Athletics In England

The Women's Euro Championship Game between England and Germany was the most-watched soccer game in the United Kingdom in 2022.

Keep in mind that includes any Premier League game, or the Champions' League, or World Cup qualifying. No men's game drew more television fans in the UK than the women's final. 

It also packed Wembley Stadium with 87,000 fans. In fact, the total attendance for the entire tournament more than doubled that of the previous event, in 2017. 

What other sporting event anywhere in the world can make the claim that its attendance this year more than doubled its pre-pandemic attendance?

England won the game 2-1 on a goal in extra time, after Germany had tied it late in the second half. The win was England's first ever in the women's Euro championship, an event that has now been held 14 times, with Germany the winner in eight of those.

TigerBlog watched most of the game and then the postgame ceremonies on the field. Mostly he wanted to see the reaction the players would have when greeted on the field by Prince William, who was there to help present medals and trophies. 

It was actually pretty funny. The first few women shook his hand cautiously. By the middle, there were mini-hugs. By the end, there were bear hugs.

For fans of English soccer, the men's national team has come close to winning a major championship, most recently last year at the men's Euro, where the English fell to Italy in penalty kicks in the final. For actually winning on the international stage, though, England's men still go all the way back to the 1966 World Cup.

And now the women have broken through. The Lionesses, as they're known, clearly captured the national attention that comes with winning on that level, with resulting stories about how this tournament will result in a growth in interest in playing among English girls. 

In fact, the members of the team sent an open letter to the next Prime Minister, requesting a special emphasis on introducing girls to soccer (they called it football). 

It also pointed out that the men have fallen short on so many occasions. Through in the fact that the tournament lacked the usual English rowdiness among the fan base and the endless flopping and arguing with the officials that plagues the men's game, and you were left with a wholly appealing product, one that brought an audience to the English women that would have been unimaginable not that long ago.

For TigerBlog, of course, the idea of having such a successful women's event and the subsequent joy it has brought to the next generation clearly resonates. His book on the first 50 years of women's athletics at Princeton was filled with stories about women athletes who didn't get to have that kind of experience or those sorts of role models and who instead had to be the inspiration themselves.

Speaking of sports in England, the Commonwealth Games have been going on all week, bringing in more than 5,000 athletes from nearly 50 countries. 

Of those athletes, there are three Princeton track and field athletes, representing three different countries.

The first to compete is New Zealand's Julia Ratcliffe, the 2014 NCAA hammer throw champion and 2021 Olympian. Ratcliffe will be in the women's hammer throw qualifying rounds this morning, with the final to be held Saturday evening (those are England times; in Princeton the qualifying round will be over when you wake up).

For the women's hammer, there are 17 athletes who are competing. Among that group, Ratcliffe finished fourth at the recent World Championships in Oregon, where she was 16th overall. 

At that event, Canada's Camryn Rogers was fourth, fellow Canadian Jillian Wier was ninth and Ratcliffe's New Zealand teammate Lauren Bruce was 13th. It should be a pretty competitive race, at least for silver and bronze, with Rogers as the prohibitive favorite for gold.

The other two Princeton track athletes are Ed Trippas, who will run for Australia in the men's 3,000 meter steeplechase, and Lizzie Bird, who will run for England in the women's edition.

The women's race will be tomorrow, with the men's race Saturday morning. As near as TB can tell, there's only the final for the steeplechase, with no preliminary rounds.  

The website for the Games does not list a start list, but both Trippas and Bird finished 20th in their events at the World Championships.

HERE is the link for all Commonwealth Games results.