Over the last few months, I've attended 2 international England Women's matches, 1 Women's Champions League semi final, the Women's FA Cup Final, and the Women's six nations final game England Vs France.
(From left to right > Ashton Gat Stadium Eng v Belgium, me at Wembley, me at Stamford Bridge, Wembley Stadium Eng V Brazil, Stamford Bridge Chelsea V Barcelona, Twickenham Stadium, Me at Twickenham Stadium, Wembley for Man U Vs Chelsea FA Cup)
I absolutely love that women's sport is evolving like never before, seeing so many more fans attend, families and first timers. Whilst football and rugby are my favourite sports, there's also more attention in other areas too. From my motorsport interests, the likes of Jamie Chadwick, Abbie Eaton, Jessica Hawkins and Jade Edwards are racing in various categories and are being talked about more on various motorsport shows. An area which is slowly moving away from being 'A man's world'.
The women's FA Cup final used to be the only women's football on TV, and there wasn't much women's rugby to watch either. Sure the Olympics covered women's sport but this was only a small part of the other sports out there. Boxing being a prime example - Women were allowed to competitively box for the first time at the Summer 2012 Olympic games, with our wonderful Nicola Adams winning the first ever Olympic gold medal in the sport.
Whilst the rise of women's sport is something not to be dampened - World Athletics confirmed that transgender women who have gone through male puberty can no longer compete in women's events at international competitions (March23). In July of 2022, the Rugby Football Union (RFU), voted to ban transgender women from playing women's contact rugby. A topic that has a wide variety of opinion.
In the Tokyo Olympics, New Zealander Laurel Hubbard became the first openly transgender athlete to compete at an Olympics in a different sex category to that in which they were born - so hopefully this can be the future of Women's sports.
After being at Ashton gate for England Vs Belgium, I remembered the love for football, but this time was different. A 12-14ish year old girl behind me shouted 'lucky buggers they've got my girlfriend' as one of the players was down in the corner flag at the opposite end of the pitch. It was so wholesome to hear that, see the families there, and see people with England shirts with players from the women's team printed - I don't remember that as a kid!
I think football will just hold a special place in my heart. When I was younger, that's all I wanted to do - My life was playing football, watching football, living in football kit. I was lucky enough to be able to play for Wycombe Wanderers for a period in time, I had the best coaches and enjoyed my training sessions - I'll also never forget my last game where I scored in both ends... I was also lucky enough to be taken to Wembley and various other stadiums watching England men's team play - Needless to say I learnt the phrase 'The referee is a wanker' at a delicate young age.
(From right to left > Me at Denham Station on my way to Wembley, me in Wycombe Wanderers kit (probably as a sub), Me holding the FA Cup at the 'old' wembley, My standard attire of a Football shirt when I was a bit younger - this was when Chelsea won the champions league final)
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