It’s time we started taking women’s football seriously

One year ago, England lost to Italy in the Euro 2020 final and, as a newfound fan of the game, I experienced football heartbreak for the first time.

But time heals all wounds and I have spent many months ready for another major tournament and wishing the World Cup was this summer, rather than later in the year.

To my shame, I had all but ignored the fact that there was a tournament going on this summer — the UEFA Women’s EURO 2022 — and it is being hosted in England. Then, on Monday night, I accidentally turned over the television to England’s second game of the tournament and within seconds realised what I had been missing out on.

The Lionesses (England’s female squad) thrashed Norway with an 8-0 win placing them at the top of Group A and qualifying them for the semi-finals. It was an astonishing game of football with 27-year-old Beth Mead stealing the show with a hattrick.

A few people, notably Keir Starmer, had tweeted their congratulations to the squad, but in comparison to the absolute football frenzy of last summer, their incredible performance was largely uncelebrated. This made me wonder why we (myself included) take women’s football so much less seriously than men’s? And if an 8-0 victory doesn’t capture the country’s attention, what will?

The argument surrounding women’s football is rather chicken and egg. Some say women’s football isn’t as celebrated as men’s because it isn’t publicised in the same way. Others reply that it isn’t publicised more because it isn’t watched enough. But really, it is far more complicated than that. 

During 1914 and the beginning of the First World War, women found themselves working in factories to replace men who had gone off to fight. The work was gruelling and often involved working with machinery and toxic chemicals, so health and welfare advisors began encouraging the women to take up sports as a rest bite from the tough labour. 

Many factories set up football teams and before long, one team from Preston had made a name for itself. Dick, Kerr’s Ladies FC (from Dick, Kerr & Co munitions factory) was founded in 1917 and, like the other female teams, played games for charity and to raise money for the war effort. 

By the end of the year, the Dick, Kerr’s Ladies FC’s Boxing Day match against a rival team was attended by 53,000 people, with an estimated 14,000 more hopeful spectators waiting outside the stadium. The female club had found fame in football and had requests to play all across the nation.

By 1921, however, the Football Association (FA) decided to effectively ban mainstream women’s football due to “complaints having been made as to football being played by women” and the “unsuitable” nature of football for those of the female sex. Many thought the decision was made out of jealousy, as women’s football continued to be loved across England. Women were no longer allowed to play on official FA grounds and though they tried to keep playing on unofficial pitches, media attention quickly waned.

Over a century later and women’s football has never quite recovered from this decision by the FA — though there have been plenty of exceptional female players over the years trying to fix this. 

Yet there has never been a better time to start watching women’s football, as the England team seem to be going from strength to strength. During qualification for the 2023 FIFA World Cup, Ellen White became the England team’s all-time record goal scorer and the game (a 20-0 win against Latvia) was multi-record breaking as three other players scored hattricks too. It was also the largest victory any men or women’s senior England side had ever achieved (take that FA!) 

The final argument you will often hear surrounding women’s football is that the female game lacks the “strength” of men’s football, to which I say, so what? We already have a thriving male football industry and while last night proved that women’s football can be just as spectacular, we don’t need to compare the two. There’s room for them both in our football-crazed country, and surely any real fan would think the more football the better?

I’ll be eagerly tuning in to watch the Lionesses play in the quarter-finals next week, and you should be too. If the team plays anything like they did last night, we might win this time too.