Go, Lionesses!

By Karen and Erica

On Friday, we read an interesting article in the Financial Times in which Simon Kuper, the author, proposes that men’s soccer clubs should pay reparations to women's soccer clubs for a century of discrimination.

He relates the sorry history of women in the sport. Female soccer players achieved some popularity in the early part of the 20th century, during the period when men were off to war. Once the men returned, the English Football Association decided that soccer is quite unsuitable for females. Women were banned from using men’s facilities, and even when the ban was lifted, women remained second class citizens. As Kuper says: Worldwide, bans were ilfted, but the female game lay crushed beneath [the men’s] tyres.

No more. The women kept on playing, and their audiences started growing. On Monday, we heard the thrilling news that England’s team, the Lionesses, had won their first European victory, and the first international win for any England team, since 1966. England exploded with joy, just as our country did when our women’s team won the World Cup in 2019. (Type England women’s soccer team into your browser and you will see fireworks on your screen!)

What great stories for the women’s teams, which are finally recognized as the champions they are. Women’s soccer is here to stay, right up at the top of the world.

Go, Lionesses!.