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Lionesses: Why England must make it count [1]

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Date: 2022-08 

Let's be honest, since watching Alessia Russo's outrageous goal against Sweden last week, I'd not stopped thinking about it... until yesterday.

Now my mind is just on a constant loop of Ella Toone's exquisite chip over the German goalkeeper and Chloe Kelly's dramatic extra-time winner – and that iconic celebration.

England's victory over Germany in Sunday's European Championship final sparked celebrations across the country. But those celebrations are tempered with cautionary tales from years or decades ago, when women in England were banned from playing football by the authorities who baulked in the face of its great appeal.

Take the example of Russo. She is not the only ridiculously skilful player who's donned an England shirt, brimming with confidence and revelling in her own brilliance, but she is one who had the luck to be born in 1999. Unlike thousands who had come before her, Russo had the good fortune to be a child just as the Football Association began to pump money into elite talent pathways for women, and to have the chance to sign a professional contract with Manchester United, the club she supported as a child.

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Even now, the chances for girls to play football are more limited than they are for their male counterparts. There are fewer professional clubs, with 12 in England’s top tier, and fewer girls’ teams at grassroots level. It’s easy for girls to be put off by the prospect of training and playing alongside a squad of boys – which still quite often happens. England striker Ellen White – now 33 – first got to play alongside other girls when her dad set up a team.

The FA has announced that its aim by 2024 is to have 75% of schools in England providing equal access for girls to play football within PE lessons – and 75% of all grassroots football clubs offering at least one girls' team. It is all very laudable – but demonstrates how low the provision for girls to play football for fun is at the moment. Currently only 44% of girls get the chance to play football at secondary school.

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[1] Url: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/england-germany-euro-final-lionesses-wembley-women-football-history/

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