Have faith in the Lionesses
Chloe Kelly fluffs it and recovers - and so should we, writes George Pitcher
Everyone seems too polite to mention it in the excitement of congratulations, but England striker Chloe Kelly has a habit of scoring vital goals that she has just fluffed at her first attempt. Look at her winner in extra time in the Euros final at Wembley in 2022. It’s a well worked corner routine. With a knock-down at the far post to Kelly on the goal line. The ball passes her and she takes a swing at it – and completely misses it. The ball then bounces back off the German goalie’s shin and Kelly pokes it in. Cue wild, shirt-swirling rapture.
Again, in Tuesday’s Euros semi-final against Italy, Kelly stepped up to take the penalty in the dying seconds of extra time. If she missed it, most of the rest of her team and Italy’s would shortly be taking penalties too. Hers was a weak penalty kick, to be honest, but bounced back sweetly from the goalkeeper’s save, allowing Kelly to slot it in at second attempt. Cue stately reception of fan adoration at the corner post.
Kelly is a wonderful hero of women’s sport. But her nation’s collective blood pressure would be much improved if she’d just take to scoring these winners at the first swipe. Hey, we’ll still take it – better to triumph after making a mess of it than to give up for doing so.
Fridge-magnet philosophy
Such homespun, fridge-magnet philosophy is the stuff of sporting metaphor. It’s what makes it all so emotional – prevailing through adversity, giving your all, leaving it all on the pitch. It’s also why so many sports people can pursue a later career of inspirational corporate speaking and coaching in leadership and team-building. And it’s part of why so many executives are exhorted to give 110 per cent. It’s a living, I suppose.
But there’s another way of looking at it. More often than not, our belief systems are said to inform how we perform in life. That’s why some football players cross themselves as they take to the pitch. They’re praying that their God goes with them, to inspire and protect. Kelly’s team-mate Michelle Agyemang, another miracle England sub (who tends to need just the one strike to get her equalisers, just saying), is an active member of the slightly awkwardly named Ballers In God (BIG), the pro-on-pro discipleship group founded by former footballer John Bostock. Agyemang wears BIG cross-embossed socks on pitch – a visible sign of faith informing sporting prowess.
Life imitating art
Conversely, there’s a case for suggesting that how we perform in life informs and illuminates our faith, by which I mean what we believe to be true. If you like, it’s a case of life imitating art. Back to the Lionesses, whether players of faith or not. Their ascent through Euro 2025 has been a tough act of faith.
They lost their opening group game 2-1 to France. They came back from two goals down in their quarter-final to beat Sweden (just) on penalties. Their semi-final against Italy this week needed a last-gasp equaliser from Agyemang, then that frankly lucky penalty conversion from Kelly in the butt-end of extra time.
Doubt and faith are fierce partners
They have only just hung in there. Doubt and faith have been fierce partners in the struggle. Cliches about never giving up have abounded. They’ve taken as much out of their faith – in themselves, in each other, for some of them in God – as their faith has taken out of them. By which I mean that their story tells us as much about what they and we believe as the other way around.
Take never giving up, or the rather cumbersome, commonplace axiom that it’s never over until it’s over. As a rule for life, it’s rich in implication. Among many other things, it might inform our attitude to end-of-life, palliative care. There is no moment before death (the final whistle, as it were) that isn’t fully alive.
Defiance of despair
Then there’s the triumph of hope. This isn’t simple optimism that something will turn up. It’s a defiance of despair, the idea that defeat need only be temporary and can be overcome, indeed turned around, that joy can always be just around the corner. That’s why hope can be sure and certain.
This column may have a short shelf-life, written as it is ahead of next Sunday’s Euros final against Spain. But, ultimately, what I’ve written above means that, win or lose, it really doesn’t matter, life and hope and, yes, love will endure. This too shall pass.
As for Kelly, her winners demonstrate that if we miss first time, it’s always worth having another go. A bit like forgiveness – we can’t always get it right, but that’s no reason not to follow up with another go. Or seventy times seven goes. Like Lionesses, we’ll get there in the end and the pain will be worth it. We go again, as they say.
George Pitcher is a visiting fellow at the LSE and an Anglican priest
A version of this column appeared on PremierChristianity