[calvin plummers socks]

Good to see the excellent and top bloke back writing in the Times.

Not entirely sure what happened subsequentl to his misdemeanours but he really is a good journo

https://www.thetimes...mbley-jkrfw5ppv

[moondog]

calvin plummers socks, on 01 August 2022 - 08:53 AM, said:

Good to see the excellent and top bloke back writing in the Times.

Not entirely sure what happened subsequentl to his misdemeanours but he really is a good journo

https://www.thetimes...mbley-jkrfw5ppv

It's behind a pay wall mate

[CFC91]

Quote

Three hours before kick-off the pilgrimage was already well and truly under way. A joyous, celebratory march along Wembley Way towards a historic event for women’s football in England — and, we must believe, a vision of the future.

Happiness and hope filled the air. Couples, families and friends emerged from Wembley Park station, capturing the occasion for posterity, arch rising in the distance. There was a din of clappers and vuvuzelas, of youthful voices and unfettered exuberance.

Entire teams made the journey to see this, the culmination of England’s Summer of Love. Joe McTiffin, 33, has been manager of the Brighton-based Saltdean United women’s team, who play at step five, since 2017. “I’ve been involved in women’s football for eight years now and a day like today shows how much it means to everyone,” he says. “It’s been amazing to see the progression, the growth.

“The girls [players] are coming up today — we’re part of the Brighton Euro Legacy Project as a host city. They all deserve this. They’ve worked so hard. The Lionesses have become role models. This is special for so many young girls and boys to see.”

Girls such as Eleanor Demonte, nine, here with her father, Mark, and with St George flags painted on her cheeks, dreaming of emulating England’s Beth Mead one day. Mark bought his tickets a year ago in hope. “They’ve played brilliantly,” he says.

He also helps to run his daughter’s team, Gaywood FC, in King’s Lynn, Norfolk, where attendances these past few weeks have boomed.

“It’s getting more popular,” Mark says. “Seeing the number of girls here, wearing their kits, the future is bright.”

Ewan Wilson, here with his nine-year-old daughter, Rosie, says the same. He recently started coaching Harefield United’s under-tens because, he says, “Rosie’s got the bug for it — she’s watched every game.” Everywhere you look, there are mothers and fathers with sons and daughters.

Much is familiar for an event of this magnitude: the stalls hawking half-and-half scarves, the ticket touts, a raucous Boxpark where Emma Hayes, the Chelsea women’s manager, is getting everyone in the mood for the game. There are spontaneous outbursts of the “Football’s coming home” chorus from Three Lions. Another familiar face: Eddie Howe, the Newcastle United head coach, snaking through the throng, with a child’s hand clasped in either palm.

Then a group of young girls with a ball are playing rondos outside Brent Civic Centre, displaying a dizzying array of skills. A family are sitting playing card games, safe and content, soaking in the atmosphere. Street performers, dressed as referees on stilts, brandish red and yellow cards at passing fans. An environmentally friendly temporary tattoo stall, with a snaking queue, encourages supporters to dispose of the seven tonnes of waste the day will produce responsibly: “Don’t Be a Waste Man,” one says — and, happily, there’s no sea of plastic cups or beer cans to wade through beneath your feet.

This could not have been further from the disgraceful scenes that marred the build-up to the final of the men’s European Championship a year ago.

None of this is unexpected to anyone except the newly converted, of whom there are many. James Wallace, 51, is standing outside the fanzone with his wife, Cathy, wearing a Manchester City women’s shirt with “Hemp” across his back. A lifelong City fan, he tried a women’s game a few years back and was hooked.

“This is the ninth game I’ve been to at the Euros,” Wallace, 51, says. “We even went to the [2019] World Cup semi-final and final in Lyon — [we] didn’t get to see England in the final then, but we will today.”

James, from Nottingham, was at Saturday’s Community Shield game between Manchester City and Liverpool. “The fans were shouting horrible stuff,” he says. “Compare that to this, or the semi-final in Sheffield — the atmosphere is far more enjoyable. The kids are absolutely loving it.”

Tracey Hamnet, 48, from Liverpool, is another convert and attending her first Lionesses game. “They’ve brought something to the surface this year,” she says. Her best friend, Angela Carr, 46, agrees: “I’m a fan of football, not just women’s football, but I think it’s really important that the country has got behind these girls.” How could you not? These England players have been dazzling and daring and inspiring — not just to the giddy thousands in sold-out stadiums around the country, or the 87,000 who made their pilgrimage to the national stadium, but to the growing millions transfixed by the action on their televisions screens at home. The impact of what they have achieved ripples far and wide.

In a game freighted with nervous tension, the Lionesses, once again, found deep reserves and, in Chloe Kelly, the winning goalscorer, another heroine. When the City winger hit the net in extra time the atmosphere fizzed and crackled. When the final whistle blew, the decibels spiked and Wembley roared.

This is England, 2022: a landscape changed for ever.