Lauren Hemp wants England’s Euro 2022 success to pave way for next generation

Lauren Hemp hopes England’s Euro 2022 success sparks a significant growth of the sport and future players have an easier path into the professional game.

Hemp had to leave her home town of Norwich aged just 16 in search of competitive football and got her reward six years later when she started every game as Sarina Wiegman’s side become the first England men’s or women’s team since 1966 to win a major tournament.

The Football Association first introduced central contracts to a select group of female players back in 2009, but the Women’s Super League did not turn fully professional until the start of the 2018-19 season.

As one of the younger players in the England squad, Hemp has played almost all of her career in the fully professional era but admitted reaching the top was still a struggle.

“Obviously women’s football has not always been as big as it is and when a lot of the experienced players were younger they couldn’t play with girls’ teams,” Hemp told the PA news agency.

“So it’s great to see now that women can play at such a young age and it’s great to show them that it is possible.

“Even when I was younger, there wasn’t as much on TV broadcast everywhere, there wasn’t as many places that I could go and watch the women play.

“Everything was so far away from me being in Norwich – you’re literally in the middle of nowhere – I couldn’t go to as many games as I would have liked to so it was always hard.

“Even at 16, I had to move. I moved to Bristol because there just wasn’t enough teams near me at the standard that I needed to be playing at.

“So even for me, I’m still young – I’m 22 – it was a struggle for me as well so I can’t imagine what it must have been like for the players who are a lot older who struggled to