Football has been part of my life for as long as I can remember. Some of my best memories are standing on the terraces at Goodison Park with my brother. The journey there, the anticipation as you got close to the ground, the noise as you walked up the steps and saw the pitch, then talking about absolutely nothing else for the whole way home.
A Childhood of Football and Rivalry
In April 1984, I got on a coach from Ashton town centre to watch Everton in the FA Cup semi final at Highbury. In the early hours of the following morning, we pulled back onto the high street where my dad was waiting to collect me. "Did you have a good day?" "Brilliant." "Did you behave yourself?" "Of course." "So that wasn't you I saw running across the pitch on Match of the Day then?" Well, at least it wasn't a field of wheat…
Growing up in Culcheth, roughly halfway between Manchester and Liverpool, the Burnhams were the only match going Everton family in an otherwise Liverpool supporting village. Believe me when I tell you that the school playground was a tough place to be a Toffee in the 1970s and 80s, the most successful period in our great rival's history.
The Unifying Power of the World Cup
And every four years, when the World Cup comes around, it feels like the entire country is on that rollercoaster together. Fierce club rivalries that normally divide our towns and cities down the middle are put aside. In the pubs, sports clubs and living rooms across the country, we share every minute of the highs and lows. For those few special weeks, we're brought together by the faintest of hopes that this could, just could, be our year.
That's why football matters to me. Not because of the results, I'd have definitely chosen a more successful team to support if that was the case! But because it has the ability to bring people together with a shared sense of community and place. Whether it's a local pub team playing on a muddy Sunday morning, or England holding its breath as Harry Kane steps up to take a penalty. These are our teams, forged in our communities, representing our places.
Greater Manchester's Commitment to Football
That's also why I've always cared about making sure more people get the chance to be part of the game. As Mayor, we set up Greater Manchester's Women's Football Board, pushed for girls to have equal access to football in schools and backed better grassroots facilities. Because football is at its best when everyone has the chance to play, belong and be part of something bigger than themselves.
The World Cup takes that feeling and puts it on the biggest stage of all. It brings together players and teams from every corner of the globe, different languages and cultures, but every player pulling on the shirt for their national team. Representing their country on the world stage.
As fans, it's the reason we feel so moved when our teams step onto the pitch. Eleven players representing millions of people back home, cheering them on from our sofas, or occasionally behind them. Players from every corner of the country, carrying the hopes of an entire nation on their shoulders.
Shared Experiences in a Divided World
Sometimes it can feel like these moments, when the entire country comes together, are few and far between nowadays. I'm old enough to remember when the nation held its breath as Dirty Den served Angie with divorce papers on EastEnders, or the collective gasps as they revealed who shot J.R. in Dallas. But in a world where we have unlimited possibilities at our fingertips, those shared experiences have become rarer.
That's why this World Cup has made me feel hopeful. Not just because Harry Kane has brought his shooting boots and Jordan Pickford is having the tournament of his life. But because the whole country feels like it's going on the same journey together. Parents letting kids stay up until the early hours to watch the games live; pub goers cheering a re run of Pointless on the big screen because they don't want the party to end.
Sometimes it can feel like we're living in an increasingly divided country and the political turbulence of the last decade certainly hasn't helped. But in moments like this, it reminds us of how much we have in common.
