Meet the women following Northern Ireland at Euro 2016 in France

Northern Ireland have joined England and Wales in the knockout stages of Euro 2016.

That means thousands of fans from the home nations will be in France a little bit longer.

But a pattern has emerged on Newsbeat's travels across the country covering the tournament. The majority of fans are men.

Yes, OK. It's hardly surprising. But the sheer ratio of male to female supporters got us thinking.

So, what is it like being a female fan at Euro 2016?

"We love it, it's been great so far," says Aimee Millar from Coleraine.

Aimee and Amy - simple

"We couldn't wait to get here. There aren't very many females here but we love it."

Aimee and her friend Amy flew out to France after watching Northern Ireland's earlier group games on TV.

Despite expecting to be outnumbered by male supporters, they told Newsbeat they were shocked by just how many blokes there were.

"When we got off the plane in Paris, we did notice that we were the only girls in Northern Ireland tops," says Amy.

In the locations Newsbeat has visited during the tournament, it has been noticeable how few female fans there have been.

While thousands of people from the UK have headed to places like Marseille, Nice, Lens and Paris, the majority have been men.

And in each of those places we have seen examples of stereotypical "laddish" behaviour.

"Yeah, we totally got comments like: 'Are you actually going to the Northern Ireland match?'" says Amy.

"They were shocked we were here."

Welsh fans were happy after they beat Russia 3-0 and finished above England in Group B

England fans looking a little muddy there in Paris

While Aimee and Amy are making their first trip abroad to follow their team, Jackie Cullinan has been travelling to support Northern Ireland for more than 10 years.

"It's fine being a female in this environment because you're just one of the crowd," she tells Newsbeat.

"When lads sing and chant at females in this environment, it's just part of the craic.

"We've seen our fans singing when the French girls go past but it's all fine."

The opening week of Euro 2016 was marred by violence between opposing fans and local French people.

But Jackie, from Ballymena, says she hasn't felt threatened or intimidated.

"You're with a lot of guys and nothing is going to happen to you and it has never been a problem for me."

Northern Ireland fans were also glued to a big screen at the Titanic fan zone in Belfast

Despite the trouble dominating the headlines in the first few days of the tournament, the game's governing bodies will hope it hasn't put supporters off attending major tournaments.

The growth in the women's game certainly suggests there is an appetite among female fans.

"We saw people's Snapchats and [it] just made us realise we couldn't miss this tournament," says Amy.

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