Faye White explains how the current Lionesses are fulfilling her dreams
By Emily Keogh
Former England captain Faye White MBE has revealed heart-warming feelings towards the Lionesses recent successes, on and off pitch, as she also recalled her career and legacy.
Last week, all 227 Lionesses were invited to St George’s Park to receive a legacy cap, adorned with their specific number to honour the contributions each woman played in paving the way for the current England squad’s success who roared to victory to win Euro 2022 on home soil.
The Arsenal legend marvelled at the development of the game since she played, noting how the dozens of media in attendance of the event marks a change for the former skipper.
“I remember doing quite a few interviews the day before a game, it wouldn’t be weeks,” White said.
“The days when we first met up, no one really cared, and then suddenly a few cameras would come and I’d have to do those interviews to sell the game, to try and say, come and watch us, to get more bums on seats and then obviously to see in the number of cameras [now], that’s the biggest change for me, the presence of the media.”
White had an impressive career for both club and country. She captained Arsenal, making 300 appearances for the North London side whilst earning the record as the longest-serving female England skipper to date. Her career spanned 15 years, earning 90 caps and scoring 12 goals for the Lionesses, also featuring in five major tournaments, while her crowning achievement among many seasons of domestic dominance came in the form of the fabled 2007 quadruple.
“As far as the players’ attitude from my time to even seeing now, it’s similar,” White explained. “But yet we just didn’t have the facilities. We had the attitude of being professional before we were paid for it, we had to have that mindset that we were going to approach every part of our life as professional to then warrant it rather than just be given it. So obviously now the players are getting paid for that and their time and everything that they put in.”
During White’s extensive time on the pitch, she saw a number of changes in women’s football including the introduction of professional status.
“[Being professional] wasn’t always that case in my career,” she said. “Towards the end it was. We got central contracts and things like that so to see all that change and to be part of that, it’s obviously proud when you look back and when you see what the girls have now.”
The 45-year-old is in awe at just how far the game had come, referring back to the recent International Women’s Day announcement that saw the UK government pledge to give all school age girls and boys equal access to sport following the historic Euro 2022 triumph.
“I think that’s going help benefit them,” White remarked, speaking on the £600m funding pledge to be delivered over the next two academic years. “The fact that they’ll know it’s for everyone as opposed to when I was growing up, it felt weird that, oh, you’re a girl, why are you playing football? Now, the young girls shouldn’t have that and I suppose that’s the legacy, ultimately.”
Whilst reminiscing on her career as a Lioness, White revealed a heart-warming fact, that the class of 2022 fulfilled her dreams of playing at a sold-out 90,000 capacity Wembley Stadium.
“When they won the Euros, they just fulfilled my dream,” she explained. “You feel part of it and you obviously want them [the current team] to go on and do even better in the World Cup and beyond.
“My dream was that England would regularly play at Wembley and we are starting to see that now, and it’s regularly sold out, every time you hear it, it just warms my heart.”