Ciara Watling: Palace fans are 'best in the league'

<html><head></head><body>While Crystal Palace has become renowned nationwide for its now-famous support on the terraces of Selhurst Park and at stadia across the country, perhaps fewer football fans are aware of its sister side and their very own, hard-core, equally vocal fanbase.
Though ladies&#39; football has taken on far more followers in recent years, it&#39;s still an unfortunate truth that attending a game of women&#39;s football typically means missing some of the colour and sound of the men&#39;s half of the sport.
But down at Hayes Lane, it&#39;s an entirely different picture.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
🏟 | Tonight’s official attendance is 786. Thank you all for your support 👊 <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/cplfc?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#cplfc</a> <a href="https://t.co/45OOnrvJ9h">pic.twitter.com/45OOnrvJ9h</a>
— Crystal Palace L.F.C (@PalaceLadiesFC) <a href="https://twitter.com/PalaceLadiesFC/status/1098698516787015681?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 21, 2019</a></blockquote>
And Watling, who has been with the Eagles for nearly three years now, sees it every month.
&#34;We have fans who come to every game at home, we definitely have the best fans in the league,&#34; she said.
&#34;It’s encouraging for us and I know it’s a cliché but they become the twelfth player. Having them there, all the other teams comment on it. The fans, the players, they say how lucky we are to have that support behind us.&#34;
One issue, however, can perhaps see the blame laid at Watling&#39;s door as, focussed on the game mid-match, she&#39;d been missing a certain chant all season...
&#34;They do sing something [about me] but I’m too focussed to ever hear what they say!&#34;
If anyone does know, let us know...
Or for any more perceptive listeners out there, pick out Watling&#39;s song with a chance to hear the famous Ladies&#39; support in person coming up this Sunday. With the Eagles set to play their last home clash of the season against Charlton Athletic Women, Selhurst Park is opening up its turnstiles to host the red and blues and offer fans the opportunity to show their vociferous backing amongst the terraces of SE25.
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&#34;We really want to finish on a high,&#34; Watling said. &#34;We want to show the Palace fans what we can do because maybe a few who haven’t seen us this season would find it good to come down. It would be good for them to see us because they might look at it and say: ‘well, they’re second from bottom,’ but seeing what we can do would be good for their outlook on what they think about us.
&#34;Come down to see us, you can see how much passion we have for the club, how hard-working all of our players are and it’s a good experience if you haven’t seen a women’s football game before, which most people haven’t.
&#34;It’s good to come and watch to see the level that women’s football is at now which maybe fans have had portrayed as something else. It’s a good experience, it’s a family day out which is very welcoming to everyone.&#34;
So, to show your support one last time for Watling and the rest of the Ladies squad, make sure to <a href="https://tickets.cpfc.co.uk/events.aspx" target="_blank">grab your ticket for today&#39;s match now</a>. Tickets cost £5 if bought in advance and under-16s can come along for free. <a href="https://tickets.cpfc.co.uk/events.aspx" target="_blank">Buy here now</a>!
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"Their support, their singing, their songs for us - most women’s teams don’t actually get that," argues Ciara Watling.

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