Sheffield football: Women's Euros has changed the world with a beautiful game - Opinion
It was the night football changed the world.
Not only did the England women’s team win brilliantly 4-0 in the Euro semi-final against Sweden in Sheffield last night, but they did it in front of countless millions watching for the first time.
It was so good that all those armchair viewers are likely to have reached the same conclusion: the women’s game isn’t the same as the men’s - it’s better.
More entertaining to watch, more sporting, better team spirit, fewer cards and no theatrical rolling around on the ground.
What we saw was - shock, horror – a family-friendly activity that can fill stadiums and without fighting fans from other nations.
It was a vision of how football could and should be. And it was all the more amazing because of the context.
When I was at school girls didn’t play the game. In more recent times watching my daughter’s football training was a revelation - it was no different to the boys’ and a completely normal thing to do.
It showed - as with every form of discrimination - just how wrong old attitudes can be.
Sometimes you just have to witness something to ‘get it’. Last night the nation ‘got it’ - and we still have the final to look forward to.
As the Lionesses walk out at Wembley on Sunday, win or lose, they have kicked football - and society - into a more equal, more grown up and happier future. That’s my definition of a beautiful game.
