you love football, it will love you back. Whether you are a Euro 2022 winning Lioness, you referee men’s Sunday League matches proudly wearing your hijab, or you’ve travelled nearly 14 times around the world to cover the game you love, the message is as clear as day. Women haven’t always had an easy time following their passion for football given it’s a traditionally male-dominated industry… yet they are having the best possible effect on the game at every single level.
With support from the FA and Premier League’s Football Foundation, as well as government investments in playing surfaces (like the pitches in Jarrow near Sunderland and Wigan near Manchester named after Euro winners Jill Scott and Ella Toone), the big guns are making a huge statement. But some kids are lucky to have a pitch to play on at all.
Euro 2022 winner Lucy Bronze rushed home to Berwick-upon-Tweed from Barcelona late in 2021 to help Alnwick Town Juniors survive damage from Storm Arwen – the roof had been ripped off the clubhouse and the pitch was unplayable for the hundreds of children who turn out regularly to the coastal club.
“I’ve always wanted to give back to Alnwick, it’s a place that played such an important part in my journey and it doesn’t have as much as some other clubs,” Bronze told LK.
More girls and women are seeing football as a sport – or even a career – yet all aspiring footballers need to prepare themselves for challenges, as a young woman’s footballing journey is likely to be tricky in ways a young man’s might not be. We caught up with players, referees and fans to find out more about that tough but exciting journey…
