Lionesses show the best side of the beautiful game | Letters | OneFootball

Ava Vidal’s article really resonated with me as I recovered from the stress of Sunday night (England has finally found a way to banish all the ‘years of hurt’. It’s called women’s football and the Lionesses, 28 July). From the first defeat against France to the final penalties against Spain, England were one match from returning home. Against Sweden, they were about 10 minutes from doing that, and against Italy just over a minute. In the final, they were forced into a rearguard action for pretty much the whole game.

If the men’s team had done that, every single player would be called a legend the length and breadth of the country – quite rightly. As it is the women’s team, misogynists are queueing up online to say it is a worthless achievement, as they hate to see female successes.

For the last two seasons I have been going to the Emirates Stadium to watch Arsenal women’s team with my wife, who never had the opportunity to play the sport she loves, and my daughter, who has been playing for 15 years in various football teams. The crowd is overwhelmingly young, female, enthusiastic and tolerant, to the extent that I have seen Tottenham and Arsenal supporters sitting together. Yes, there is support for Arsenal, but there is no hatred for the opposition. I would never go to a men’s match, with its poisonous, threatening and exclusionary atmosphere.

For me, there is only one type of football I want to see, and it is the football played by these remarkable women. They are role models to everyone, young and old, irrespective of gender. They show the best side of sport and the abuse they receive just shows their detractors up for what they are. You will see me there this season with my “Russo 23” shirt, watching these amazing heroines. David PearceGillingham, Kent

• Tom Garry is perceptive in saying that Three Lions was too melancholy a tune to be played after recent Lionesses’ victories (Analysis, 27 July). For almost 30 years that wretched jingle has been a soundtrack to defeat and failure. It should be forgotten, along with the misery it accompanied. Compare the deflating mood it evokes with the exhilaration occasioned by just a few bars of Sweet Caroline, which spurs those triumphant memories of Wembley 2022 and now Basel.Richard StanleyBristol

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