General

It’s come home!

NG’s Charlotte Steggles reflects on a momentous night at Wembley…

In all honesty I still can’t believe it; I just have such raw emotions from last night.

This isn’t because England have finally won a major trophy but because of those who have come before us to pave the way and fight for women to be allowed to play football.

In 1921 the FA decided to ban women’s football and nearly 100 years on our women produce performances like that. We have fought every day for a moment like that and still continue to do so. What most people would consider we just get given, somewhere along the line we’ve had to fight for it.

To me, those women are inspirational – and not just those who played last night, but all of those women who came before them. If any boys or girls are looking for inspiration, then there – they have it. Years of hard work and dedication have led to an international trophy. In a world full of social media influencers and celebrities young boys and girls shouldn’t be looking at those as role models, but they should look to that team last night.

Growing up that was my dream, to represent my country and those women last night lived the dream for so many of us.

You may read this and think what has this got to do with NG, but everyone here now has backed me to play both football and be a chartered surveyor. They continue to raise awareness for the game and have helped massively with sponsoring me as a player and encouraging others to also help and sponsor a player.

I cannot now wait to watch the game grow from strength to strength! We just witnessed history.