England's Lionesses are on the brink of a triumph decades in the making

Major tournament success is a rarity for English football, but this goes so much deeper than that. It would represent the most beautiful culmination of a decades-long struggle for respect and recognition, and would also be a quite remarkable sporting comeback.

Just over a hundred years ago, women in England were effectively banned from playing football. In 1921, the FA ruled that clubs weren’t allowed to let women play on their grounds, declaring the sport ‘quite unsuitable for females’, which meant there was no way for women to play and practise in a recognised league or team. That ban lasted almost 50 years, but its effects have been felt so much longer when it comes to social perceptions and prejudices.

Prior to that ban, the women’s game was thriving – the famous Dick, Kerr Ladies team played a game against St Helen’s Ladies on Boxing Day 1920 that attracted a crowd of 53,000 to Goodison Park in Liverpool, with thousands locked outside. More than a century on, this year has seen a record crowd for a women’s game – 91,553 for the Barcelona v Real Madrid El Clasico in the UEFA Women’s Champions League - we’ll also see 90,000 in attendance to watch Sunday’s Euro 2022 final at Wembley, but what a journey it has been back to this sort of prominence.

Leah Williamson and her teammates have climbed on the shoulders of so many who’ve gone before them – and one of the special things I’ve discovered about women’s football is that the modern-day players know and appreciate that. Female participation might have begun to explode in popularity over the last 10 years, but for decades every inch of new ground, every bit of renewed respect has been painstakingly and collectively fought for. These women, these girls haven’t just been playing a sport, they’ve been fighting for a cause, they’ve been driving change.

The WSL’s launch in 2011 and the TV coverage that followed thereafter has done wonders for visibility – which has in turn helped drive participation and standards – but the last 50 years is littered with individual examples of women who refused to just bow down or walk away when they were sneered at, or told they shouldn’t be playing football – girls who never gave in. The likes of Lucy Bronze and Ellen White wouldn’t have made it without people before them like Rachel Yankey and Kelly Smith. There’s a bond, a sisterhood, a respect for what’s gone before them – an appreciation of the path that’s been painstakingly built for them to walk on.

While the likes of Millie Bright, Keira Walsh and Lauren Hemp are now becoming household names – their faces adorning cereal boxes and fizzy drinks bottles – how many people know about the likes of Sheila Parker (England’s first female captain) Gillian Coultard (the first woman to win 100 England caps), or Lily Parr (the only woman to be made an inaugural inductee of the English Football Hall of Fame)? They and many of their peers never got the respect and recognition that their persistence, perseverance and ability warranted, but without them, and their ilk, this Sunday wouldn’t be happening, and everyone associated with women’s football knows and appreciates that, including the players actually on the pitch.

What’s also so fitting is that the more senior players in the England squad form part of the last generation of England players who will – thankfully – truly know about the fight for any level of respect and recognition. The last generation who were told they couldn’t or shouldn’t play football – who maybe had to lie about being a girl to get a game – or who had to play part-time and work several jobs just to chase a dream. Lucy Bronze, now a Best FIFA Women's Player winner, once worked for a pizza delivery firm; Beth Mead washed dishes at a pub while playing for Sunderland; Jill Scott and Demi Stokes were two of a number of emerging female players in the early 2000s who used to do their strength and conditioning training at their local prisons twice a week, as that was the best equipment available to them at the time.

If so many of this current group have achieved all they have without access to the best facilities and the support of academy systems, imagine what could be possible for the next generation – my daughters' and their peers'. Even at the age of 10 my youngest has just been given her own log-in for a website where video of her team’s games is uploaded, so that the coaches can give feedback and homework – it’s amazing attention to detail, the likes of which many of the current Lionesses could only have dreamed of growing up.

No sport I can think of is seeing participation levels rise so quickly and consistently in the UK – I go to playing fields every weekend with my daughters that are filled with dozens of girls playing competitive football. The revolution is happening, and it’ll continue to happen regardless of Sunday’s outcome, but an England win would accelerate that growth even more in this country, inspire so many and be the most fitting tribute to generation after generation who fought and persevered, even when they thought this day would never come in their lifetimes.

Read more: Meet the Lionesses: your guide to England Women's Euro 2022 squad

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