Game changers
In the year since the Lionesses won the Euros, the women’s game has been enjoying the kind of acclaim historically reserved for the men’s. But while we rightly celebrate the current crop of stars, they stand on the shoulders of giants. From the woman who helped reverse the FA’s 50-year ban on female players to England’s first female manager, we meet the women who kicked football forwards
What image comes into your mind when you think about women winning? For our money, a new visual entered the arena last July. You know the one: England striker Chloe Kelly pulling off her shirt and swinging it over her head as she tears up the pitch after scoring the winning goal in the 110th minute of the European Championships final. Maybe you were one of the record-breaking 87,192 people watching from the sold-out Wembley Stadium, or the 17.4m tuning in at home. Perhaps you had your head in other business that sweltering summer Sunday, but on seeing that moment immortalised via the many memes on your evening social media scroll, your interest in the women’s game was piqued for the first time. It was a moment: iconic, high-definition, inarguable evidence that suddenly – after years in the shadows – women’s football had stormed into the light.
As anticipation mounts for the Women’s World Cup, the Lionesses’ legacy looks profound. Post-Euros, women’s and girls’ football session bookings increased by 196%; the number of girls aged five to 15 playing football rose by 30%, while participation among over-16s is up by 13%*. When captain and WH cover star Leah Williamson, hoarse from shouting, implored those inspired by the Euros win to come to a Women’s Super League game, people listened; attendance rose by 227% last season. Following the Lionesses’ open letter calling for change last summer, the government has pledged to meet their demands, including a minimum of two hours of PE a week in schools and equal access to all sports in PE for boys and girls, including football.
Women’s football is in its winner’s era, no doubt. But its history stretches back longer than you might think. At the start of the last century, women’s football was thriving. After the Football Association (FA) suspended the men’s leagues in 1915, with so many men sent away to fight, hordes of working-class women took up their factory jobs, set up football teams and delighted crowds – one match at Goodison Park in 1920 drew 53,000 people. Post-war, the women’s game continued to rival the men’s, until the FA banned women from playing on any FA-affiliated grounds in 1921; football was, they said, ‘quite unsuitable for females’. The ban wasn’t overturned until 1971. In the years since, a veritable army of women – both on the pitch and off it
