Following the Lionesses at this year's Women's World Cup

The Women’s World Cup may be over, but this was a tournament with great significance and sporting memory, not just for England reaching a World Cup final, but the steps made for continuing the progression of women’s football as a sport for players and specators.

Fresh off her reporting duty at the Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, PA Media sports reporter Rachel Steinberg reflects on her time spent covering the tournament, sharing some of the unforgettable moments she experienced.

• Overall, can you sum up your experience of covering the Women’s World Cup?

It feels almost impossible to put into words, but that is my job, so I suppose I’ll try. 

It was at times exhilarating, others exhausting and sometimes even surreal. To that last point: it only hit me after the tournament, as I was casually speaking with someone that I am (I think) the first PA reporter in 57 years (I’m guessing we had at least one person back in 1966 – I’m sure it’s on Mint!) to have covered England in a football World Cup final, and will always be the first PA reporter to have covered the Lionesses in a World Cup final. That’s pretty incredible, though hopefully we won’t have to wait more than half a century for another. 

We started out with only about seven or eight of us on the written England beat for pre-tournament camp on the Sunshine Coast. That grew a bit and more joined us as we moved to Brisbane for the Lionesses’ first match against Haiti, and by the time the final rolled around it was almost impossible to find a spare seat in the enormous media centre at Stadium Australia – which was built for the 2000 Sydney Olympics, so you can imagine how many people it holds. Gradually, as teams got eliminated, we were joined by Americans, Nigerians, Colombians, Germans, and a whole bunch of others who had stuck around for the whole tournament and found themselves turning their attention to England. 

If it hasn’t been invented already, I’m hereby coining the term “tournament time” because it certainly warps your sense of it – sometimes things seem to crawl along, then suddenly it’s warp speed. I remember at one point a fellow reporter talking about a restaurant we’d been to “a few days ago” when it had actually been weeks! 

As a sidenote, my phone just autocorrected “warps” to [England keeper Mary] “Earps” so it’s clearly still in World Cup mode. 

I also had the great privilege of covering quite a bit of the Republic of Ireland and speaking to their head coach (Vera Pauw) and a bunch of players before the competition, because they were based in Brisbane. They had qualified for the first time, so it was quite different from covering England, who were featuring in their sixth. It feels like something exciting is brewing there, too. 

Again, the first PA reporter to cover the Girls in Green at a World Cup… when I actually stop and think about it, which again was difficult to do (see: tournament time) that’s quite a special thing to be able to say. 

• What did a busy day look like when you were reporting?

It depended on the day! Early on, I woke up to the news about the shooting in New Zealand, so basically as soon as I was out of bed I was chasing team press officers, FIFA, police, and a bunch of others for replies, then had preview pieces to write for both Ireland and England – and might have even had a team media opportunity? – so that’s a day where I became very familiar with my hotel room and its coffee offering. 

Others were very much out and about. During our first stint in Brisbane, I connected with the press officer for the British High Commission in Canberra which led to a bunch of different opportunities, one of which was filming and interviewing sailors aboard the first Royal Navy ship to visit Brisbane in 28 years! 

On the day of the final that also meant we had to get up early to interview the Culture Secretary, Lucy Frazer, who had come from the UK, then make our way to the stadium where I wrote the match report, attended & wrote an initial piece from the post-match presser and then probably 3-4 follow-ups. By the time we left the stadium it was about 3am and I had a 9am flight to catch. Still, wouldn’t trade it for the world. 

England’s media base was also about a two-hour journey, minimum, from Sydney so all of us became very familiar with the train journey up to Gosford followed by squishing as many reporters into shared Ubers as possible for the 20-minute journey to Terrigal. Definitely a way to get to know fellow members of the media better. 

While I was the lucky one to get to go to Australia, the World Cup was an enormous team effort from back at home in the UK as well, with so many people assigning, subbing & covering non-England stories, stats pieces, and a whole bunch more. Both in that sense and in the way the England “press pack” often helped each other out with transcriptions, dividing and conquering in mixed zones or even posting restaurant recommendations in the very active WhatsApp group you really do get a sense that this is a team endeavour. 

• Was there a particular moment in this year’s Women’s World Cup that stood out to you?

You’d think England in a final, right? But actually, for me it was one moment that really exemplified how welcoming and wonderful both Lionesses fans and women’s football in general really is. 

We were in Sydney doing some filming with the official FSA supporters’ group, Free Lionesses, who organised get-togethers in each place England were playing. The spot they chose in Sydney was a lovely pub right along the harbour with a great view of the bridge. 

There were a bunch of familiar faces from the Brisbane meet-up and many new folks too, almost all dressed up in England paraphernalia and frequently doing player chants, singing Football’s Coming Home, etc. 

A girl who looked to be in her early 20s tentatively approached the organiser, Deborah, and asked what was happening. She wasn’t aware that the World Cup was even on, but she was from England and had literally just arrived in Australia – “two hours ago”.

After she learned about the event she somewhat shyly asked if she could join – of course she could – and if it was possible to introduce her to some people her age because she was travelling alone and knew nobody. She was immediately ushered in, and some fellow students located. When I left, she was still happily chatting away. 

The sense of community around women’s football, and the Lionesses in particular, was brilliant to witness. 

That moment, for me, is what it’s all about. 

That said… touring the team hotel, which was completely revamped for the Lionesses and the first-time reporters for England men or women were allowed to take a peek, was a pretty neat privilege too – and I got to gather some content for PA’s TikTok! 

On a non-football front, definitely holding two koalas – one in Brisbane (Jester) and one in Adelaide (Daisy).

• Where can the Lionesses go from this point?

From a tournament standpoint, the next big prize would be Olympic gold next summer in Paris – but England (as the nominated home nation) first have to qualify a Team GB, which would be through the new UEFA Women’s Nations League which is right around the corner in late September.

Last summer’s Euros marked the first time the Lionesses won a major trophy, so we’ll have to see if they can defend it in 2025, with Switzerland hosting that one! 

At the same time, there is the question of what will happen with the players’ ongoing… some might call it a row, others negotiations, over bonus payments and commercial structures and whether or not they are able to come to an agreement with the FA over those soon.

England boss Sarina Wiegman – who has now reached two European championship finals and two World Cup finals in a row, winning both the former (with the Netherlands in 2017 and England in 2022) – is only under contract until late summer 2025. She made it abundantly clear she is very happy in her position with England, but can the FA convince her to stay longer? 

So many of these players are still very young – Lauren James is only 21! – so likely have at least a couple more World Cups in them and plenty of room to grow together. It’s a very exciting time to be following the Lionesses!

• And finally, where does Women’s Football go from this point?

Huge question. It does feel as though there’s room for exponential growth and the momentum is massive – just look at the record-breaking audiences at matches and on telly in “not a football country” (I’m inclined to disagree) Australia that got behind the Matildas, or some of the giant-slayings early in a newly expanded 32-team tournament few expected to be this competitive.

At the same time, as I wrote in a preview and is still true (if not more so) today, this still feels like a bit of a reckoning moment. So many players – and in the case of Nigeria, even the coach – called out their federations before the tournament, and now there is the fallout with World Cup winners Spain and their recently suspended federation chief Luis Rubiales.

What’s been noticeable to me is how players have expressed their support for each other and those with more notability and security are standing up for others with less and demanding more and better – the collective voice has never felt stronger. 

Most recently that meant backing Spain’s Jenni Hermoso, but other examples include wearing purple wristbands in support of gender equality, or more specifically Canada, who played the SheBelieves cup under protest, or the 150 players from 25 countries that wrote to FIFA demanding a better prize package – which was granted – ahead of this World Cup. 

A more literal answer? From a World Cup standpoint, we’ll find out where the game is going in May! I’d personally be quite keen to see Brazil get it. 

PS:

I also have to give a final shout-out to my colleague Phil Medlicott and his especially his new baby Olive, without whose arrival this would have not happened!

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