87,192 fans crowed into Wembley to witness England’s Lionesses win the EUROs for the very first time vanquishing Germany who were on track to win for the 9th time. The television audience was 17.4 million probably another record.
Not only did England win the tournament but Beth Mead won the Player of the Tournament and the Gold Boot – an amazing achievement.
So many people have enjoyed this tournament, the way in which the teams have conducted themselves and the way the Lionesses play, the passion and the sheer enjoyment.
People who have never watched football before have told me how much they have enjoyed watching England play and how it has brought joy at such a difficult time. Others have said they now prefer watching the women play. I have always believed that the women’s game just needed the visibility and showing the tournament on terrestrial TV has certainly done that.
I started this website because I was frustrated at the lack of coverage of women’s sport and the way in which it was treated as an afterthought, with sportswomen putting up with inferior facilities and being expected to be grateful for the crumbs that fell from the table of the men’s game.
I never thought I would see Wembley Way packed full of supporters on their way to the final of the Women’s EUROs. This tournament has given women’s sport a huge boost into the consciousness of the public and the Lionesses into the hearts of all the fans.
Hopefully it has also vanquished at least some of the dinosaurs who have, throughout the tournament, poured scorn on the women’s game and insisted that ‘no-one cares about women’s sport’.
The viewing figures speak for themselves and England’s women have won England’s first major trophy since the men lifted the World Cup in 1966. It is worth saying that the crowd yesterday was the biggest for any final of the EUROs ever.
However, it is a sad fact that England has been world-beating in its online abuse of our own team as a UEFA study shows that the Lionesses have received in excess of 10,000 abusive/sexist social media posts.
UEFA analysed 171,954 Twitter comments, 12,296 were considered to be abusive and 10,447 were directed at the England team. France were second in line with just 507 abusive messages. What does that say about the culture in our country?
Before the tournament EE launched a Hope United campaign to tackle online sexist hate and television ads ran throughout the tournament.
English footballer Lauren James implored abusers to consider how they would feel if it was their sister, daughter, girlfriend that was being targeted with this abuse and just think about how their actions impact players. Lauren herself has sadly suffered from sexist and racist abuse – it is not acceptable for any player to receive any abuse at all.
But now the momentum is with the women’s game and let us hope that this will bring a change in attitude.
For now we can enjoy the impact of the tournament and appreciate this team. For the longer term we can look forward to the World Cup and the excitement and anticipation it will bring.
I hope little girls all across the Europe will be inspired and encouraged to play – that will be a wonderful legacy.
Lead photo shows Chloe Kelly playing for England at U17 – her passion is still there!
