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BAZBALL England’s new brand of cricket, ready for the Ashes
LOW LIFE Three times unlucky Down Under
BODY OF WORK To build, and rebuild a champion
BY RISHI PERSAD
CHARLIE FELLOWES
BY MATT LITTLE
HEAD START How to shine at Royal Ascot BY SARAH KATE BYRNE
Women’s football in England is now professional and thriving – thanks to pioneers such as former Arsenal and England captain Faye White, who reflects and looks ahead with Lola Katz Roberts
I
T IS 29 APRIL 2007, and it has been a remarkable season for Arsenal women’s team. Having already secured the Premier League, FA Cup and League Cup treble, they face the Swedish Champions, FC Umea, for a shot at an unprecedented quadruple. They emerge at Meadow Park – a home they share with non-league side Borehamwood FC – to a modest crowd of 3,467. It is a night that will go down in history as they clinch the trophy following a nervy stalemate, preserving their narrow first leg lead. They have a combination of goalkeeping brilliance and the woodwork to thank. Captain Faye White joins her teammates to lift the trophy – a moment
she will never forget. Exactly 16 years later, Arsenal women’s face off against FC Wolfsburg for a place in the Champions League final. The streets around the Emirates Stadium are gridlocked. Captain Leah Williamson pulls pints for her adoring fans at the Tollington. It is a carnival atmosphere. White is present that night as part of a record 60,338 capacity crowd to cheer on the team she now supports, and to see the unveiling of a mural that honours that night in 2007. She confesses she is “surprised at how the game has exploded”, adding: “When I retired, I thought it was going to be another 20-30 years before we got full stadiums. I’m very proud of my
career, but I would love to be playing now. But I just missed out and that’s life.” Long before the days of sell-out crowds and pre-match pints, White was at times a one-woman force, seeking to open doors for girls who wanted to play football. “It was hard work,” she says. “I gave up so much of my life to do it. But I just loved it. It fills me with pride to know that, even though it wasn’t given on a plate, we wanted to leave
‘It was hard work. But I just loved it. We were England players and we had to fight to raise the standards.’
the game in a better place. We were England players and we had to fight to raise the standards.” It is natural to wonder if White, who retired in 2013, feels any hint of jealousy at the boom in popularity in the women’s game since it became professional in 2018. “People kept saying to me, ‘Oh, do you want England to do well, because that could overshadow your achievement?’ I was like, ‘Of course I do!’ I want the game to improve, I want to see England as the best team, because the bigger the game grows the bigger the opportunities for everyone – for former and future players.” She was in attendance on a joyous evening at Wembley last summer when →