HERO LIONESSES' EUROS HEARTACHE
SEMI-FINAL: HOLLAND 3 ENGLAND 0
ENGLAND’S brave football Lionesses were knocked out of Euro 2017 last night – but their run to the semi-finals was hailed as a massive boost to women’s sport.
Millions of fans back home were roaring them on for their clash with Holland, which they lost 3-0, as a record TV audience watched in pubs and homes.
Thousands of bars screened the match live as supporters went crazy for the stars, whose heroic exploits in the Netherlands inspired future sportswomen and sparked a betting bonanza.
The team’s winning run only came to an end when they had to take on the host country in front of a partisan crowd. But their progress means women’s football is the winner, with new figures revealing a surge in the number of girls and young women taking up the sport.
Bookies saw a huge increase in the number of bets compared to Euro 2013. Coral said the team would have cost the betting industry £20million had they won the tournament on Sunday. Coral’s John Hill said: “The Lionesses have been the pride of the nation and patriotic punters have backed them all the way.”
England star Lucy Bronze revealed the extra work female players have had to put in to get the women’s game noticed.
The Manchester City ace, 25, said the successes of other women, such as the World Cup-winning England cricket team, provided “huge motivation for us to keep that going because we’ve had to work really hard to get this sort of positive coverage”.
She said the Lionesses had been inspired by the cricket stars, who beat India last month.
Since Euro 2013, the number of girls and women registered with England’s football National Association has soared by 16%, with a record 106,910 players competing in association football during the 2016/17 season. The total is made up of almost 70,000 female youth players and more than 37,000 women taking part.