Broken bones, bloodied noses and never-say-die spirit… and this lot win trophies too – Lionesses are pride of England
After England's Lionesses successfully defended their Euros crown, Lucy Bronze revealed she had played throughout the tournament with a fractured shinbone.
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It's not scientifically true that women have higher pain thresholds than men.
But the full-back — whose full name is genuinely Lucy Roberta Tough Bronze — clearly isn't bound by such trivialities as medical science.
Keeper Hannah Hampton - who was told she could never be a professional footballer due to an eye condition - is another Lioness who laughs in the face of the doctoring profession.
Hampton suffered a nosebleed and played with a tampon up one nostril during the quarter-final victory over Sweden — drawing comparison with Terry Butcher's blood- spattered England shirt while facing the same nation in a 1989 World Cup qualifier.
England played 360 minutes of knockout football at these Euros and led for less than five of them — roaring back from behind in all three fixtures.
So while Joey Barton and a dwindling number of Sid The Sexists on social media continue to howl the word 'woke' at the moon, it's hilarious the Lionesses have triumphed thanks to the attributes traditionally regarded as the strengths of the English men's game.
Physical bravery, stoicism, never-say-die spirit.
Three comebacks, two penalty shootouts, broken bones and blooded noses.
England are queens of Europe
England legend Lucy Bronze reveals she played whole tournament with a broken leg
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England's finest in wild celebrations on the pitch
Chloe Kelly steals the show after scoring winning goal in TWO Euros finals
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Joyous Princess Charlotte celebrates with dad William after watching from the stands
And this lot actually win trophies, too.
Unlike in the last Euros on home soil in 2022, England weren't the best team in the tournament — that was runners-up Spain.
England's Lionesses depart Zurich following their Euro 2025 victory
There was some pleasing sour grapery among the beaten finalists about English 'luckiness'.
But when you keep on doing something over and over again, it can never be down to luck.
England prevailed because they were mentally and physically tougher than any other side.
They became the first English senior team to win a major tournament on foreign soil and they drew the highest TV audience of the year.
Women's football is now an integral part of the national sporting landscape and that is a tribute to everyone who has helped to promote it during the move into professionalism over the past couple of decades.
There have been elements of positive discrimination in this.
For a while, the game was over- exposed by the FA and much of the media, in comparison to the numbers of those who paid to watch it.
But anyone uncomfortable with this needs to remember that women's football was banned in this country for half a century until 1971.
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Which sounds as weird as the fact beer was banned in Iceland — the nation, not the freezer shop — until 1989.
But it legitimises all of the efforts to grow the women's game, which is now increasingly able to stand on its own feet.
European club champions Arsenal have attracted sell-out crowds of 60,000 for matches at the Emirates.
And, from this coming season, they will hold all of their Women's Super League fixtures at the club's stadium, which will boost their average gate of 29,000.
Watching a women's match live is a family-friendly experience, with the anger and hatred of the men's game largely absent.
The game is different, the atmosphere is different, comparisons are tiresome and needless.
Nobody feels the need to distinguish between men's and women's events when tallying up the gold medals won at an Olympics.
Keely Hodgkinson didn't have to suffer any sniping that she wouldn't have qualified for the men's 800m final when she won gold in Paris last summer, because women's athletics has been established over decades.
Women's football is reaching a similar status.
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And manager Sarina Wiegman has ensured we will never again see a 'big name' man like Phil Neville parachuted into the women's game to coach the Lionesses.
After a promising start, Neville quit in 2021 after a run of seven defeats in 11 matches.
The women's game will never be patronised in such a way in future.
As part of this process, BBC TV pundits have sounded less like cheerleaders than in previous women's tournaments.
And there wasn't much media soft-soaping of the Lionesses when they opened their Euros campaign with a deserved defeat by France.
This is as it should be. We are talking about elite international competition, not a school sports day.
Chloe Kelly — the scorer of England's final winner against Germany three years ago, as well as the clinching penalty in Sunday's shoot-out in Basel — is a hugely likeable character.
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But there is nothing nicey-nicey about her on the pitch.
Criticised by Spanish media for the cockiness of her celebrations, here is the kind of supremely confident player any team needs in the intense environment of tournament football.
She marked England's latest success by sniping at critics on social media.
And all of her team-mates will have similar stories.
Some of them started out at a time when the idea of girls playing football was seen as unusual.
Such ideas are fading into distant history.
Kelly, Hampton, Bronze and Co are rarely referred to as 'trailblazers' and 'pioneers' any more, because the trailblazing and pioneering has been done.
Now they are simply regarded as habitual winners and champions.
NEW DRAMA
THIS sort of thing isn't supposed to happen to Newcastle United anymore.
The club's Saudi takeover should have ended the days of a star like Alexander Isak demanding a move.
Should we be pleased Profit and Sustainability Rules have hampered the Geordie Arabia revolution?
That depends if you're more bothered about the competitiveness of a title race or the widespread human-rights abuses of those bankrolling the club.
STICKY WICKET
ENGLAND'S bowlers managed just two wickets in the last 142 overs of the drawn Fourth Test against India.
The series has been compelling at times but the combination of flat batting tracks and a schedule with little breathing space, means both teams will be dead on their feet heading into Thursday's decider at The Oval.
As in every other sport, there is little thought for player welfare when there are TV schedules to be packed.
SPURRED OFF
TOTTENHAM'S Europa League success, and subsequent Champions League qualification, was supposed to make them a des res for players in this summer's transfer market.
Yet their failure to land two leading targets, Morgan Gibbs-White and Bryan Mbeumo, shows there are no longer any easy pickings when attempting to raid Premier League rivals.
Especially when you finished last season in 17th place.
AUSSIE WHINES SO SWEET
AUSTRALIAN rugby union may be down at heel, with the British & Irish Lions' tour Down Under far lower in profile than most such trips.
And yet the series win by boss Andy Farrell and his crew, secured by a mighty comeback in Melbourne, remained a reason to be cheerful.
Because there is nothing so magical in sport than the sound of whingeing, defeated Aussies.
SMALL WONDER
I SPENT my Friday night in Ballybofey, Co Donegal which, with a population of around 5,000, is reckoned to be the smallest town in Britain and Ireland to host league football.
Ballybofey's Finn Harps drew 2-2 with Roy Keane's ex-club, Cobh Ramblers, in an entertaining and refreshingly honest match.
Also, you could pop to the local at half-time for a pint of the black stuff without anyone checking your ticket on the way back in.
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