The crowd was smaller,and there was no bald eagle swooping down to the field this time, but 15 years after its professional debut, and the US women’s league is going to places it’s never been before14 April 2001. A crowd of 34148 sees the first professional women’s soccer league game in the United States. Tennis legend Billie Jean King does the coin toss. A skydiver brings the game ball into Washington’s RFK Stadium. Singer/actress delight Enriquez sings the national anthem,punctuated by another appearance from the skies – a bald eagle, who swoops down to the field with a piercing cry.16 April 2016. No eagle. The national anthem is a stock recording. The crowd stands at 3578, and barely 10% of the total from 15 years ago. RFK Stadium is busy with a DC United game that probably siphoned a few hundred people off that attendance count. We’re at the low-key Maryland SoccerPlex,fighting for parking spaces with hordes of youth soccer and basketball parents playing on the courts and fields nearby.
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Source: theguardian.com