The women’s game has enjoyed a meteoric rise in popularity in recent years. It is finally getting the recognition it deserves. But this has been a hard-fought struggle.

Football has been a passion of mine since I was old enough to kick a ball. But I confess that I have not found it easy to make the conversion to the women’s game.

The matches I watched were a far cry from the pace, physicality and skill I have witnessed for years in the men’s game. It seemed like a different sport.

My lack of enthusiasm, no doubt, was partly born from an unconscious bias. I grew up playing football in England in the 1970s, where boys were told football was “a man’s game”. If you dodged a tackle or wore gloves in the cold, you risked being branded “a girl”.

There were girls at school who were fanatical about football. They might have had the potential to be stars. But they were never given a chance. Football was for boys. The girls played netball.

A brilliant advertising video for the World Cup, by telecommunications company Orange, played on people’s prejudices. It appeared to feature the stars of the French men’s team displaying their extraordinary skills. But halfway through, it is revealed the talented players featured are members of the French women’s team. Computer-generated imagery had been used to superimpose the men’s likenesses.

The popularity of women’s football is regarded as a modern development. The first Women’s World Cup was played in China in 1991. Manchester United only established a professional women’s team in 2018.

But the women’s game was thriving in England as long ago as 1920, when a crowd of 53,000 watched Dick, Kerr Ladies beat St Helens. The Football Association promptly banned women’s teams from using its club’s facilities and expressed “the strong opinion that the game of football is quite unsuitable for females and should not be encouraged”. It is staggering the ban remained until 1970.

After decades of neglect, women’s football has gone from strength to strength in recent years. It has become the biggest participation sport for women and girls in Britain. The game’s popularity soared after last year’s European Championships. That tournament was won by England’s Lionesses. Some of the players have become celebrities, transcending the sport and securing lucrative sponsorship deals. England coach, Sarina Wiegman, is now being touted as a possible future manager of the men’s team.

The World Cup has had a similar impact in Australia, with the Matildas stirring national fervour as they progressed to the semi-final. Australian men’s sports teams switched training and match times to watch them play.

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There remains a big gap between the women’s game and the men’s. But there have been dramatic advances in technical ability and professionalism, spurring more promotion and investment. It must be sustained.

Women’s football, refreshingly, has less of the tiresome time wasting and feigning of injury witnessed in the men’s game. And it has attracted a new generation of football fans. I have undergone a conversion of my own. As the tournament progressed, I became hooked and can’t wait for today’s final.

English fans have been waiting 57 years, since winning the men’s World Cup in 1966, for football to “come home”. It is ironic – but fitting – that the long-awaited success may now be achieved by the women, rather than the men.