Jan Emms, who played football for England in the 1971 Women’s World Cup, has described how she was overwhelmed by texts and messages last night (Sunday) after the 2022 England women’s team became the champions of Europe.
Jan, who lives in Bedford, said the team’s performance was “amazing, incredible and brilliant” and showed how far the game had come in the 51 years since she represented her country.
Things were certainly very different in 1971, with Jan and her teammates ostracised by the FA and handed a ban on their return from the tournament.
“A lot of the 1971 team were in Wembley last night for the match,” said Jan, who is in a WhatsApp group with her former teammates.
Jan, who predicted the correct score, told the Bedford Independent, “I should have put a bet on!
“When Germany equalised I was just praying – anything but penalties.
“As soon as the match was over my phone went mental; so many people were getting in touch to share their joy at the result.”
After our call, Jan was expecting a film crew from Anglia TV and she’s also being interviewed by BBC Radio 5 Live.
It only seems fair that after 51 years, the ’71 Lionesses are able to bask in the glow of the success of the current team.
“During the Sky Sports press conference, the England head coach, Sarina Wiegman described the ’71 team as trailblazers who paved the way,” said Jan.
“As a team, we feel nothing but sheer joy and pride for the current team, we are just overjoyed that the women’s game has progressed so far. And we’ve won a tournament, which is more than the men have done.”
Next generation
Freya Castle took up football last year and in her first season at Bedford Girls U9s Blacks the team won an impressive four trophies and she took home the team’s most improved player award.
She was at Brighton & Hove’s stadium watching England play Spain in the quarter-finals and managed to bag the number 10 shirt of the winning goal-scorer, Georgia Stanway.
Freya said: ‘Watching the lionesses in this tournament has inspired me to never give up and makes me want to play football even more!
“I think I could play at Wembley one day too.”
