These seminal successes need careful tending
LESSONS are hard-learned in sport, and even when repeated time and again, they will not stick. Ten years on from the London Olympics, English sport is deafened by talk of legacy. That treacherous word soundtracked that wonderful fortnight of a decade ago.
Anyone who experienced those Games will testify to the brilliance of the time, from the huge crowds at events, to the packed-out Olympic Stadium, to the parade of heroes that emerged to fulfil the host nation’s wildest dreams.
But the 10 years since have seen the optimism around legacy blow away, fragile and fleeting as dandelion seeds. The Olympics was such a powerful experience, and it stirred such excitement and good feeling in millions of people, that it seemed certain its effect on sport throughout the UK would last a generation.
It didn’t.
The infrastructure provided for the Games, at a cost of billions, triggered years-long disputes, most obviously centred on the stadium and the controversial deal struck by West Ham United for its use.
The Olympic legacy was felt as much in grubby disputes over entitlement and facilities and budgets, as it was in empowering the next wave of British world-beaters.
Legacy is a word used thoughtlessly in some sporting conversations, and in none as prominently as those around women’s sport.
The past week has seen the predicted legacy of England’s Euros win regularly discussed.
There’s no going back now, is the bold prediction. But there is. Nothing is guaranteed.
What the English team achieved was substantial enough to rank high among wins by an international team representing the country in recent years.
The support the Lionesses attracted was huge, and there was a powerful symmetry between a good team, smartly coached, and a home support willing to put their backing behind this novel force.
But what happens if the World Cup is a disappointment, or if manager Sarina Wiegman moves on?
Or what happens if their fortunes in future major tournaments are not as robustly resistant to injury and bad luck as they were this time?
THESE are the usual sporting variables that stalk all teams, but there are more fundamental ones around women’s soccer in the UK, given the modest crowds attracted to top-level matches. That is a reminder that the roots of this success are not deep.
And how could they be, given that their success is in itself another example of the flourishing of women’s sport generally in recent years?
But it’s worth remembering nonetheless that such fresh success is fragile and needs tending.
These lessons are easily applied to many Irish examples, starting with the national women’s team.
Build-up to the World Cup qualifier with Finland on September 1 will begin soon.
The game is already a sell-out, and victory will guarantee Ireland a place in a convoluted but nonetheless tantalising play-off process plump with promise.
The improvement in that side in a narrow technical sense is inspiring, and directly related to a change in how the FAI treat the women’s side.
But that rise in prominence has also enabled the team and its leaders to become important figures in some seminal discussions in society generally.
They seem a terrific bunch and they are also vivid proof that the sporting order is not set in marble – new teams, new passions and new stars can emerge.
Yet it’s also true that the only way of maintaining the profile of the team and those same stars is ongoing good form, and with it good results.
The domestic league doesn’t attract big support or much in the way of coverage, which illustrates another sporting truth: results matter. No matter how powerful the symbolism of a team or a sport, results and competitiveness and intrigue, everything we associate with competition, is vital.
Vera Pauw, Katie McCabe and the rest will know that a downturn in form would see a return to modest numbers at matches, and an accompanying shrinkage in coverage. This isn’t to be callous, but realistic.
The national women’s team in rugby prove that, too. The days of Grand Slams and championships are long gone, and it is only organisational turmoil, player unhappiness, and the stomach within the leadership of the IRFU for meaningful change, that brings headlines now. The union conduct reviews and promise change, and it’s now reported that contracts for players are imminent.
All this is positive news, but it has to manifest itself in better performances. Reaching a decent level and maintaining or bettering it is vital.
Ladies football is an excellent case study in what’s possible. A crowd of over 46,000 in Croke Park last Sunday kept up the trend for big attendances on finals’ day.
AND the people come because the level of competition has increased. The long run of Cork success eventually gave way to Dublin, before they were upended in remarkable fashion by Meath a year ago, and now their retention of the championship signals another force.
It could be a short-lived one, given the growing threat from Aussie Rules. That league is another instance of an organisation getting its structures and supports right, and reaping the results.
Crowds have increased, more teams have become involved, and a longer season is the result.
That poses issues for counties here, as talents like Vikki Wall not only are highly prized by Australian clubs, but are required to spend longer and longer in Australia as the league season extends.
This will eventually present problems for players who want to maintain careers in both codes, but it will also ask uncomfortable questions of counties if they lose their best players for more of the year.
It’s already a major problem for Meath, and could threaten their ambitions of consolidating as the game’s new force.
Be certain that the Meath players will have heard the word legacy this week. Imagine all the young girls, and boys, who have had their appetites for the game stoked over the last year. But they are growing up in a world buzzing with distractions, from other sports but also from a life that is more complicated and challenging than the childhoods we knew.
It can seem cruel to note it, but growing a sport is a project that can never pause. At every level, progress is hard-won and easily surrendered.
That’s why legacy is not a useful word. It implies success magicked out of somewhere ethereal, and it fails to do justice to the brilliance of players like England’s Lionesses, but also Katie McCabe and Emma Duggan. And it also overlooks the contributions of the people who train them and administer their sports. That is how lasting change is effected.
Forget legacies. A healthy future depends on those out training juvenile teams this morning.
Winning days are just the final line in a story with many faceless, nameless, priceless characters.