A summer when everything changed

‘60 new people turned up, all had watch the Lionesses’

Ella Toone racing through to lob the ‘keeper, Chloe Kelly wheeling away in ecstasy, England’s Lionesses inspired a nation in the summer of 2022. The FA’s data shows a 17% increase in female players, and 30% rise in the number of registered teams. But what does that look like on parks and pitches across England?

‘I got a call from one of our coaches who was panicking, 60 new people had turned up, never kicked a ball before, and all had watched the Lionesses.’ The day after Georgia Stanway put England into the European Championships semi-finals, Manchester Laces’ open training session provided the best kind of problem for Helen Hardy, who founded the inclusive women’s football club in 2021.

Becca Todd, founder of Team Brave in Bristol, tells a similar story, ‘We had massive interest, it gave people a lot of inspiration, and made them realise that football is not only for men. It’s great seeing the Lionesses being such role models, and becoming celebrities.’

For Helen, the summer changed everything, ‘How many women felt empowered to try and kick a ball for the first time? That was only the quarter-final stage, it only went in one direction. Everyone training in England shirts, whether it was a 90s one or the most recent Williamson shirt.’ The Laces are now 550-strong, the explosion in women’s recreational football mirrored across England.

According to the FA’s data, more than 400,000 opportunities to play, coach, volunteer and officiate have been created in the Euros host cities alone, and we’ve seen a 12.5% rise nationally in registered female players.

‘I was a newcomer so was finding it hard to differentiate if it was a new buzz or just my new buzz. I remember there being loads of other women’s and non-binary teams, and feeling I’ve been missing out, people were saying ‘no this is new, it’s not always like this’’ Aimee’s full quote starts with Aimee Brin and Jessica Irving started Peaches FC as a team for beginners during the lockdowns, and struggled to find a suitable league. Aimee continues ‘We couldn’t find a beginners’ league and ended up losing all the time. Now there’s games five times a week, two Sunday leagues and a Thursday league, because there’s so much demand.’

‘I wish I could join the women’

As the scene grows, it has taken on a character distinct to the men’s game, contributing further to more women coming to play. The experience of watching the Euros accentuated how welcoming their game is, as Aimee explains ‘People realised it’s not just playing a sport, it’s a whole community and the Euros provided that platform. It feels more legit, not like taking up a random sport.’

The vibe women experienced in stadiums, in sharp contrast to what happened 12 months earlier, carries onto the pitch, and according to Jessica has elicited surprising responses among her male friends.

I have had male friends in grassroots teams say I wish I could join the women or a mixed team. It's not like we've come to take out our aggression from the week on rival teams. We’re aggressive on the pitch, but we take photos with the team at the end.’

We do it because we love it

So far so good, but grassroots football can be challenging, not least in the scramble for facilities. Already an acute situation in men’s leagues, women’s grassroots leagues are particularly vulnerable to shortages in facilities as they establish. Since the summer, The FA’s own tracking has shown a 196% increase in bookings made by women’s teams.

With women wanting their place to play, something needs to be done to ensure recreational football isn’t throttled. In the meantime, women’s teams improvise.

‘On Thursday to play in this league, because of lack of availability, the pitch gets split into three for three different women's games at once. The pitch is about as wide as the football, everyone's running like sardines together. There are pitches next to it that have been booked long-term, and those leagues aren’t going to stop.’ Aimee underlines Peaches FC’s difficulties, and yet the team has had to train in even more ridiculous circumstances.

Jessica picks up the theme, ‘There was one hilarious time we were playing directly outside a floodlit pitch where the men (are), in the dark, in the mud, trying to use the lighting from their pitch. But we do it because we love it.’

While the Euros inspired women to take their place in football, it caused some traditionalists to kick back. Helen is in no doubt that there are still battles to be won. Her team relied on the intervention of one person to get access to pitches, without which she could still be looking for a home for Manchester Laces. Once on the pitch problems still arise;

‘The experiences of abuse I've had have been post-Euros. We’ve trained on the same pitch for two years, but now there’s comments from men walking behind the pitch ‘go on darlin’ put it in the top corner, show us what you’re made of!’

‘A week after the Final, we were training and a guy came to the fence and stood for 40 minutes shouting expletives at us. I took a photo of him, and it continued, relentless abuse. He stood behind the fence taunting players, not even attempting to hide his disgust for women playing football.’

The reluctance of women’s teams to take the graveyard bookings for pitches, and the walk across the dark car park post-game that that entails, becomes clear. ‘You can’t have a 10pm training session, people won’t come if they don’t feel safe. It’s a different experience walking across a dark car park if you’re a woman than for a man, it’s simple. It’s their first time playing, they need to trust people, it’s already daunting when you’re joining a new football club.’

How football accommodates and keeps women, now excited to be involved, requires serious thought at all levels.

People want to play and long may that continue

And for the future? The simple but significant observation from Jessica ‘to go to a bar that has the women’s football on with the volume actually on’ will mark another step in normalising. For Helen, who will be in Australia and New Zealand, excitement for the World Cup summer,;

‘For us as fans, Summer tournaments are great, it lends itself to a summer sport. Football for us is as much about mental health. We can play and train in the park, and those are the best months. The World Cup will be an amazing month, people want to play women’s football, and long may that continue.’

Recreational women’s leagues are no longer exceptional, and the summer of 2022 will always be a landmark for women’s football in England. Becca is keen to see that the opportunity isn’t missed. ‘The Lionesses called for more football in schools, and that’s going to be important. We need to have equal opportunities at all levels, up to elite, as that filters into grassroots and youth football.’

For Aimee, the magic of the summer can’t be lost, and she implores women to keep making new teams, and new leagues, ‘Don’t feel like you’ve missed a boat. We started as 10 people that had never played before, and joining an established team might be more scary. I don’t want people to get complacent because it’s normal now, it’s still 100 steps behind men.’

Helen picks up on school football adding ‘There’s a lot of focus on girls’ football, and that’s right, but we must ensure that funding is there for adults, too. For children, nieces, sisters, students at your school, they all see what football brings to an adult. We have a 55-yr-old coming to play for the first time because she was inspired by the Lionesses. That’s life-changing. She didn’t have the access routes, we have to welcome adult women because they will have an impact as much as Leah Williamson will.’

A version of this article was published on BBC Sport 2/2/2023