Lionesses Beth Mead and Lucy Bronze said females’s football has actually ended up being so popular that their dogs now get acknowledged, even if they are not walking them.
Speaking at Windsor Castle after getting their MBEs for services to football from the Prince of Wales, the set said the buzz developed when the England females’s group won the 2022 European Championship was more than they imagined.
Bronze, 32, informed the PA news firm: “The one thing now is even my dog gets recognised. Even if I am not walking her people know who my dog is.
“Although the Euros took us by storm, it was kind of brewing for a long time before then.
“We are doing so well in our own right and selling out the Emirates (Arsenal’s stadium) and the FA Cup Final. I play at Camp Nou (Barcelona’s stadium) in front of 70,000-80,000 people.
“These things are becoming more regular and people are appreciating our sport for the thing it is. It is kind of getting to the place I think we all hoped it would get eventually.”
Despite having surgical treatment last month, the Barcelona gamer is positive she will be suitabled for the sport’s most significant video games – the Champion’s League Final on June 3 and the Women’s World Cup this summer season.
Bronze included: “I think (the World Cup) is really far in the future and I should be back training within a few weeks now. The surgery was two weeks ago but very minor compared to some of the other girls.
“My challenge by the end of the season was to do an interview in Spanish. I’m hoping to get back fit for the Champion’s League Final and we’ll see if I can whip up a couple of sentences in Spanish to say on TV.”
Mead is likewise recuperating from a knee injury and anticipates to be not able to bet the next 4 months, making her opportunities of dipping into the World Cup slim.
The 28-year-old, who was joint winner of the Golden Boot at the 2022 Euros, informed PA: “I’m back on the pitch, back kicking a ball. So it’s starting to be a little bit more normal again, but it’s been a long, tough period.
“I will try my hardest to get as close to that as possible. But (the World Cup) may be a little bit too soon for me this time around.”
The set switched their football sets for matches and high heels for the event in Windsor, unexpected William, who has actually formerly fulfilled them throughout training or after matches.
Bronze said: “The first thing Prince William said was ‘Oh, I’m not used to seeing you dress differently’ because obviously he came to a lot of the things before the Euros and he has come to see us before in training. I made sure I did my hair for my nan.”
For the gamers the MBEs are another indication of how far females’s football has actually come.
Mead said: “As an England squad we wanted to provide a legacy for young girls and boys to excel in football and make it such a big prospect. We didn’t want it to then become just a buzz over a few months and then it fizzle off again.”
The Arsenal footballer, who won BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2022, included: “We would love the full team to have got this (MBE) but we’re here and we’re flying the flag for the England team and the women’s game in general.
“We want to support and do the best that we can to get (women’s football) to the next level and it’s exciting seeing from when I started out at Arsenal six years ago to where the game is at now. We want the next generation to be even better than we are now.”
The European champs were amongst 59 individuals getting honours at Windsor Castle on Wednesday, consisting of wildlife advocate Dame Virginia McKenna and previous Watford footballer Luther Blissett, who was among the most popular black gamers in the 1970s and 1980s.
Dame Virginia devoted her honour to “all the wild animals who are still in captivity and probably will be for many years to come”, while Blissett switched footballing tales with the prince, who informed him he had actually just recently been playing 11-a-side.
