thousands of supporters approaching the stadium with anticipation and flooding out two hours later in joy and some disbelief - it actually happened! (I’m trying so hard not to use the words “f******l c**e h**e”). The last time I was at Wembley for a Lionesses/Germany game…. Well, Phil Neville was in charge. We’ll leave that there.

This Dulwich fan prowled Wembley Boxpark for hours after the final, cheerily waving at DHFCW players and pushing Hamlet flyers into the hands of hundreds of happy revellers. I’m happy to report that all but one small group were delighted to take flyers, and they turned out to be Clapton players. You can’t win ‘em all.

For football fans who don’t particularly follow the women’s game, the Euros might have felt like a glorious moment, a victory to be proud of, for sure; the elation, perhaps, when your team wins the FA Cup. But for we who have committed ourselves to women’s football - a reborn sport still fighting (inexplicably) for legitimacy, money, pitch access and airtime - this was life changing. When your reality is people muttering that you shouldn’t be playing; booked pitch time being bumped for men’s teams; struggling to find game broadcasts, however shonky; standing in empty fields and parks watching your team every week… When the message is, “women’s football is a niche interest”, imagine what it meant to be in that sold out stadium surrounded by woso newbies and stalwarts alike, and later that night, in a rammed Boxpark with every women’s football fan, player or writer you’ve ever met, raising a glass and singing together for hours.

For English fans of the women’s game, it felt like this: we’ve arrived. People finally understand what this means to us. The party and the energy continued into the wee small hours in pub gardens across Wembley. The hangovers lasted days.

A week later, this still dazed fan was on a plane to Seattle. When I’m not cheering on the pink’n’blue, I follow OL Reign, a club team in the American NWSL. My third trip there this year would see a rambunctious game against New York/New Jersey’s beleaguered Gotham FC, with World Cup legend Rose Lavelle and megastar Megan Rapinoe (who owns a Hamlet scarf - I will never shut up about this) running rampage to net a 4-1 win. European champions Olympique Lyonnais, who parent my Seattle club, showed up for a victory lap of the stadium, as fans took turns for photos with their trophy. What I find in Seattle, as well as a thriving sports scene, is community: a group of fans who show up for every single game, and organise to lead 7000+ people in cheering on their heroes. The Americans have their own way of doing it; someone takes the role of capo on a platform at the front of the home end, leading the chants, and a brass band marches to the stadium, accompanies the songs and ad-libs comedy trombone bits when the enemy keeper screws up. There are giant tifos, hand-painted by an army of fans over several days and flown before kickoff, and there are fans in inflatable dinosaur suits. It’s a different approach! But universally, what it creates is community. I have a family over there now, and we all root for the same team.

Some of them also now root for the Hamlet. Plus, they always let me hang a Dulwich flag at games.

And we’re starting to build that for DHFCW. The legendary Rabble have been crucial for the success and popularity of the men’s team over the years, and have been instrumental in why the club punches well above its weight in attendance among its peers. I’ve been to almost every women’s home game since the team first pulled on Dulwich colours, and from the early games I’ve seen a committed group of people show up regularly, home and away. That’s where it starts.

Dulwich Hamlet Women play their first home game of the season this Sunday at Champion Hill, and it would mean so much to see people turn out in bigger numbers than ever for their home season opener.

If the overwhelming joy of the Euros win inspired you, if you want to feel that pride more often, help us grow the support the women’s team deserves. If you’re already coming to lots of the games - great! Would you like to wave a flag on the terraces? We’ve made one and will make more. Can you bring more friends with you? Can we get some chants going specifically for the Hamlet women? If you’re a more occasional attendee, we’re really happy that you’re here. We hope you’ll come back! The more often you show up, the bigger we can build support for the team. The Pepper Army needs you!

Every single Lioness that lifted that trophy in July was once a girl looking for somewhere to play. A youthful Ellen White had to fight to be allowed to take part. Off the back of the Euros, WSL teams have sold out season tickets and expect full stadiums this season - but there’s only twelve teams in the league. Football begins and grows from the grassroots, from the hundreds of accessible, independently run non-league clubs in every part of the country.

At Champion Hill we’re fiercely proud of our tenacious, creative, talented women’s team. This season we want to see more bums on seats than ever, and we want to grow that crowd of devoted regulars to a supporter base that you can hear from the Elephant and Castle. Football came home (there, I said it), and it lives in SE22. Stay with us, and help us build something beautiful and lasting that reminds people how vital and fantastic the women’s game is at every level. Forward the Hamlet!

And as always: keep it spicy!

Dulwich Hamlet Women play Sutton United this Sunday 4th September, 2pm at Champion Hill.