“Obviously we’re all wearing her jersey but she has made a massive difference for this team, she’s winning awards all around the world and has even just gotten nominated for two more and so I just think getting her name out there then filters through for the team and lets the whole team shine as a group. So her as an individual player and being captain of the team, she’s killing it out there.”

Many critics that Kerr and the team failed to ‘kill it’ when it mattered most, resulting in their premature exit from the World Cup.

While for the most part The Croissants and their Matildas jerseys have been welcomed everywhere they’ve gone they have come up against similar negativity.

“Last night some people were like; ‘why did you waste your money coming to the other side of the world, surely you didn’t think they were going to do well?’. But it’s comments like that that, we’re all supporting the same idea here, we’re all trying to support women’s football, regardless of what nationality we are- there’s no point shooting others down- we’ve come over and we could be from a team that’s not even here, we’ll come over and support the game.”

The girls have also noticed a rise in support from men that has seen the women’s game extend its reach beyond its traditional fan base.

“We had these three guys behind us talking about their favourite teams in the women’s champions league and all of us were standing there listening to this conversation and we were just loving it. We were like this is incredible to see that they are so passionate about a team which a lot of men are but they are usually men’s teams. It’s really important for the growth of the game.”

A lot of people put this down to there being less pretence in the women’s football.

“Leading up to the world cup when I was telling people that I was going there was quite a few people that were like I’ve actually been enjoying watching women’s sport. Because of the way women play it, it’s not so individual, it’s more a united sort of thing and there’s no diving. They really like the way women play because they’re happy to get in there in a 50/50 tackle and get up and keep going but the men do the big dive and- it’s just about them. We hope women’s sport doesn’t get to that and we got a taste for that with some games and we weren’t about it.”

However, this can be a bit of a double edged sword as female footballers seem to be subject to greater scrutiny when it comes to celebrating their achievements.

“In terms of showmanship girls get criticised ten times more than men. Like Rapinoe, if a guy did that, nothing whereas if a girl does that, they just get so much heat. Like some girls are just willing to cop it which is kind of great and then it’s understandable why some girls hold back because why would you put yourself through it?”  

The women who are putting themselves through that are the ones who are advancing the game. While France 2019 hasn’t been without its issues it has showcased the growing passion for women’s football.

It has brought fans of the game together it has given the next generation role models beyond those provided by the men’s game. It has given these women their moment to shine and a platform to keep on shining.

“We need to keep seeing fantastic women’s football on an international stage like you can’t get any better. We’re not even at the beginning, it’s a massive step forward and it’s just going to be an exponential thing with more and more people.”