LONDON – For more than 50 years, English football fans have been hoping, praying and singing that a big trophy will “go home”. Now it’s finally there. And they can hardly contain themselves.
Thousands of supporters shouted and chanted on Sunday at Trafalgar Square in central London and at other viewing parties around the country, where the final of the UEFA Women’s European Cup was shown. on the big screen.
On Monday, the image of the Lionesses, as the team is known, dominated the front pages of British newspapers after their 2-1 win over Germany at Wembley Stadium in London, headlines hailed them as “game changers” or “history makers” and declared “No more painful years”.
Politicians and royals sent messages and congratulations on the team’s victory – a dramatic end to England’s last major championship, in 1966, when the nation hosted the World Men’s Cup and their team beat Germany in the final.
But success has the potential to go beyond national pride and euphoria, with women’s football capturing the public’s hearts in the UK like never before.
“I think we really made a difference,” the team’s Dutch coach, Sarina Wiegman, told a post-match press conference. The team has done a lot for the sport but for the role of women in society, she added, a sentiment that has been echoed by others.
Mark Bullingham, chief executive of the Football Association, England’s governing body for football, said: “It’s been a great month and a great day yesterday.
“I think it’s really going to speed up everything we’ve done in the girls’ game,” he said in a Interview on “BBC Breakfast” on Monday, adding that the organization has invested heavily in women’s football over the past few years.
“There’s no reason we shouldn’t have the same number of girls playing as boys and we think that will create a whole new generation of heroes that girls aspire to be,” he said. .
There is definitely room for improvement. A report published in March by “Fair Game”, a collective of 34 English football clubs, found that the gender divide in football clubs across England and Wales has caused the sport “lives in the Dark Ages”.
Only 11.1% of board members at Premier League clubs are women and two-thirds of the league’s teams have all-male boards, the report said. The number of women attending games in the UK is significantly less than in other countries.
Stacey Pope, an author of the report, said: “This is a time when public attitudes towards sexism and prostitution are changing, and football needs to change as well.
That change could come when the Lionesses win Sunday from a match with a record number of fans – the crowd of more than 87,000 is the largest of any European Championship final. Which Europe, male or female.
Queen Elizabeth sent a congratulatory message to the team, writing that while the athletes’ performances were commendable, “your success goes beyond the title you deservedly won.”
“You all set an example that will be an inspiration to girls and women today, and to future generations,” she wrote.
Kevin Windsor, a graphic designer in London, watches the match with his 3-year-old daughter wearing a princess dress. “My daughter doesn’t have to be interested in football. She just needs to know that it’s an option,” he wrote on Twitter. “That she can be anything she has her little heart to be. From a princess to a lioness. And everything in between. “
