Over the past few years, that has started to shift, largely because of people like Jacqui, who has been documenting the creativity of female football fans for the last decade with her photography project Girlfans. “I’d hit a decade mark with Girlfans, which started that conversation about the visibility of female fans,” she explains. “But now there are so many amazing platforms that do that – Her Game Too, Premier Lasses, This Fan Girl. We’re really well catered for now. People are out there doing so many amazing things. I thought, ‘Oh, I’d love to do something where we bring all of these people together.’”

The end result of that initial spark of an idea was the Get Your Kits Out festival, which is buzzing when I turn up at the host venue on the outskirts of Liverpool’s city centre. Jacqui has invited grassroots designers, football memorabilia resellers, local grassroots women’s teams and more to come and sell their wares. Local club Aggregate FC have matchday scarves on display, and I spot another stall selling hair scrunchies made out of old shirts. People visiting the festival are mostly wearing football shirts, styled in unique and creative ways; the majority are Liverpool or Everton given the location, but I spot plenty of others, including a vintage purple Fiorentina shirt and a 1986 England strip.

Jacqui sees this creativity as a democratisation of the scene. “For a long time, the clubs and the global brands had a real monopoly on football shirts,” she says. “There’s now so many women out there designing at the top level for global sports brands, but also at lower levels in terms of just like customising something for themselves or for their friends. I really wanted to tap into that because I think it’s important that they have a say in the culture.”

One person leaning into customisation at the festival is Liv, founder of micro-fashion brand OOLALAY. She buys second-hand football shirts and adapts them, adding hyper-feminine details like lace and bows. She tells me that the idea came from the love of football shirts as a fashion item, rather than a passion for any specific team. “I was always really interested in football shirts – I just love all the colours,” she says. “Regardless of whether you even watch football, they’re just so wearable.”

In particular, Women’s EURO 2022 is mentioned by many panel members as a significant turning point, marking a sea change in attitudes. “Everything changed after the EURO final,” says Caoimhe O’Neill, a journalist for The Athletic. “It felt like a revolution. People who weren’t interested before were then respecting these players. And now female players are on the cover of magazines, and they have stylists and have massive designers dress them. It’s great to see that power shift.”

Another speaker, fashion writer Sophie Benson, reflects on how that has trickled down to fans of women’s football. “Women’s football feels like a newer phenomenon which lets people express their fandom in more creative and open ways. In women’s football, it feels more OK to be a bit more of a football novice and express yourself differently.”

Fandom and expression are also at the heart of the festival’s photography exhibition, Who Are Ya?, which showcases the work of female photographers using football to explore wider themes of identity and community. Curated by Zoë Hitchen, formerly of Bury FC, and produced by the host of The Missing Madonna podcast, Olivia Graham, the exhibition, which features at various venues across the city, includes a number of local photographers such as Sarah Deboe – co-founder of the Everton-inspired MINT Collective – as well as international artists like Erica Voget, whose Cuerpas Reales, Hinchas Reales (Real Bodies, Real Fans) is exhibiting in the UK for the first time.

“I think we’ve moved into a space with women’s football where you can do what you want because it’s kind of your game,” Jacqui concludes. “There’s more of an ownership: this is my team and I can dress how I want.”