Reaching Euro 2022 a game changer for Northern Ireland and Rachel Furness

Rachel Furness is unequivocal. “If, 10 years ago, you’d told me Windsor Park would sell out for a women’s international, I’d have laughed,” says Northern Ireland’s midfield playmaker. “I’d have said you were joking but qualifying for the Euros has worked wonders.”

So much so that a record crowd of 15,348 gathered in Belfast in April to see Kenny Shiels’s side lose 5-0 to England in a World Cup qualifier. Undeterred by a somewhat chastening second half, locals offered Furness and her teammates a resounding ovation as, after the final whistle, Ben E King’s classic Stand by Me boomed out of Windsor Park’s sound system.

No one turned on a team who, against all odds, had already qualified for their first major tournament and now await a Euro 2022 group stage reunion with England in Southampton. Although Northern Ireland are tipped for swift elimination, the legacy of their involvement seems set to be transformational.

“We’ve waited a long time for this tournament,” says Furness. “But, since qualifying, the infrastructure off the pitch has improved massively, interest in women’s football is increasing and the numbers playing have risen. The uplift’s been tremendous. Qualifying’s really raised the bar.”

With most of the squad part-timers Furness, a professional with newly promoted WSL side Liverpool, reports that “it helps massively” that most of Shiels’s players have taken seven-month sabbaticals from day jobs to train full-time.

“We’re under no illusions, we’ve got a gap to bridge,” she says. “But we’ve learnt a lot in recent months. There’s been a massive improvement in fitness levels and technical standards.”

Shiels, meanwhile, has learnt who his friends are. Following that 5-0 defeat against England Northern Ireland’s