Kelly’s Heroes Do It Differently

‘I don’t miss penalties twice.’

It was very Stuart-Pearce-esq in its intention. Both were Proper England if you like. But instead of the fist pump and triumphant roar to the crowd, Chloe Kelly did a very noughties version.

Keep calm and enjoy. I’ve got this.

But it was far from the only difference. There’s a reason they are known as lionesses and not female lions. Scientists have known it for many years; women and men are not the same. Not just in the planets we’re from, but in many other ways and not least the way we approach the final of a football tournament.

Thank goodness.

Compare Sunday to twelve months ago and England men’s shot at Euro glory. The similarities were striking even before the final. The dramatic quarter-final penalty shoot-out victory after being behind, then a last-gasp winner in the semi-final, again after falling behind. And Michelle Aygemang’s end-of-added-time equaliser against Italy had obvious parallels with Jude Bellingham’s even later tournament-saving overhead kick in Germany.

The final itself could have been a carbon copy of 2024. England and Spain battling out on a Sunday evening. The Spanish dominating possession. Taking nothing away from Gareth Southgate and the incredible job he did but, like then, England were very much second best and after falling behind, struggling to get a look in. It was also very much like the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup Final when Spain out-passed England to death after taking the lead.

No Déjà vu Again

‘We don’t lose finals twice either’ Chloe Kelly might have said.

This time they – we – were different. A change of style and personnel helped to turn the tide, level the game and then stay strong. In extra-time, resilience kicked in to stop the innovative La Roja regaining the lead. There would be no winner before the end. England were happy for it to go to penalties in Basel because they knew they could – even would – win. After all, they’d won their previous three shoot outs.

The men’s team have done us proud in recent Euros but they won neither final they reached. When they limped to penalties in the 2020 one (delayed by a year by Covid) there was a certain inevitably that the wily Italians would prevail when it came to the dreaded shootout.

Not so this time with England’s women. Kelly, with iconic shin pads rather than sports bra on display in this tournament, put the ball out of Cata Coll’s reach, She was, throughout the competition, what David Beckham was once to the men’s team; an instant headline maker.

Except she also became a European Champion. Again. So what happens next?

Because it would be a shame if this historic triumph – the first trophy won outside of England by an England senior team – did not have lasting legacy; one much bigger than even three years ago.

0-3000

The stage is definitely set for that. The game is flying, not only here but on the global stage. We’ve gone from zero professional women footballers to over three-thousand in Europe alone and in what seems like five minutes. The speed of change has been astronomical in recent years.  

But it’s as wrong to think that women’s football in England is only just getting started as it is to believe that men’s football began in 1992, however much some people would have you think that were the case.

The unofficial first women’s world cup in Mexico (1971), for instance, had crowds of over 100,000 at the Azteca Stadium.

In England, one club - Dick Kerr Ladies – regularly drew crowds larger than the men. In fact, at one stage during war-time, women’s football was booming with huge attendances (some over 50,000) but when the men ‘came home’ then it was deemed more appropriate that women return to their rightful place. A thinly veiled invitation to go back to the kitchen if ever there was one.   

Fifty years of hurt

It’s worth remembering that the country who invented football also effectively banned (the word they used was ‘actively discouraged’) women from playing it properly for fifty years (1921-1971) due to its ‘unsuitability’.

 We were not alone. In Brazil (hosts of the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup), where they have strong female and family representation amongst fans in the men’s games, women have had to fight hard to be taken seriously on the field. It was illegal for them to play the beautiful game during all of Pele’s career, to put it into stark context.

In an early World Cup, their players wore baggy men’s kits that drew ridicule. That kind of thing sounds light years ago, but even today, football boots are still predominantly designed for male feet (even though footwear is a potential smoking gun for the higher number of knee injuries in the women’s game).

Neither country – despite their historical roots as two of the footballing world superpowers – made it easy for women. Neither had anything like Title 9, the US law that banned gender discrimination in schools and paved the way for women’s soccer to grow quickly, very successfully and even usurp the men’s game.

England has had to wait longer for its moment. This time, there can be no going backwards.

Going Up?

After Euro 2022, a tournament delayed by Covid for a year, England's win created a buzz that brought many more people to the sport. It also increased attendances and interest in the WSL, but this only lasted so long. Attendances (outside of Arsenal Women) had already began falling in the top league, although the events in Switzerland will no doubt create another upward trajectory in 2025/26.  

But the game cannot continue to rely on Sarina Wiegman and her squad to come up with the goods and give the game a shot in the arm every two years. This time it has to build bigger and better. And it already is trying; with the newly-formed WSL company looking to grow the brand and take professionalism to new heights with an expanded WSL and WSL 2.

The players are becoming household names too. This is important, not least because more fans in women’s football follow the players as much as they do the clubs. Any sport needs big personalities to continue to make it relevant to the masses. The women's game has a chance to do things the men's game can't do now but did once; make fans feel connected to them. This isn’t just about being more accessible – although that helps – but in the way they behave. Mary Earp’s stand against Nike is a prime example of how the players can change the narrative, and it’s easy to see how a Hannah Hampton could make her voice heard now in ways that none of the players could have dreamed of just a few years ago.

The Lionesses, and all the players at the clubs, can connect. They can still mostly recall a time when they were either not fully professional or were doing extra jobs to make ends meet. Many still are. When they connect with fans - and the next generation of kids coming into football - they do so from a genuinely right place; they are there because they are extremely talented but also aren’t too far removed from reality. When both Chloe Kelly and Hannah Hampton said – and proved - that tough times don't last, that resonated with many of us and sent out a powerful and positive message to the millions of people facing a difficult set of circumstances.

It's through their voices, and this connection, that the women’s game can continue to grow at a faster pace but also in a more relatable way. And that is going to bring the fans with them, and plenty more new ones to the party.

They aren’t much like the men. But then, maybe that’s because they don’t want to be.