Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Reflections on the Women’s Euros 2022, with added book recommendations.

There are moments when it feels like change is happening and there have been several of those for women’s football over the past decade, but the Women’s Euros of 2022 hosted in England feels like a hugely significant addition to that list.

Millions of football fans have been watching the games on television, no doubt helped by them being shown on free to air terrestrial television rather than behind the paywall of a subscription service, and record crowds have been flocking to stadia around the country to watch in person.

The opening game saw England play before a record crowd at an Old Trafford stadium that roared them to victory and before the group stages had finished the tournament attendance exceeded all previous figures for the entire championship. The notion that there isn’t a market for women’s football has been blown out of the water.

It has been a very accessible tournament with live coverage of all the games across the BBC and spread around the country’s venues, but it has also been a tournament of high-quality football. Unsurprisingly, as investment has flowed into the game the quality has improved and the interest of audiences has increased.

A particular highlight for me was the introduction of Netherland’s goalkeeper Daphne van Domselaar as a substitute in their opening game, making only her second appearance for her country. Van Domselaar went on to shine repeatedly as the Netherlands made it through to the Quarter-final stage, losing to France in extra time, and provided a wonderful rebuttal of the traditional and lazy trope that goalkeepers in women’s football are terrible, or the patronising call for smaller goals.

Goalkeeper is a specialist position that needs specialist coaching. As with everything in the women’s game that has been stunted for many current players due to the attitude of the Associations over the years, but it is now coming for the new generation of keepers. It’s not about the size of the goal it’s about investment in the development of players. There has been some excellent keeping in this tournament, not least from Nottingham’s Mary Earps for England, and it will just get better with each new age group.

*

In 2016 I joined Nottingham Forest Women as Treasurer. It was a real lesson in how hard the women’s game has had to work for every scrap of recognition it receives. The club was breaking down under the strain and the people within it were asking themselves whether it was possible to continue. Forest was an historic club that had shown before that it could thrive, but it had been let down time and again by those who should have been building it up.

We were able to keep going, bring in some new sponsorship and piece together something to build off at just the right time, with the men’s club undergoing a change of ownership in the summer of 2017, but there were people putting themselves through a huge amount of stress and draining hard work to make sure that the foundations remained in place in the hope that a better future might be possible in years to come. They did so without fuss or reward, for the love of this game and at personal cost.

Fortunately, the new ownership at Forest were interested and we were able to work together on integrating with them. Although we had shared the name for almost 30 years the clubs had always been separate, so it was a huge step forward for the women’s team to be acknowledged and brought into the wider Forest family. As we came together the benefits were very clear with investment coming through both hard cash and better access to kit and equipment, marketing and commercial activities.

At times it remained frustrating, we were still a side project so could easily be forgotten or put to one side as bigger priorities took hold but having a direct connection to the club made a huge difference and in 2019 this became even stronger with the appointment of a full time General Manager. It was at this point that I stepped away with my role largely redundant now that an experienced GM was in place.

Sadly, Covid-19 had an impact and when the General Manager moved on to a new opportunity he wasn’t replaced. A full time Head Coach does remain, but hopefully now that the men’s team has been promoted to the Premier League and have many tens of millions to spend on new players some more investment will find it’s way to the women’s side to help them make their next step too.

*

Of course, as an English football fan it has been the performances of the Lionesses that has stood out for me. The great strength of this team is that they have genuine quality in depth and the whole squad contributes under the astute leadership of Sarina Wiegman.

One of the highlights of my time at Forest Women was the opportunity to visit Manchester City. Gavin Makel, the Head of Women’s Football at City, was so welcoming even though we were a million miles away from them in our essentially grassroots environment. He was passionate about growing the game though and as a result I was able to see what can be achieved through commitment and investment. City’s set up was hugely impressive and their respect for women’s football outstanding. I remain hugely grateful to Gavin and City for their generosity in opening their doors to us.

Two young players in City’s ranks at that time were Georgia Stanway and Keira Walsh and it has been brilliant to watch them shining so brightly on the international stage in this tournament. Stanway has been at the centre of some key moments in games, whilst Walsh has been the metronome of the side, pulling strings in midfield, winning possession, picking passes and setting the tempo.

The quarter-final victory over Spain highlighted the resilience and depth of the England squad as they overcame a tough opponent in a hard-fought game through a late equalising goal from Manchester United starlet Ella Toone and a thunderbolt extra time winner from Stanway. Both the celebrations of the crowd in Brighton’s Community Stadium and my own fist punching, visceral cry were as emotional and passionate as any for Gareth Southgate’s Euro 2020 finalists.

The scoreline in the semi-final, a 4-0 victory for the Lionesses, probably needs contextualising so that it isn’t dismissed. Sweden are ranked 2nd in the world in the FIFA rankings and hadn’t lost a game in 90 minutes for a very long time. In the first half you could see their quality but they didn’t take their chances and Mary Earps was also in fine form to deny them when their finishing was sharper. Having found a way through themselves late in that half through Beth Mead, however, England were rampant in the second period and their football was both beautiful and ruthless.

All of this set up a final against Germany, a team that had dispatched France in the other semi-final in a very German style. With England never having won a major tournament and Germany the holders of eight previous European Championships it was as big a game as could be imagined and it proved a very tough one. Arguably Germany were the better side over the 120 minutes of the game with extra time, but we saw both the brilliance and resilience of England as they won through.

Keira Walsh’s exceptional long pass picked out Ella Toone for a wonderful lob to put England ahead and then when Germany came back England refused to give in. It would have been easy to think their chance had gone but Choe Kelly forced in a winner to make England champions and trigger an enormous emotional outpouring. The key now is how the game harnesses that connection with a huge audience and creates an unstoppable momentum at club level.

The structure of women’s football in England starts with the Women’s Super League (WSL) which is fully professional. The comes the Championship, which is partly professional, and below that the National League which is entirely amateur. The major clubs are attached to the major men’s clubs, Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester City have long supported the game and Manchester United finally got there too. In the Championship Lewes have shown that a successful women’s team is achievable for any club through immense commitment, but also expose how little most clubs focus on the women’s game.

As was seen throughout the tournament, the issue for women’s football is not its quality or entertainment value, but rather the lack of depth in that quality and this is where more clubs need to step up in developing players and providing realistic opportunities for a genuine career in the game. For that to happen needs those fans who have been watching the Lionesses on the television to now turn up at club level games, right through from WSL to the National League and for parents to support their daughters participation in football as much as they have always done for their sons.

In a memorable tournament maybe the most poignant moment was the joyful dancing of eight year old football fan Tess when England won the semi-final, the understanding that she is able to dream of a future in the game that most of the Lionesses never could at her age. This is how far women’s football has come and the question now is how much further can it go?

There are some brilliant books about women’s football and as this is predominantly a book related website, below are some highlights that I recommend to anyone interested in the women’s game, or maybe newly inspired by the 2022 Euros:

The Girls of Summer by Jere Longman

The award- winning New York Times sportswriter Jere Longman, takes a serious, compelling look at the women who won the 1999 World Cup and brings to life the skills and victories of the American team. Longman explores the issues this unprecedented achievement has raised: the importance of the players as role models; the significance of race and class; the sexualization of the team members; and the differences between men and women’s sports. Provocative and insightful, this book reminds us that the real struggles are off the field — and some remain to be won.

Under the Lights and In the Dark by Gwendoline Oxenham

Takes an unprecedented look inside the lives of professional football players around the world – from precarious positions in underfunded teams and leagues, to sold-out stadiums and bright lights. Award-winning filmmaker and journalist Gwendolyn Oxenham tells the stories of the phenoms, underdogs, and nobodies – players willing to follow the game wherever it takes them.

One Life by Megan Rapinoe

Megan Rapinoe, Olympic gold medalist and two-time Women’s World Cup champion, reveals for the first time her life both on and off the field. Guided by her personal journey into social justice, brimming with humor, humanity, and joy, she urges all of us to ask ourselves, What will you do with your one life?

A Woman’s Game by Suzanne Wrack

Explores the history of women’s football from the Victorian era to the present day. It is the story of a rise, fall, and rise again: from the game’s first appearance in England in the late 19th century; through the incredible Dick, Kerr Ladies team that at its height in 1920 drew 53,000 spectators to Goodison Park; to its 50-year ban in the UK and the aftershocks when that ban was lifted.

Now, as the women’s game is once again on an unstoppable upward trend, with a record 6.3m viewers for England’s match against Scotland in the 2019 World Cup, Suzanne Wrack considers what the next chapter of this incredible story might be. From its relationship to the worldwide fight against oppression, to its ability to inspire change in wider at large, this is both a history of football as played by women, and a manifesto for a better game.