F*** you Piers Morgan and other gammons; we are still celebrating England women now

Editor F365
England women celebrate their triumph

Still the mails keep coming in about the England women. And about those who would look to denigrate their achievements.

It’s almost a shame to start talking about the Premier League. But we probably should…

Send your views to theeditor@football365.com

 

Standing up for all women
I just wanted to say, as the father of a trans daughter who faces all sorts of challenges, thank you for the piece you wrote savaging Piers Morgan. He is a vile opportunist incapable of basic human empathy.

I have read F365 for a very long time (nearly 20 years, I think?!) and seeing you stand up for things like this means a lot. Your coverage of Euro 2022 has been ahead of the curve in general.

I’m hoping I’ll be able to follow key events in the WSL on your pages going forward as well, even if my beloved Liverpool probably won’t be as high achieving as they have been in the men’s game in recent years!

Keep up the good work.
Tom

 

Gammon and eggs
Pete! Pete, Pete, Pete. Gammon is not hate speech or a racial slur. It doesn’t apply to ALL white men, and I don’t know where you got Christian from either. It only applies to politically reactionary, right wing, bigoted and old white men. You can’t leave out those qualifiers and pretend that it’s racist against all white men. It refers to the very right wing, hateful political views of the angry, pink faced, Brexit deluded Newsnight audience member furiously shouting misinformed drivel about political issues that they have next to zero understanding of.

The difference between the amusing, light hearted term ‘gammon’ and real racism, is that being a gammon is not an inherent, unchangeable trait, unlike skin colour, sexuality, disability and the other protected characteristics. Gammons can stop brainwashing themselves with disgusting Murdoch/Daily Heil hate propaganda, heal whatever personal or generational trauma they’re projecting outward, be better, more informed, more loving people, and then nobody will call them gammons anymore. Simple 🙂

Conservatives and especially the Gammon King himself, Piers Morgan, are manufacturing grievances to make themselves feel oppressed. Don’t fall into that trap. Straight, cis, white, Christian men are not being institutionally oppressed in any way due to their inherent characteristics; they’re just being mocked occasionally online for their horrific politics and getting angry over their delusional mass fever dreams (see William, Leicester’s mailbox entries). They have the power to change that.
Hulmy, Stoke

 

…Gammon is no more hate speech than Karen is. It’s an insult.

It’s not attacking all white Christian men, it’s insulting those men that prattle on about “woke”, shit on youngsters for “having not work ethic” and pretend that they won ww2 singlehandedly. Piers Morgan, Alan Sugar and Jeremy Clarkson are gammons. Richard Coles, Kier Starmer and David Attenborough are white Christian men who span from waste of space to national treasure, but none of them are gammons.

Insulting someone for their behaviour or attitude isn’t hate speech, no matter how much you hate it Pete
Dan, Plastic LFC

 

…I’m sure I won’t be the only one to point it out but this was a pointless rant. Straight white Christian men have one of the easiest rides in human history so let’s not pretend they’re somehow disadvantaged by the term “gammon” shall we.

My partner is black and I can tell you that gammon and aren’t even close to being the same thing. They’re not in the same league or even the same sport.

When those same white straight Christian men are targeted and persecuted to the same level as other demographics you can complain, until then you really have zero cause for complaint.
Lee

 

Blaming the ref means you haven’t done enough to win
To Oliver (1966 all over again indeed!) Dziggel, Geneva Switzerland and Wolfgang Hamann.

If we’re not talking about the handball then we’re not talking about Oberdorf’s blatant sending off in the first half.

If you blame the ref, you have not done enough to win. It doesn’t matter what game it is or who its played by, the ref was terrible for both sides. Like all the challenges from behind that didn’t get booked in the first half for Germany, slight trip by an England player, straight in the book.

If this success has taught us anything it is the lack of need to descend into the petty bullshit of the male football fans.

Right now, women’s football is at its peak. The more bitching and whining about refs, the more money is added, the more bets are placed, the less attractive it will be.

What we saw was two excellent teams playing football, with the more experienced team resorting to hacking and cheating.

Germany have a more developed game in their country meaning that people like Oberdorf doing a proper Pepe/Ramos is more normal. That’s what made the win so sweet. Salty tears of cheating Germans (Rauch was just as bad).

So is that what you want? Do you want more money to be added meaning that pace, power and aggression win the day? Right now, I just see 2 teams playing football. Watch the charity shield and it’s just 100mph, crunching, injury inducing bollocks, hardly any football played by the top 2 teams in the country.

So don’t start bitching about the ref, don’t start investing more money, don’t start betting on it or promoting it more than normal. The best thing about women’s football is that is all about the skill. The more money you add, it will just become a sea of super-women running really fast and hurting each other a lot. No fun at all, like men’s football really.
Fat Man (Women’s football – a refreshing change from the “my dick is bigger than yours” mens football, where not much football is actually played)

 

Sunday changed things forever
I was not going to write in about the Lionesses, not least because I still feel so emotional about two days on and seriously doubt my ability to be articulate on the subject. But I cannot resist replying to Graham Simons, Gooner, Norf London, Thank you Graham, and all the other male Mailbox writers for their support. Graham is right, it’s not the women’s game, it IS the people’s game. It is how football always was and how it should be, now for everyone.

I am an optimist and believe that Sunday night changed things forever. That we may now have finally earned our equality in football. That a superior performance from the Lionesses will earn women in football across the UK parity at long last in terms of investment, media attention, respect, governance, etc not just this week but into a long and happy future.

Leah’s Lionesses have shown what our sportswomen can do with just a little of those things. Even two decades ago when hardly anyone played let alone watched, women’s football, England managed to produce one of the greatest players of all time (the magical Kelly Smith). Imagine how good our team will continue to be if the lessons of the past four weeks are really learned and all those nascent talents across the country are identified and nurtured. We might just be able to achieve the kind of dominance we have only dreamed until now, for either gender.
Carolyn, (never more proud to be a) South London Gooner

 

Stay as you are, England women
As an England fan, a year ago I experienced getting to a final for the first time.

As an England fan, on Sunday I saw a trophy being won for the first time in my lifetime.

It’s not surprising that the overall emotion was one of disbelief, when you’ve watched England end tournaments time after time with the glum sadness of being knocked out of the competition -suddenly to hear the final whistle and think this is it, this is what it’s like to win!

It looked in the first half like a 1-0 score was the most likely result. The unstoppable force England meeting the unmovable object that was Germany. There were half chances, but Germany were missing that focal point in attack.

One moment of sheer quality, from Walsh’s pass to Toone’s finish looked good enough to settle the tie. But in the lead up to the equaliser, England let the German wingers get past them too easily.

So it was back to square one. The winner was as scrappy a goal as you’ll see but Kelly gambled by taking a more advanced position from the corner while I think three or four teammates stood on the 6-yard box, meaning she was ready for any rebound if the goalkeeper fumbled it. It looked like Kelly herself wasn’t sure it was a goal at first, but it’s the most important goal of her life.

No one has given them the full “didn’t beat anyone decent on the way to the final” treatment, which is a reflection on an emphatic campaign with a record number of 22 goals. And wonderful to see those who we’d cheered on in 2019 and 2017, White, Scott, Bronze and Bright revelling in the win.

A final point: these players are approachable and natural, I think one reason we warm to them is their responses are genuine rather than media-trained. And it would be a shame to lose that with more of a spotlight on them and more money pouring into the game. Stay as you are, you’re all winners.
Paul in Brussels

 

Don’t believe the FA…or the hype
In response to Gab Ynwa, it wasn’t FIFA that banned women from taking part in football for over 50 years it was in fact the English FA…… Let that sink in while we see how over the next load of weeks and months the FA will treat the ladies as cash cows using them for their own benefit. Fair play to the team for achieving something that they can be proud of but this isn’t the turning point for the woman’s game, this time next year very few people will be able to tell you who the big game of the weekend is in the WSL fixtures.

I say we let the ladies enjoy their time in the limelight but let’s stop with the over the top hype about this is the dawn of a new era. By the way this is not me hating on the woman’s game, I really enjoyed the tournament and thought the best team were Spain, they played better football than most games you will at men’s international level.
Kev, Belfast

 

Women’s football in Essex
In reply to Jeremy Aves, may I commend your attention to https://londonseawardfc.com/

They’re an independent team that plays in the women’s 4th tier, they play a bunch of fixtures out Essex way and they’re an excellent way to support a women’s team without coming into conflict with your support for Colchester.
Dan, Plastic LFC

 

Women and flares
OK, firstly, let’s just get this out of the way. Praising the Lionesses for their achievements and lauding the lack of toxic masculinity surrounding the Euros (especially the final against Germany), then comparing the standard of women’s football to U16 boys level… would you just listen to yourself? These women are professional footballers and are light years ahead of U16 level. There are so, so many reasons why this is true, but let’s pick just one: name me the last English footballer to chip the goalkeeper (the German goalkeeper) from just outside the box in a major international tournament final. Wayne Rooney? Alan Shearer? Harry Kane? Raheem Sterling? No, I didn’t think so. There has been a lot of talk about the legacy that our Lionesses achievements at these European Championships have created and we have to be clear on one thing: those men (and, sadly, some women) who think women’s football is somehow worse than schoolboy football should be taken along to WSL games to see for themselves what professional means.

Right, that’s sorted that one. I see the FA/Premier League have promised to crack down on fans bringing flares into stadiums. Well done. What they actually mean is, they’ll talk tough, until someone gets injured, or worse, killed. Then they will act. It’s the same old story, replayed time and time again.

The truly sad thing is, if the Premier League (and the 20 clubs) REALLY wanted to do something about it, they could, right now. Stopping flares, abusive chanting and any other toxic behaviour is really simple – points deductions. First time it happens at a ground – 3 point deduction for both teams. If it’s a second offence in the season for a team, 6 point deduction. Imagine how fast the crowd would police itself when there was real jeopardy for the team. So come on Premier League, do the right thing for once, inherit the legacy that women’s football has delivered, build on the Lionesses success and lets get families into EPL matches, not idiots with smoke bombs.

Finally (I can hear the sighs of relief you know) this one is to the fan channels, in my case AFTV. Get out to the WSL games. Get shows going about the WSL players. Has to be easy for us Gooners, we’ve got Viv Miedema, best player on the planet. And Leah Williamson, captain of England. And that Beth Mead, I heard she can play a bit. Wouldn’t it be great to see the fan cams outside WSL games? I know a lot of AFTV contributors do support the WSL team, but there’s definitely an opportunity for more content on the games.

And that’s the legacy, bringing the stars of the WSL to the generation of kids growing up dreaming. How refreshing would it be, how much further would we have got if in ten years time the latest English wonderkid in the men’s team says he grew up watching Beth Mead score goals, she inspired him to kick a ball around? Then we have achieved something.

Well played Lionesses. Well f***** played.
Exiled Gooner (so this is what a major international football win feels like)