The real challenge is not to identify the next generation of England women footballers – it is to reach the millions of girls who weren’t watching on SundayFew sporting occasions come more inspirational than the England Lionesses’ historic victory at the European Championship. There is again uplifting talk of a legacy, a cultural shift and positive social change that can come from this. But we need to admit that we have had nights like this and talked like this before. Super Saturday at London 2012 springs to mind.There was lofty talk of legacies and inspiring a nation then, too. But as recent reviews of London 2012 have shown, from Tony Blair to UK Sport performance architect Peter Keen to the...
The Euro 2022 triumph means the world to me and all the writers who have witnessed this team’s incredible riseWhen the final whistle went at the end of extra time, I pressed send on my on-the-whistle match report, put my face in my hands and sobbed. Big, loud, heart-rending, back-arching sobs.It was not the first time I had cried around the Lionesses’ stunning, swaggering run to a first major tournament trophy and I have not really stopped since. Continue reading...
The difference between England in the Euro 2009 final and now is like night and day and success could bring greater equalityNo one with the remotest shred of credibility can now dredge up the tired old suggestion that people simply aren’t interested in watching women’s football. Not after Sunday. After all sorts of attendance records tumbled and 87,000 turned up at Wembley to see England crowned European champions we have finally reached the point so many players, coaches and administrators have worked so hard to achieve for so many years.I was overjoyed on Sunday but I also found the experience of being at Wembley surreal. I played in the 2009 final in Finland when England lost 6-2 against Germany and...
Football needs to build on the momentum and capitalise after a month of packed stadiums and record TV audiencesWhat a journey it has been. There have been many bumps along the way to this historic victory that has created a group of European Championship-winning England legends. The journey does not stop because England have won. Now we have everyone’s attention we need to keep it going.I was overwhelmed by emotions after the final whistle. I did not anticipate that – it was unprecedented for me – but it shows how much it means to those who have been a part of England’s women’s football down the years. Continue reading...
This moment of great magnitude will never be forgotten with England’s players providing a glorious explosion of elationChloe Kelly could have run all the way to Hanwell if they would have let her. The place she was brought up alongside her seven siblings, crashing into each other in west London’s concrete cages, is only five miles from here but it would not have mattered if it was 500 the way she felt; the way all of them did. God, the noise. The explosion, the release, the everything. She had only gone and bloody done it. England had. She had scored the goal, the goal. The one they had been waiting for and for so long.England are European champions. Yes, England....