The Lionesses are without doubt this nation’s heroes. They have not only made us proud they have done something even more spectacular – they have made patriotism fashionable again. With their breathtaking football these wonder women have silenced those liberal elites who spit on patriotism and who spend their miserable lives telling us that to love your country is to be a bigot, a racist, a colonialist, a nationalist. When it’s none of those things.
Thanks to the Lionesses we saw the living breathing embodiment of patriotism – proud determined people busting a gut out of love for their country. Yes, I cried like a baby when Chloe Kelly banged that winning goal into the back of the net. I cried not just because I was happy, they’d won but because football had suddenly become much more than just a game.
I cried because those girls had made it OK to say “We love Britian. And we’re honoured to represent it.”
So, if I feel all that about them why don’t I feel they should get a Damehood – just yet – which is what some are suggesting.
Well for me it’s simple – I think to elevate them would separate them from the millions of working men and women who were cheering them on last weekend. It would set them apart from the people they are playing football to make proud.
The reason these girls are so much loved is precisely because of who they are and where they’ve come from. Against all the odds they have – with guts and determination – smashed their way out of the confines of their working-class backgrounds – and made history.
For all time they will be remembered as the England girls who won the Euro Championships twice in a row. They were never the favourites.
Never the ones anyone believed would take that title. But still they did. And that cemented them into the hearts of everyone who’s ever had a dream. Of anyone, who, in order to succeed, needed to defy staggering odds.
The Lionesses with their cheek, their naughtiness, their irreverence, their supreme belief in each other showed girls and women everywhere that anything is possible.
And I think giving the Damehoods now removes and separates them from the very people they exist to in inspire. Because inevitably it will change them. There will an expectation about how they should behave, what they should say. If they get rat-legged at a party or are found snogging people, they shouldn’t be surprised when headlines blare “Dame X gets bladdered.”
Next time one of them excitedly drops the F-Bomb in an interview – which they always do – THAT’S what’ll make the media headline, not what they’re actually saying.
Which is why, just for now, they don’t need the dead weight of a Damehood round their necks dictating what they do and what they say.
They should be allowed to continue to be exactly what they are – supremely talented, unashamedly patriotic, bloody hard-working girls who love to play football – and then love to party. Always in that order.
Let them be young, let them be unburdened. Don’t elevate them into the ranks of the elites where they will gradually move away from the people they inspire.
Because a Damehood comes with responsibilities, expectations something which the girls, currently at the height of their powers, just don’t need to be burdened with.
They need to carry on exactly as they are – unfiltered and unfettered. Their only responsibilities should be to thrill us all with their gob-smacking football.
But the person who should get a Damehood it’s the Lionesses manager, the miracle-worker, Serena Wiegman. She’s the woman who made these two Euro wins possible and she’s old enough to handle the responsibility that goes with being a Dame.
And I’m sure the girls would be thrilled with that because time and again they have said she is their inspiration. As for the girls they have all already have official honours in the shape of MBEs and OBEs.
Let that be enough until the passage of time helps them grow into damehoods where they can use their experience and their title to do good.
But if we really want to reward and honour these incredible women it shouldn’t be with gongs it should be by giving them cold, hard cash – in other words pay equality with men.
Currently a woman playing in the Super League gets an annual six figure salary. Compare that to players players in the men’s Premier League who get DOUBLE that in ONE week.
For decades our lacklustre male players have brought no real glory to this country. They have NEVER won the European championships, and their only major silverware is the World Cup nearly SIXTY years ago yet still they are showered with multi-millions for their meagre efforts.
The Lionesses have nothing more to prove. They have brought the Euros trophy home TWICE in a row and so their skills, their will to win, cannot be questioned. So, give them parity – or at least something close to it – with the male players.
I’m betting every one of those women would appreciate THAT a damn sight more than they would a stuffy Damehood.
But it isn’t just money that will honour them it’s an acceptance that they really are as good as the male players. And in many cases better.
Because the narrative still prevails that “Yeah, they’re good but their game will never compare to the men’s” when it damn well does.
I don’t know much about the beautiful game, but I know that when played skilfully and with huge heart it can inspire, it can elevate, it can bring pride to a country that has all but lost it.
And the fact is that the men’s game in recent years has never done that. The Lionesses have done it twice.
And we salute them for it!