The Euros and the Lionesses

I have seen a lot of sour stuff online about the allegedly poor standard of women's football and digs about DEI and the like.

Sod 'em. I loved it.

Since 1966 I have watched virtually every World Cup and Euro on the telly while in various countries - England, Spain, Italy, Netherlands, Malaysia and France. Being English, I have usually been keen to see England do well, until the inevitable exit. Then I rooted for others who caught my imagination e.g. Cruyff's NL in the 1970s, Rossi's Italy in the early 80s (when I was a journo in Rome) then Platini's France, then Jan Mølby's Denmark.

For some people football is virtually a religion or a tribal cult. For a few, it's a business. For me, football is a form of entertainment, with physicality, skill, personalities, plot twists, boring bits, thrills and occasional drama. The great thing about tournament football, for me, is getting to "know" the personalities, the teams and their various styles of play. I love it.

For me, these Euros ticked all the boxes. In fact I found the final more entertaining than many of the other finals I have seen. The fact that it was women playing made it even more entertaining. What a cast of characters!