England has finally found a way to banish all the 'years of hurt'. It's called women's football and the Lionesses
It was as though the team had written a list of milestones they were ticking off as the tournament progressed. They are the first English senior team to defend their title, and the first to win a major tournament on foreign soil. Their coach, Sarina Wiegman, simply said: 'A team is what we really are. We can win by any means.'
And that positivity was infectious. They genuinely believed in themselves, and in turn we believed in them. When Lucy Bronze casually revealed she'd played the entire tournament with a fractured tibia – 'If that's what it takes to play for England, that's what I'll do' – it encapsulated the attitude that surrounds the whole team. Unlike the men, we never questioned if any of the players even wanted to be there due to a lack of financial incentive given that international matches pay so much less than they earn for club games. I tried to work out what felt so different for me watching them rather than the men's team. Not once did I give up hope. I never once had to 'self-soothe' by cramming sugary snacks down my throat. There was no mental preparation for the inevitable disappointment of yet another loss.
Amid the celebrations, a question: why are we continually chasing glory through our men's teams when the women are the ones delivering? They have reached three major tournament finals in a row and have the level of success that the men's team can only dream of. There is a disdain we see time and time again across different sports. The women's rugby team have suffered the same kind of patronising attitude as well as those who compete on the track and field. The men's 100m final is referred to as 'the jewel in the crown' of track and field events: the women don't get nearly as much attention.
It wasn't easy: it's never easy. Their tournament was briefly marred by the widespread media coverage of the online racial abuse received by Jess Carter after the admittedly dismal performance in that first game against France. But refusing to let that be the story, the Lionesses acted quickly, condemning the 'online poison', putting out a unified statement and announcing that they were opting to not take the knee before matches, as 'we and football need a new way to tackle racism.'
After the final, Carter revealed she had been next up to take a penalty had Kelly missed, confessing she hadn't wanted to take it. Who could blame her? No one needs reminding of the racist abuse and death threats received by her male counterparts Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka during the Men's Euro 2020 final. She also said she had been 'disappointed' at how she had been painted during the tournament, but now 'couldn't give a damn'. The sweet taste of victory had clearly been enough to remove the bitterness left by the abuse.
The 19-year-old Michelle Agyemang, who had been a ballgirl at Wembley only four years ago, was named young player of the tournament in recognition of the fact the goals she scored in the quarter-final against Sweden and the semi-final against Italy saved England from elimination. The fact that, days earlier, she had been left off a photo of the team attached to a 'good luck' message issued by Buckingham Palace didn't seem to be on her mind at all.
Today's joy is infectious: for the nation, for the nation's women. I can have a different conversation today with my daughter. We can talk about the team and what it is to be tough. We can talk about the naysayers, like Piers Morgan's 32-year-old son Spencer, who perhaps wants to be a contrarian just like his dad when he grows up, posted on X: 'That shootout was the funniest thing I've seen since the last one. 'Why can't the men win?' Because they're playing against people capable of kicking a ball,' he said. The dinosaurs: they live, they tweet.
I remember seeing an interview with opera singer Kiri Te Kanawa after her retirement, when she was asked what it had been like to live at the height of her glory days. She replied: 'I hadn't realised at the time that's what they were.' For the Lionesses these are their glory days. Stop singing about 'years of hurt' and enjoy their success. It's everyone's success.
Ava Vidal is a standup comedian based in London and patron of the charity Show Racism the Red Card
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