Women’s football has the power to define culture for a generation of teenage girls

I’ll be honest. I don’t think the Lionesses matter that much to my friends. I’m not sure that women’s football matters that much to them, either.

Most of my friends are people I’ve known since school. A lot are boys. We are all from London. We are all tapped into the cultural mix of music, motives, fashion and food that makes our city one of the coolest places to live in the world.

When we met, my friends didn’t know much about women’s football. They certainly didn’t know I was into it. For so long, football was my passion, but it was never the thing I talked about. I lived a dual life. I was chatty and energetic. I was fortunate to have lots of close friends. But they didn’t know about my passion because, in my head, it wasn’t worth celebrating.

The sad reality is that they still don’t know much about women’s football. Despite countless interviews and brand campaigns I’ve been involved in, they still don’t care.

I can’t blame them. Most people have their first experiences of football dictated to them by men and boys. Men tend to dominate and gatekeep football and the media.

Last week I presented an event attended by some of the biggest names in the game. Alex Scott, Karen Carney and Rachel Yankey watched as a panel of teenage girls explained that the Lionesses’ win in the European Championship hadn’t had an impact on their lives. It was disheartening to see something that meant so much to so many had completely missed a generation of girls.

Repeatedly they told us their formative experiences with football were often initiated and understood via the men in their lives; with their relationship to football often waxing and waning depending on these relationships.

At the event we launched a new report called Inspiring a