Jan Emms
Jan got interested in football whilst playing with her two older brothers. Despite living near Arsenal football ground, Jan was a Spurs supporter. She was living in Biggleswade and joined Harry Batt’s team, Chiltern Valley, where she was centre forward in the team which won most of their matches. Jan has a lot of respect for Harry who worked so hard to get the team to Mexico. At 19 Jan was one of the oldest to make the trip and although she was working she got her employer’s backing.
Jan has memories of the match against Mexico, of walking out of the tunnel to the noise of 100,000 people when they had been used to playing to one man and his dog. But it was the match against Argentina which resulted in injuries to the team including broken legs.
On her return Jan was banned for 6 months. She returned to play for a short while and much enjoyed the reunion with her team mates after 48 years. They met in Lincoln but had been unable to trace two of the players but were helped by BBC researchers. Later they appeared on the One Show where some footage was shown.
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