England’s win will be a seismic moment for women’s game – there’s no danger of it being shoved back to the sidelines
A NATION drooling over the sauciest of back-heels.
An eight-year-old schoolgirl called Tess capturing the zeitgeist by dancing deliriously to Sweet Caroline in the Bramall Lane stands.
Ian Wright demanding, to a prime-time BBC audience of 9.3MILLION, that all girls must be given proper opportunities to play football at schools.
And England’s Lionesses plastered across front and back pages.
Tuesday provided a seismic, breakthrough moment for the English women’s game as Sarina Wiegman’s side hammered world-ranked No 2 Sweden 4-0 to reach Sunday’s Euros final.
It feels as if there is no danger of the women’s game being shoved back to the sidelines after this.
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The nation have embraced the Lionesses, while sceptics and sexists will struggle to ignore, insult or patronise women’s football from now on.
Who could have watched England supersub Alessia Russo nutmegging Swedish goalkeeper Hedvig Lindahl with a back-heel and still question the levels of technique, or imagination, in the elite female game?
England captain Leah Williamson says the team are feeling the support of the nation as they prepare for Sunday’s final at Wembley and are fully embracing it.
Arsenal ace Williamson, 25, said: “To walk out on to that pitch [at Bramall Lane] was an incredible feeling and I can imagine at the weekend that will be incredible as well.
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“I’ve got a scarf around my neck which says ‘Home is where the heart is’ and to have our families on this journey, to walk out at Wembley, I think that is something we really have to take in. I want to appreciate it.
“I am not much of a smiler pre-game, I keep it pretty much ‘game face’, because I am focused.
“But the last two national anthems in the quarter-final and semi-final, I can’t help but smile because it feels amazing. I know I have a job to do but who says I can’t enjoy those moments and the team can’t enjoy those moments?
“I hope that we are giving off that vibe [of relishing the atmosphere].
“It’s genuine and the crowd can enjoy that with us.
“I hope that the crowd at Wembley is going to have as good a time as we are going to have, because I promise you, we will enjoy it.
“We are changing the game — that’s what has happened.”
Williamson was quick to praise some of the pioneers of the English women’s game, including former captain Carol Thomas, 67, as well as Jill Scott, 35, and 33-year-old Ellen White.
The latter two are veteran members of the current squad, who inspired her as the sport moved into the professional era.
But what of the next generation of aspiring players?
And what of Wright’s demand about increased access to football for girls in schools?
Well, given that PE has long been under-funded and under-appreciated in state schools — for boys and girls across all sports — the pathway to the top remains difficult.
Note, for example, how cricket has failed to capitalise on supposed ‘breakthrough moments’ like the 2005 Ashes and 2019 World Cup, due to a woeful lack of opportunities to play the sport at non-fee-paying schools.
Helen Marshall, whose daughter Matilda plays for MK Dons Under-14s, told me that football is not offered to girls in PE lessons at her Cambridgeshire secondary school — though a girls’ school team exists through the lucky existence of one motivated teacher.
The recent scrapping of FA ‘accelerated coaching centres’ outside of major urban areas has been controversial and could be counterproductive — leading to the prospect of a postcode lottery for talented players who do not live close to Women’s Super League clubs.
Matilda progressed through boys’ club football throughout her primary school years, with the girls’ club game still patchy in terms of accessibility and standard.
And racial diversity in the elite women’s game has regressed.
Wiegman’s starting 11 for each game at the Euros has been all-white.
This is partly due to the fact that, since the WSL began in 2011, women’s teams have moved their bases out of cities and into the leafy suburbs.
These are all significant problems as the women’s game looks to seize the opportunity provided by the Lionesses.
But the impact of this summer’s tournament, so widely broadcast and reported on, promises to be immense.
Significant growth in attendances, coverage and pay in the women’s professional game is more than likely now.
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If Tess and her mates wish to follow in the footsteps of Williamson and her team- mates, opportunities will surely grow.
These Lionesses are not merely winners but genuine game changers.
