LET me confess that I am not a football fan.
Cricket, rugby and tennis are my games but, after the extensive coverage, I was persuaded to reach for the remote and watch the Lionesses play Australia in the World Cup semi-finals.
I was flabbergasted.
Passion, skill and sheer guts were displayed in spades and it wasn’t long before I, too, was bellowing at the screen in support.
We won.
What a match and then the finals against Spain.
Well, I certainly did not miss that and, once again, I found myself carried along on wave of euphoria as England took on a skillful Spanish side.
The Lionesses may have lost the closely-fought match, but they won our hearts and pushed the women’s game to the top of the league.
I thought that England midfielder Georgia Stanway’s gutsy, “We’re not done yet,” after the final whistle exemplified the team’s spirit.
Again, I am not an expert, but I felt these remarkable sportswomen showed up their male counterparts.
There was none of the spoiled posturing of the Premier League, just 11 players who, untarnished by ridiculous salaries, wanted to win for their country.
Interestingly, for the past three years, the FA has paid the lionesses exactly the same in match fees and bonuses as the men for representing their country internationally.
But the prize winnings for women’s football this year of £150 million are far short of the £440 million distributed at the Qatar World Cup.
For the domestic game, the gulf is wider, with members of the Women’s Super League earning around £27,000 a year, compared to an average of £60,000 a week in the Premier league.
Still, for a game banned by the FA in 1921 as ‘quite unsuitable for females’, women’s football has come a long way.