Lionesses win sees demand soar at Staffordshire football club

Eadie and Poppy said they have been inspired by the Lionesses

A football club said requests for girls to join its team have soared since England won Euro 2022.

Wyrley Juniors, in Staffordshire, started its female team in 2000 and has 18 girls and four ladies teams for the current season.

But chairman Keith Hardy said demand to play at the club had shot up since the Lionesses victory in July.

"We used to get one or two enquiries a week, we are now getting about three or four a day," he explained.

"We now have the nice problem of trying to find more venues for them to play and, more importantly, coaches for them to be coached."

Coach Ruth Wall said her players "all want to be in the next Lionesses team"

One player, Eadie, 10, said seeing the Lionesses win the Euros a year after the men lost their final "shows sometimes the girls are better than the boys".

Her teammate Poppy said seeing them win had been inspiring.

"We have something to look up to because, when we are older, we might be able to join England and win the Euros," added the ten-year-old.

Chairman Keith Hardy said demand to join has increased by about six-fold with the Euro win

Sharon Gardner said her daughter had been playing for the club for seven years but there had not been many teams in the area for girls when she started.

"There are a lot more teams now and the facilities are getting better where they play. They just enjoy it more, there are more teams to play," she said.

Ruth Wall, who manages the under-8 side, said: "They all want to be in the next Lionesses team. Women's football, girl's football, it has come on in leaps and bounds really."