‘It was so inspiring' – ecstatcic fans sing praises of victorious lionesses

The Guardian

6 hours ago

From mid-afternoon on Sunday, the Leyton Star pub in east London was filled with hundreds of pint-clutching fans dressed in the Lioness kit and swaddled in flags to watch England play Spain for their second major international tournament final in two years – hoping this time they might flip the result.
They were joined by thousands more fans in pubs and community centres across the UK, and audiences tuning in at home, whose number is expected to surpass the 17.4m peak seen during the semi-final.
Members of the dozen grassroots women's teams who had played earlier that day in a nearby football tournament told the Guardian that, although enthusiasm for the Euros had taken a while to build, they felt that women's football was bigger than ever.
Fans screamed with excitement as Chloe Kelly scored the winning penalty, securing England's Euros crown for another four years. 'I don't know how they always do this – I lose faith every time. But it was amazing. So inspirational,' said Emmeline Wilcox, who plays for a local team, the Bow Belles. 'The penalties were much better than last time – they've been practising.'
Several members of Inter Melanin, which runs two teams in north and south London, shared their verdict on the tournament. 'A rollercoaster. Stressful,' said Jesley Faye. But they were unanimous in their Euros highlight: 'We love Michelle [Agyemang]!'
Inter Melanin were formed after the Euros in 2022. 'There was a women's football buzz in the air, there was so much talk around women's football, and how there's not enough representation of women of colour,' said Thema Archer.
Inter Melanin's popularity has exploded – and now has a waitlist totalling 200. While Archer thinks a lot of progress on diversifying the women's game has been made, 'there's a long way to go – it starts from grassroots and young players need to be empowered and supported to come up'.
The tournament has sparked renewed interest in the women's game, with tickets sales for Women's Super League games soaring and matches upgraded to bigger grounds. The number of grassroots teams has doubled.
Brands have approached Inter Melanin inviting them to watch parties – 'ten per match!' said Faye – and they have never seen so many pubs showing the football. 'It was a lot harder to watch it four years ago, or even the World Cup,' said Archer.
Kelsea Sunu, who runs a women's team Wingers FC and a men's team, Zingers FC, in north-east London, organised a tournament to raise money for humanitarian work in Gaza after raising £3,200 for Medical Aid Palestinians last year.
She felt she had seen 'a lot more people watching and following' the tournament, though she noted that one major difference with the men's game was that the 'group stages don't get as much traction still'.
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She felt the final echoed how England had been 'slow to start' in their earlier games: 'It's a shame we lost Lauren James, but Chloe Kelly coming on earlier than usual is huge. For the last few tournaments she's been the gamechanger for quite a few games, assisting and scoring that penalty.'
Sunu acknowledged that Spain were a strong team who were able to capitalise on even England's smallest mistakes and had scored a 'great goal, the header was stunning'.
Lorna Masters, who plays for Hot Shots United, said the tournament had been 'absolutely incredible'. 'Watching the Lionesses in the last Euros was so inspiring, it's given us all a boost to get behind them again – to see how Sarina Wiegman works with her super subbing, she's done it all over again,' she added.
Masters said that in the tense knockout stages – as England battled their way to the final – 'pubs have been full, people have been screaming, getting really passionate'.
Growing up, she encountered lots of barriers to playing football: it wasn't available for girls in PE, she had to travel two hours for tournaments from her home town of Oxford and women's games were given worse time slots. 'Whereas now people are really excited about women's football. How cool would that have been when we were kids?' she said.