Join the Lionesses for a huge summer of sport
Three of England’s biggest football heroes discuss the power of camaraderie and their love of sport with author-journalist Claire Cohen
Writer Claire Cohen (third from left) joined Lionesses (L-R) Rachel Daly, Millie Turner and Georgia Stanway for a kickabout at the England team's HQ to find out what makes them tick
This feels like one of those dreams in which you find yourself resitting your school exams, except you haven’t revised and can’t answer any of the questions. That’s how it feels, as I stand facing Aston Villa’s Rachel Daly, the ex-Lioness striker (she announced her retirement from international football in April) and winner of last season’s Women’s Super League Golden Boot, who’s defending the miniature goal at which I’m about to take a strike. Somebody wake me up, please.
Thankfully, the ball finds the bottom-right corner. Possibly because I kick it with the inside of my foot – a tip I picked up while having a gentle kickabout with Daly and her former England team-mates Georgia Stanway and Millie Turner. Possibly because she let me have it. I suppose we’ll never know for sure.
I’ve joined the Lionesses at England’s training base, St. George’s Park in Burton Upon Trent, where The FA’s national football centre sits within a bucolic 330 acre site. As I drive in, rabbits hop through the grass and pheasants strut in the sunshine. It’s just the kind of place to get you excited about the summer of sport to come. From nail-biting finishes in the golden hour to fiercely contested races, ‘oohing’ and ‘aahing’ crowds and the thwack of leather on willow – and the Lionesses are certainly feeling it, too.
This feels like one of those dreams in which you find yourself resitting your school exams, except you haven’t revised and can’t answer any of the questions. That’s how it feels, as I stand facing Aston Villa’s Rachel Daly, the ex-Lioness striker (she announced her retirement from international football in April) and winner of last season’s Women’s Super League Golden Boot, who’s defending the miniature goal at which I’m about to take a strike. Somebody wake me up, please. Thankfully, the ball finds the bottom-right corner. Possibly because I kick it with the inside of my foot – a tip I picked up while having a gentle kickabout with Daly and her former England team-mates Georgia Stanway and Millie Turner. Possibly because she let me have it. I suppose we’ll never know for sure. I’ve joined the Lionesses at England’s training base, St. George’s Park in Burton Upon Trent, where The FA’s national football centre sits within a bucolic 330 acre site. As I drive in, rabbits hop through the grass and pheasants strut in the sunshine. It’s just the kind of place to get you excited about the summer of sport to come. From nail-biting finishes in the golden hour to fiercely contested races, ‘oohing’ and ‘aahing’ crowds and the thwack of leather on willow – and the Lionesses are certainly feeling it, too.
Lionesses (L-R) Mille Turner, Rachel Daly and Georgia Stanway join writer Claire Cohen at The FA’s national football centre at St. George’s Park
As we walk across the artificial pitch, the players chat excitedly about what they’re looking forward to watching in the weeks ahead and share nostalgic memories of playing sport when they were growing up, in those special summer months when the evenings stay light and the days feel full of possibility. “I played pretty much every sport possible,” says midfielder Stanway, 25. “I’m from the countryside in Cumbria, so I was very outdoorsy, always in the mountains or on the lakes. I have such good memories of the weather being nice after school and being at the cricket pitch, throwing a ball, or playing football.”
The love of the game
Cricket was the other sport Stanway played at a fairly high level: “I still love watching it and definitely will this summer, as well as the motor racing. I also really enjoy athletics; I just think it’s unbelievable and always want to see how our British athletes are getting on,” she says. If there’s another sport that’s inextricably linked with Britain’s summer months in the eyes of the world, it’s surely tennis – a season of whites, strawberries and temperamental weather, and world-class players. That’s something Daly, 32, says she’ll be hoping to watch, hopefully with the sun shining.
Midfielder Georgia Stanway
“I love tennis: women’s, men’s, singles, doubles, anything at all. I watched wheelchair tennis for the first time recently and it’s absolutely incredible,” she says. “I’ve actually got into playing padel – I’m not amazing at it, but it’s sociable, and in the summer months I’m going to be on the court a lot. I also enjoy watching basketball, which is something I picked up when I was playing in America. Basically, if there’s not sport on my screen, it will be some trashy drama.”
It wasn’t always that way. Growing up, Daly admits, she had a one-track mind – and football was the only thing on it. Summer weekends in her home of Harrogate involved travelling from her games to her brother’s games and then to Leeds United matches with her dad. “In the summer, I was out with my brother and friends from the moment we woke up in the morning to the last thing at night, just making up games with a football,” she says. “It was so free. We had a game we called ‘Knockout Wembley’ and every day, we were just on the field and the streets just kicking the ball around. I never wanted to play another game competitively.”
For Stanway, her obsession was cemented during the 2015 Women’s World Cup in Canada, which coincided with the summer of her GCSE exams. “The games were in the middle of the night,” she recalls. “The rule was that I went to sleep early, woke up for the game and then went back to sleep, then had school in the morning. That became a bit of a ritual for me that summer – as long as it wasn’t the night before an exam, I was allowed to do it. There were only a few games where I managed the full 90 minutes before falling asleep on the sofa. That’s such a good memory for me, because it was the same year I joined Manchester City and the year I just knew that being a footballer was exactly what I wanted to be.” “Playing sport was all I wanted to do growing up,” laughs defender Turner, 27. “It was the only thing I was really good at. I’d watch any sport that was on the television, and my family are the same, so we’ve always got it on. I’ll be watching anything and everything that’s going this summer.” That often means tuning in on her phone while travelling or on the bus to training sessions. “Someone always has something on,” Stanway adds, capturing the relaxed camaraderie of the team – something anyone who has watched the Lionesses play won’t have failed to notice.
Squad goals
It is their friendships, both inside and outside the sport, say the players, that offer the support needed to keep them doing what they do. I interviewed dozens of female friends for my book BFF? The Truth About Female Friendship and their genuine bond is obvious from the way the three Lionesses interact, constantly making one another laugh and happily messing around with a football in front of that mini goal, trying to get a shot past Daly. They looked genuinely delighted to be presented with training tops on which their names are printed in British Sign Language, part of a collaboration between The FA and EE. It’s clear that the team spirit us fans enjoy seeing on the pitch is something that doesn’t end the moment they enter the locker room.
“That’s what got us through the Euros and World Cup, the camaraderie,” says Daly. “You can’t go through this kind of stuff alone. It’s hard to be away from home for so long, so they become your home away from home, your family outside of your family. There are times when people are going to struggle, and it’s about how you can build them up. It might not be something you say, it might just be a hug. It’s understanding that although we’re doing this together, people might be going through something different to you. Just be a good person and be kind to everyone.” She describes the Lionesses defender Millie Bright as her “best friend in the world”. The pair are so close that during the recent world cup in Australia, they got matching tattoos reading ‘½’ – I can see Daly’s on her right hand as she talks about their friendship. “Having her by my side in tournaments has been massive,” she explains. “But off the pitch we don’t even really talk about football, to be honest. We’re probably too busy being silly and playing pranks on people. She’s just my rock outside of football as well. It’s a good support system to have.”
Lionesses Millie Turner and Rachel Daly messing around in front of the mini goal at the national football centre
“Football takes over a lot of your life,” agrees Turner, who counts the Lionesses captain Leah Williamson and the midfielder Keira Walsh as close friends. “So to have those friendships in the game just makes it even more special. They celebrate who you are as a person – and that transfers onto the pitch as well. “You get to a point where you become like sisters. You do get annoyed with each other sometimes, but it’s about having honest conversations; you end up getting used to it and having a really good time together.”
Millie Turner counts Lionesses captain Leah Williamson and midfielder Keira Walsh among her closest friends
All three tell me that they also remain friends with many of those childhood companions with whom they spent those long, warm summers kicking balls and running around. “A lot of my friends growing up were boys and I was probably the only girl at the time who really wanted to play football,” says Daly. “I keep in touch with them quite a lot. It’s important to have friends outside of football because it gives you that chance to separate your life.” Turner agrees. “Having people around you who have seen you go through the highs and lows is so important. I feel so grateful that I’ve got that support. Not a lot of people know [where you’ve come from], only really your close friends and family. They’ve seen everything that you’ve been through.” “Friendships outside of football are huge; it’s so good to get the balance,” adds Stanway. “I’m learning to tattoo at the moment and the community I’ve created around that in Munich [where she plays for Bayern Women] has become really important to me. I’ve also got friends from when I was involved in the rugby community, as well as my school friends – they’re people who have stuck with me.”
Common ground
It won’t have escaped any fan’s attention that the Lionesses have been beset by injuries in recent months, with players including Leah Williamson, Beth Mead and Fran Kirby missing major tournaments. It’s in these tough situations, says Stanway, that friendships within sport come into their own. “When you’re surrounded by people in sport, or whose partners are in sport, they have more of an understanding of the things that you do to your body, and the stresses that you put yourself under,” she says. “If you’ve got an injury, it’s just nice that somebody understands exactly what you’re going through, the emotions of it, and usually knows the right thing to say.” And not only does playing in a national team alongside friends make it a happier experience, but it also translates into the quality of the game, Stanway believes.
“Playing sport was all I wanted to do growing up. I’d watch any sport that was on the television”
Millie Turner
Extra time with Rachel Daly
Extra time with Georgia Stanway
“There are times when people are going to struggle, and it’s about how you can build them up. Just be a good person and be kind to everyone” Rachel Daly
Millie Turner
Rachel Daly
“Having people around you who have seen you go through the highs and lows is so important. I feel so grateful that I’ve got that support” Millie Turner
Extra time with Millie Turner
Georgia Stanway practising her skills
“That’s what’s so special about the Lionesses: we’ve got that bond that helps us to take our game to the next level,”
Georgia Stanway
Georgia Stanway
“The relationship that you build with somebody off the pitch is vital on the pitch, because it allows you to be able to demand more from that person. It enables you to have difficult conversations because you’ve got mutual respect which means you can have heated conversations in the moment, and then at the end, be able to laugh about it. “You can see that as a team we’re so friendly. Of course, we’ve got people who are our go-tos, but I can walk into the canteen and sit with anybody. I think that’s what’s so special about the Lionesses: we’ve got that bond [that helps us to] take our game to the next level, but also enjoy our lives with each other.”
What’s crucial to the team spirit, she adds, is being able to welcome new players and integrate them into the squad quickly, as happened when Turner was called up in November last year – and when I had my own kickabout with these three players, as the newest Lionesses recruit, of course. That’s what makes us special – that we are welcoming and we try to make [others] comfortable as quickly as possible.”
As for the summer of sport ahead? It’s one filled with personal goals for the players, too. They have a series of qualifiers for the Euros in Switzerland next year, but they’re also hoping for a little time to unwind. “I’ll be looking to go away with friends and family, and have a little bit of a break,” says Stanway. “Enjoy the weather, switch off from football, watch other sports. And then when it’s go-time, it’s go-time.”
Don’t miss a moment of the summer of sport
With EE you’ll be able to enjoy endless sport this summer whether you’re at home, on the bus or out with friends. With a wide range of hardware to choose from such as high quality TVs and laptops, and a broadband offering that ensures no buffering mid match, you’ll have the best seat in the house. And with multiroom through EE TV everyone can watch a different sport at the same time no matter how big your family. For those keen to keep watching while they commute EE mobile packages offer inclusive extras like the Entertainment Pass that ensures no surprise bills no matter how much sport you watch on the go.
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Produced by: Telegraph Media Group Project Manager: Tom Gadd, Writer: Claire Cohen, Commissioning editor: Rupert Murray, Sub editors: Tim Cumming and Neil Queen-Jones, Video and Photography Manager: Alex Kelly, Designer: Victoria Griffiths, Web editor: Natalie Wain Photography: Lee Brown, Additional images: Getty
Extra time with Rachel Daly
What is your top tip for a successful friendship?
Honesty is so underrated. You have friendships with people in your life, but they don’t tell you the truth because it’s hard. I think to keep that friendship going, you’ve got to be honest.
What makes a British summer of sport for you?
When you’re in the town centre where you live and the pubs are packed, everyone’s outside together and celebrating.
What are you looking forward to watching this summer?
Tennis.
What is your snack of choice while watching sport in the summer?
I should probably say fruit… but probably tortilla chips and guacamole.
Extra time with Georgia Stanway
What is your top tip for a successful friendship?
Knowing how each other are, but not feeling pressured to speak 24/7. Making sure that when you get time together, you really appreciate it and make the most of it. And a shared sense of humour – being able to laugh with someone is special.
What makes a British summer of sport for you?
People getting together, whether in parks or beer gardens, in front of big screens – and moments of success that we can celebrate together.
What are you looking forward to watching this summer?
I like rugby. I enjoy the amount of impact that it has on the body – [the fact] that the players continue to put themselves in that situation is pretty impressive.
What is your snack of choice while watching sport in the summer?
Strawberries – there is nothing nicer in the summer.
Extra time with Millie Turner
What is your top tip for a successful friendship?
Happiness and positivity.
What makes a British summer of sport for you?
Probably rain… only joking. Friends, nice weather and being on a big field having a kickabout.
What are you looking forward to watching this summer?
The athletics.
What is your snack of choice while watching sport in the summer?
A Crunchie – they’re absolutely amazing.