A Conservative councillor was pulled up by the Provost after congratulating England Women on winning the wrong tournament during the summer.
Neill Graham, Tory group leader, submitted a motion to full council which mistakenly recognised the Lionesses for their "recent success in lifting the World Cup at Wembley Stadium" — the team having, in fact, won the Euros against Germany.
Substitute Chloe Kelly, 24, scored the winner in extra-time of the July contest, which would see England write history by winning their first major women's tournament.
Provost Lorraine Cameron asked Councillor Graham to clarify that he would change the wording of his motion, so that it included a reference to the European Championship instead of the World Cup.
The member for Paisley Northeast and Ralston could be heard saying during Thursday's Renfrewshire Council meeting: "I was just testing you there."
Provost Cameron responded: "I'm sure you were. I did tell you I was fair across the board, in scrutiny too."
Councillor Graham added: "I'm glad that you're taking notice of women's football and especially [that] England won it, so well done Provost. Thank you."
He then urged the local authority to "seize the opportunity" and build on the surge of women and girls taking up the sport.
Councillor Graham said: "I'm sure we all welcome the fantastic achievements of the English women's football team. It was such a positive thing to witness on the TV.
"Many cities across England, towns and villages, setting up fan zones so everyone could watch this event. It was so good to see so many girls and women as well and it was such a diverse crowd.
"I never thought I would say, 10 years ago, that I would enjoy women's football. I was very interested in men's football. I'm just being honest. It really is a good sport to watch and I'm glad to see it so popular now.
"But I think we really need to seize the opportunity now. Girls in schools across Renfrewshire want to play football.
"There's been many cases in the past where girls have not been given the same opportunity as boys, the girls have been told they need to play a different sport, so I just want to make sure across Renfrewshire that will no longer be the case."
The Provost said the council does accept that "significant barriers" remain to girls accessing football and that work must continue with national governing bodies and clubs to remove those.
However, she was heartened by a series of figures which show the high level of female participation in the sport locally, with a host of girls only and mixed sessions running in the area throughout the year.
Hundreds of girls are also competing in football leagues at primary and secondary level.
Provost Cameron added: "I think that's a really good result after probably many years of really hard work to try and get girls to participate in something that they love, because they don't think girls should be playing football.
"Well, why not? They're doing it now and it's wonderful."
Don't miss the latest headlines from around Renfrewshire. Sign up to our newsletters here
