Sit down, Adele. Back off, Tom Holland and Jude Law. Tottenham Hotspur supporters have a new Ray of Light. 1980s pop superstar Madonna was spotted in the stands at Sunday’s Tottenham Hotspur Women match against Chelsea at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, taking in the match alongside members of her family and entourage. The Material Girl, 67, told the Daily Mirror that she took her “second Uber ever” up to North London to catch the match at Spurs’ home ground, which unfortunately ended a 2-0 Spurs loss to the six time reigning WSL champions (match report coming later). It’s official — Spurs are now Vogue.
But why was she there at all? Well, in what appears to be one of the biggest Spurs secrets I can remember in a hot minute, two of Madonna’s adopted children, twins Stella and Estere, are both enrolled in Tottenham Women’s academy and she posted a couple of shots on Instagram while at the Spurs Women U14 match at the training ground earlier that day. After the U14 match, a 5-0 win, she opted to visit the stadium to watch the WSL match vs. Chelsea.
If you’re a borderline geriatric Gen-Xer like me, then you remember what a massive cultural icon Madonna was… and is… but especially was. Her music was staggeringly popular in the 1980s and 1990s, and as a musical artist she was part of the cultural zeitgeist in a way that’s almost impossible to recreate today in a musical societal structure that is fractured post-MTV. Madonna recaptured some of that massive popularity with a series of releases in the early 2000s, but has essentially retired from performing in recent years. That said, I watched Bad Bunnys Super Bowl halftime show last night and it was impossible to watch the guest appearance by Lady Gaga and not think to myself that Gaga would not be here if not for the path that Madonna blazed.
But that’s secondary to the fact that OMG Madonna was in the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium for a Spurs Women match squeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! And not only that, it kinda rules that there are two literal Material Girls in Tottenham’s academy.
“I knew she was here today. Two of her daughters are in the academy. She’s been down here and watched a lot of games. Two of her daughters are in the Spurs academy. Having people like that at the game supporting the Spurs Women is vital for us. Hopefully, I’ll be able to meet her now, having people like that at the game is unique for us as a team.”
A new Spurs celebrity is certainly something to Cherish. It’s good that we are all able to Live to Tell this story, and hopefully she can Open [her] Heart to Spurs fully and she won’t end up simply being a Beautiful Stranger.