A number of Rainbow Devils members made the trip to Wembley on the 12th and 25th May to watch the United womens’ and mens’ teams claim victory and lift both of this season’s FA Cup Trophies.
The Rainbow Devils banner was loud and proud at Wembley Stadium on 12th May as Manchester United Women secured United’s first Women’s FA Cup title with four phenomenal goals against Tottenham Hotspur, and a few RD members met up before and after the game.
A couple of weeks later at the mens’ final, RD members arranged another meet up before kick off, when a determined Manchester United defied the odds with a stunning, disciplined victory against Manchester City to claim their 13th Men’s FA Cup.
One Rainbow Devils member commented: “It’s fair to say that with the possible exception of Pete, the other 9 of us round the table before the game were fearing the worst for the match itself. 3-0 and 4-1 seemed the best outcome we could hope for in defeat. Pete was adamant we would win and on the day Carl made a prescient 1-2 prediction.”
Except it was not to be. United came out of the blocks unusually quick, making numerous inroads into City’s defence. The team had a few encouraging chances before Alejandro Garnacho capitalised on an embarrassing mix up to put us 1-0 up. A phenomenal team goal netted by Kobbie Mainoo saw us 2-0 up by half time.
Overall it’s been a season with it’s fair share of challenges and disappointments on the pitch, but United’s double FA Cup victory has given us all something to celebrate as we head into the summer break, and hopefully a sign of more to come.
Off the pitch, our supporters’ club has grown from strength to strength. This season in our 5th anniversary year, Rainbow Devils have run 6 post/pre-match socials, a premier league away game watchalong in Manchester, marched in Manchester’s Pride Parade, participated in MUTV’s One Love documentary and the UTD Podcast, as well as attending the Football vs. Homophobia Awards (where Manchester United won the Professional Club award). We also celebrated our anniversary with the club at December’s ‘One Love Live’ event and a spectacular pitch day in June at Old Trafford. We have set up a members’ facebook group and grown our membership to over 1700.
We’d like to say a huge thank you to all of our members who’ve helped Rainbow Devils grow and got involved in events and activities over the past few months. We’d also like to say a massive thank you to the players and staff at Manchester United for everything they’ve done to celebrate the club’s diverse fan base and champion inclusivity throughout the season.
We hope all our members have a fantastic summer and we look forward to posting details of events and plans for the 2024/25 season in the coming weeks and months. Watch this space!
