In their quiet patriotism, the Lionesses tell us something good and brave about our national story â about togetherness, resilience and hard slog – and they’ve had decades of hurt
On Saturday the fairy tale of the Lionesses continues, as England’s women take on Colombia in a World Cup quarter final. There is more than a match at stake.
It comes as our island nation Âgrapples with its identity, on ground all-the-more contested as we stand also on the brink of a general election year. With failing policies and a faltering economy, the Conservative Party has already committed itself to culture wars that aim to tear us apart from each other. Their vision of England is based on fear of others.
But in their quiet patriotism, the Lionesses tell us something good and brave about our national story â about togetherness, resilience and hard slog. As James Graham, the writer of Gareth Southgate sell-out play Dear England, says, both the men’s and women’s England teams are changing the narrative.
They are “managing to project a confident, uncomplicated form of Englishness entirely without the torment, the anxiety you can feel in our political class when dealing with patriotism, pride, and writing an Âoptimistic new national story,” he told me after the Nigeria game this week.