The Lionesses’ win to become European Champions over Germany at Wembley on Sunday 31st July 2022 will go down as one of the most iconic moments in football history.
Many of us in the Dartford Women’s team have followed the Lionesses for years and couldn’t be happier to see the joy, excitement and hype around this tournament. We, along with millions of people across the country, have watched every moment of the Lionesses’ journey in the tournament and can feel the motivation and inspiration to play football it’s created.
The path for the Lionesses to that final began a long time ago and it’s been well documented recently that it’s been a challenging one. In 1921 women were banned from playing competitive football until 1971. It then wasn’t until 1998 that the England women’s team appointed their first full-time coach: Hope Powell. Hope Powell wasn’t allowed an office at Wembley and had to fight for every little bit of kit and equipment, even as the manager of a national England team[1]. So you can only imagine the resources available at local grassroots level. Many players in our own team felt the impact of this when they were growing up. We were stopped from playing for local teams at the age of 10 because we were girls and it was very difficult to understand why that was a problem!
The shift, investment and momentum this current England team has provided for access to football for women and girls is amazing to see. We as a team want to do all we can to support this too so that young girls have the choice to play football and do not experience barriers beyond their control. We will be supporting the Dartford Girls’ teams this year as much as we can. We’re currently planning to deliver some coaching sessions led by some of our players who are doing their UEFA coaching badges. It’s also great to hear the support from the new Dartford FC men’s manager Alan Dowson who has been really vocal calling for more support for the women’s; girls’ and community teams at the club.
Last year, thanks to the Dartford Community Team, we also took part in the Barclay’s and England Football “#LetGirlsPlay” campaign. We visited many local primary schools delivering assemblies and coaching sessions and generally having the best time joining in with a day filled with girls’ football. We will be fully backing the campaign again this year and working closely with the Dartford Community Team to spread the word and provide as much support as we can to help young girls and women access opportunities in football throughout the year.
And this is just when we’re not playing football ourselves! We are so grateful to many of the Dartford FC girls’ teams and other local girls’ clubs that have supported us and been our mascots at our games. You motivate us to play the best football we can and it’s so fun to share our matches with you!
If you’ve loved watching the England games this summer, come down to Princes Park on a Sunday and see us in action. We saw an increase in our crowds last year and we want to keep bringing more and more of you down to our games. Every single person watching means the world to us – we look forward to seeing you there!
You can find our more about our games on the Dartford FC website or on social media: Instagram: dartfordfcwomen and Twitter: DartfordFCWomen
[1] Listen to this BBC Sounds Football Daily podcast for an interview with Hope Powell to find out more: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0cqhcj5
