Chelsea Women manager Emma Hayes attended a Fun Football session for girls inspired to play the game following the Lionesses heroics at Wembley. The Fun Football registrations saw a 60% increase of young girls registering after Chloe Kelly’s winner on Sunday night.
Emma was supporting McDonald’s Fun Football which will provide free coaching sessions to one million children and recruit over 100 new women’s coaches over the next four years. Sign up to your nearest session at mcdonalds.co.uk/football
She answered a series of questions after the England victory...
Beth Mead, won player of the tournament? What impact do you think she's had on the team?
I think the impact that Beth Mead has had on the tournament is the legacy that she then leaves it. I mean, Golden Boot winner, top goal scorer, outstanding player is one thing, but the scores of kids and people across the country that will remember her for being an unbelievable footballer, and the legacy beyond that, for me is the real impact.
Do you think England can go all the way in the Women's World Cup based on this performance?
I think it's fair to say that we were very much favourites at a home tournament, I think having home advantage does give the team an advantage. I think crossing the globe to play in Australia, with the title of European Champions adds pressure. But I do think we've got a fantastic group of younger players coming through that can build on the current success. So of course, as European champions, we will go in as one of the favourites.
So this is the first major win for England since 1966. How important is it that we continue this legacy for women’s football.
I think continuing the legacy for women's football is the day we've waited for such a long time. And for once, we are not going to have to sell the sport short, it will sell itself from here on in, thank goodness, because as I've said a million times over, we could have sold Wembley out three or four times. And the atmosphere, the generation of fans we will now attract to the sport will be unprecedented. And I don't have a Mystic Ball. I couldn't tell you what it will look like all I can say is I'm really excited.
We just need more and more girls playing the game. These McDonald’s Fun Football session are free and accessible so there is nothing stopping young girls getting involved now.
What do you think the legacy of this victory will be?
I always think legacies are hard to predict because it will only be when we look back in five years, probably that we will see what that jump will actually be. Because if I rewind five years, and see the development and growth of the game from then to now, it's already been unbelievable in five years’ time. I suspect that selling out Wembley will be something of a norm as opposed to you know, one offs.
What do you think people can do better to sport women's football?
Invest to be better, you have to invest! The time is right for women's sport, for women's football and McDonald’s has been doing this for years. Their Fun Football programme will increase the number of female coaches in the game which is huge and young girls need to see more role models in football.
But you have to get it right from the ground up like the other grassroots levels. To make sure access for young people to play is easy to do, that sport in PE is easy to access, that football in PE is easy to access for all girls across the country and that hopefully, we develop more females in the game, whether it be coaching, broadcasting, you know, the industry as a whole for me, is the next step.
McDonald’s Fun football is upskilling 100 New females coaches and providing a million hours of free football. How do you think these kinds of measures will impact the women's game?
I think people don't really realise how few female coaches there really is on the ground. And so many of our girls and women across the country have never even been coached by a woman, which seems preposterous in many ways. So we have to invest in educating more females to be able to influence the next generation. So something like this is not only of prime importance, it is something I'm passionate about. Because I know how people like myself have been the only ones doing it for so long. So that needs once again to become a norm rather than an exception to the rule.
How much has changed how since you first started coaching?
I don't even recognise it. It's another world the fact that a young girl just said to me I'm never washing this t shirt with my signature on because she's used to seeing me on the television or used to seeing me with my team, that whole notion that you have to see it to believe it means that scores of girls are growing up with role models. Something I never had is simply beyond my wildest imagination. I couldn't have even imagined a moment like this as a child. So it's unprecedented.
And what do you think makes this team so great? Following on from that, how proud are you how proud are you or Millie Bright and Fran Kirby ?
Great people make great teams. I think they are relatable. Everybody can see themselves or their children in them. I think the responsibility to deliver for the nation is something that inspired them and didn't paralyze them. Especially in the moment on Sunday night at 1-1 . I think it was unbelievable how they dealt with the challenges of the game and the tournament.
As far as Millie and Fran and I have to say, Jess and Beth too, even though they didn't play. It's like being a proud parent. Like, that's how I feel. I felt like a Mum and my kids had just won the lottery. And that was, I think, something that will live in my memory forever. And I'm so proud because people don't really see the people behind the players and what they have to go through to get there and they're all really special people.
