When the Lionesses lifted the Euros trophy in Trafalgar Square the crowd roared with delight.
It was an iconic moment; not only had football finally come home after 56 years, but also some long-awaited respect and a shift in attitude toward females playing ‘the beautiful game.’
However, when Marrie Wieczorek, 65, from Middlesbrough, played football 40 years earlier, at a time when it wasn’t exactly the done thing - and she was subjected to jeers, instead of cheers.
She was working at a bakery in town when she got the call up to play for England in 1980.
“I was a little bit nervous about asking for three days off but when he [her boss] found out what it was for he said, ‘I'll pay you as well.’ And I'm like, "Wow, I'm off and I’m getting paid!”
Although now England stars are full-time salaried players, back then the thought of money didn’t even cross Marrie’s mind.
“We got our train expenses and that was it. We had to make our way to London. Obviously, it was such a big honour. I didn't care, I would have walked there.”
Marrie played for her country against Belgium, Sweden, and Wales, but getting to that point was an uphill battle against the chauvinistic attitudes of the time.
She also played for Middlesbrough FC women’s team for 22 years, before going on to be their manager, but she explains that in the beginning they were heckled at matches: “We had loads of referees saying, 'you should be in the bloody kitchen, don't know what you are doing on the field.'
“We'd ask ‘Well, why are you here?’ They’d say ‘because we get paid more for a women's game’ and things like that.”
"When we were playing the working men's clubs they used to close at two back then, and then open later on. So they [the men] would be coming out as we were kicking off and they’d all be shouting things like ‘take your tops off!"
"But when they stopped and watched for a while, we could hear the difference. They’d be saying, ‘Oh, these lasses can play!’ We've been through the whole thing. But it's just so nice to see everything where it is now.”
Watching the Lionesses win at Wembley, surrounded by legions of fans, made Marrie break down.
“I cry at the National Anthem every time anyway, but yesterday afterwards, I was buzzing, crying, singing, buzzing, crying, and singing. I couldn’t make my mind up,” she laughs. “I’m immensely proud.”
