LONDON (AP) — In soccer-mad England, which bills itself as the home of the world’s game, women and girls have finally built a team full of heroes who look just like them.
Some 7,000 singing, dancing and flag-waving fans, many of them mothers and daughters, flocked to Trafalgar Square in central London on Monday to celebrate England’s victory at the 2022 Women’s European Championships. rice field. It was the first major football victory by an English team in 56 years.
Hosted by England and watched by record viewers on television and in stadiums across the country, the tournament is the culmination of years of investment in women’s football that the organizers hope will spur more women’s football. Yes, and soccer is known as soccer here.
Madison Fullerd-Jones is already on board.
A 9-year-old girl from Maidstone, southeast of London, woke up early to come to the capital with her mother, aunt, two sisters and a cousin to celebrate with England’s football team known as the Lioness. Madison, who donned her England uniform and waved the St. George flag, said she hopes to one day play for England, like her favorite player, Georgia Steinway.
“I don’t just want to show how good I am, I want to show that girls can do what boys can,” she said. “I am passionate about football.”
England captain Leah Williamson would be proud.
Williamson told the crowd that the legacy of the tournament would be “change for the best.”
“The legacy of the tournament is what we did for young girls and women who we can look up to and aspire to us,” she said..”I think England hosted a great tournament.” We’ve changed the game in this country, hopefully across Europe, and around the world.”
England defeated Germany 2-1 in an overtime match at Wembley Stadium on Sunday night, in front of 87,192 fans. The entire tournament drew a crowd of 574,875, more than double his previous record of 240,055 set in Holland in 2017.
Even more people watched on television, with the final reaching a peak audience of 17.5 million and an average audience share of 66%, according to Ratings UK.
The figure highlights the resurgence of women’s football in England, where the men who once ran the game banned women from using facilities for 50 years until the early 1970s.
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Previous generations of women’s football players were forced to support themselves by working outside the sport, but after the creation of a fully professional league in 2018-19, today’s players are full-time Now you can concentrate on the game.
The game’s supporters now aim to increase participation at the grassroots level to spur continued success.
The Football Association, the governing body of the sport in England, is campaigning for schools in England to give boys and girls equal opportunities to play football as part of their curriculum. A recent survey found that 72% of primary schools had equal instruction for boys and girls, but that figure dropped to 44% in secondary schools.
“This generation of women had to fight, scrape and do everything,” former England international Ian Wright told the BBC. “Everyone is in tears because this is the culmination of a lot of hard work, a lot of suffering, a lot of parents, a lot of people trying to bring them here. …it is up to FA to take over the grassroots and remove all those barriers.”
The match also sparked a great deal of interest in Germany, where many feel that not enough is being done to support female athletes.
“It is in the interest of the whole government to do more for sport, including women’s football,” government spokesman Wolfgang Buchner said in Berlin on Monday.
He praised the German team for being very positive role models for young people.
“Especially during a summer of depressing news, the German women’s team’s excellent performance at the European Championships has had a positive impact on many people in Germany,” said Buchner.
Supporters of women’s soccer hope the victory will revitalize the sport in the same way that America’s victory in the 1999 World Cup boosted the sport in the United States. That game ended in celebration with Brandi Chastain slipping her knees and showing off her sports bra after the penalty shootout of the United States’ victory over China in the Rose Bowl in Pasadena.
England’s Chloe Kelly reenacted that scene in the final minutes of Sunday’s final, when she ripped off her jersey to celebrate the tiebreaker goal in the final minutes of her victory over Germany.
Speaking to the crowd on Monday, Kelly joked about her ecstatic celebration, stating:
“I am proud to wear this badge,” Kelly told the crowd, referring to the England shield on his team shirt. “But I am even more proud to share the pitch with these incredible players.”
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