Three straight wins, 14 goals scored and no conceded, a player leading the race for the Golden Boot and games played in front of capacity stadiums is what the team has been doing so far. England's pursuit of glory has been negatively impacted by claims that the team does not represent the diversity of the country. The England vs Spain game will be streamed live. There is an hour and a half on the Disney+ channel. Only three of the Lionesses' 23 players are of Black or mixed heritage, compared to 11 players of Black or mixed heritage for the England side. During the live English TV broadcast of England's 8-0 Group A victory against Norway, Eilidh Barbour highlighted the issue by saying, "All 11 starting players and five substitutes who came onto the pitch were white." Barbour's remarks led to a social media backlash, with high-profile commentators outside the game criticising both the presenter and the BBC for questioning the squad, but former England players defended Barbour and supported the idea that England's Euro Budding Lionesses need role models to whom they can relate according to Asante. It is legitimate to question the England team's whiteness because of the importance of diversity. Young girls who can't see anyone who looks like they don't have heroes to look up to. There is a daily guide to coverage and fixture information.
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The England women's team has always had a lack of diversity. Scott and Rachel won a lot of caps over the course of a couple of years. The top 10 list of England's all-time leading goal scorers has two people in it. A plan has been put in place by the English Football Association to ensure that future England teams are more representative of black and mixed heritage players.
Kay Cossington is the English FA's head of women's technical development. We need to share the work we are doing in order to find solutions.
It won't happen in a day or two, but we can do everything we can to make sure that our youth development teams are more diverse in the future.
The professionalisation of the women's game and growth of the WSL has resulted in a complex problem. The "see it, achieve it" campaign was set up by the Professional Footballers' Association to counter the lack of visible role models from ethnic minorities. Fern Whelan is the women's football equality, diversity and inclusion executive of the Professional Footballers' Association.
We don't want young girls to think the game isn't for them. The goal of the campaign is to inspire the next generation of young players so they can see players in those positions and feel like they can achieve it.
From being a sport that grew organically within local communities in England and had a path to local teams, the women's game has become detached from its working.
Julie and Steffi react to the Euro 22 quarterfinals.
"We have all seen an incredible growth of the game over the past decade and that's probably a reflection of what we see today, where our women's teams are at with both club and country." When the league and clubs became professional, there was an appetite to professionalise the academy system and the youth development system within the clubs.
All of a sudden, that provided a challenge for some players who couldn't access that, because girls were expected to train three times a week in Academies and then play games at the weekend. In an attempt to upgrade the level of their facilities, clubs took themselves out of more urban, inner-city areas, where most women's clubs were formed and based, to the leafier suburbs, which again made it difficult for young girls to access those facilities.
Girls still have to pay to play in the Academy system, but boys are often ferried to and from training by the clubs." The women's game does not have the resources to do that.
A combination of events has led to where we are today. It's not the fault of any individual, but we have acknowledged it and we are working really hard with clubs to try to help them deliver a diverse playing pool and talent pathway in the Academy system that can fill their senior team and provide players for the England team.
The Discover My Talent programme was set up by the FA in order to help girls who are perceived to have talent.
The Netherlands and Sweden reached the Euro 22 quarterfinals.
There is a partnership with the English Football League (EFL) Trust, which works with 34 Community Trusts in the country, and a link-up with the premier league to create 70 emerging talent centers. There are centers for girls between the ages of 5-11 to take their first steps in the game. In areas that had become disenfranchised, all of the above can be found.
"Young girls are able to stay in their own community, in an environment that works for them, giving them the competitive balance that they need and also enabling them to access a talent pathway into the clubs and England talent pathway too," Cossington said. Every community is being tackled. People who live in more urban areas may not have the infrastructure or parental support that people in more rural areas do.
The women's game is still challenging. It would be a parental decision as to whether or not you would be comfortable with a girl taking the same journey as a boy, even if they were both 12 years old.
The Discover My Talent programme has delivered impressive results since it was launched in April of 2021.
Cossington said that Discover My Talent has had 1,666 referrals that weren't in the system before. 204 of those players have been referred to our talent pathway. They are a lot of things.
Almost one-third of players referred were from London and the south-East, with a quarter coming from the north-East. The north-east and north-west had the most players from the most deprived areas. The challenge now is to make sure that those players progress within the system after fixing the supply line of talent.
#Lionesses captain Leah Williamson believes the FA are on the right path to increasing diversity and accessibility in the game. pic.twitter.com/s3CdATuSvh
— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) July 19, 2022
"The key to it now is how we can work with local organizations, local community clubs, to tap into funding, transport support or whatever it may be to help those girls stay in the game and cement themselves within it."
How can we help them when we don't know where they are? The coaches are in the heart of those communities and that is where the trust comes in. They understand the communities, they have coaches who look like, and represent, those communities, and that's important because it's much better than having someone they don't know turn up with an FA Badge on their top.
We are trying to find positive solutions for any young girl who shows potential. We are trying to help.
England's progress so far at Euro 2022 is generating huge interest and inspiring potential new talent, but the women's game doesn't have the same role models as the men's game There is hope that the seeds of change will come to fruition.
"It's definitely something that's a priority for the FA, and there are things in place now," said England captain Nobody should be denied the chance to be involved in a tournament that is going to inspire so many. It's something we feel passionate about and luckily so the FA. It is a priority and we hope to see the effects of it in the future.
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