Dr. Nicola Brown, Associate Professor of Women’s Health and Performance at St Mary’s University, London, knows the subject well, telling Vogue: “That image is so powerful and so is the reaction. It hasn’t been sexualized, it’s not about how it looks, it’s a real message of freedom through sport. Kelly has given us an iconic image of a female athlete celebrating what it is to be an athlete. It’s a celebration of what women and athletes are capable of.”
Kelly’s introduction to the game was playing inside a caged gravel football pitch on the property he grew up on, in Ealing, west London. His decision to take off his shirt (he started, then stopped when the referee confirmed his goal, before jubilantly taking it off again) was testament to the revealing freedom the Lionesses have displayed all summer.
Her manager Sarina Wiegman, speaking at a postgame news conference, acknowledged that the freedom her team felt when they played together was a crucial ingredient in their success, especially for younger members of the team, like Kelly, who came into the game with fewer obstacles. than the women who preceded them. Kelly admitted it herself: “The freedom we have is brilliant and I think it shows,” she said of her team, and her coach, earlier in the tournament. It was a glimpse into the celebration to come as she helped deliver a footballing nation its first major trophy in 56 years. England beat Germany 2-1. It was Kelly’s first goal for her country. One need look no further than Lightning Seeds’ Three Lions anthem, written 26 years ago, to know that people had pinned their hopes on the men who achieved victory. Until now.
The morning after Kelly’s goal, a friend of mine who grew up in a religious home where she wasn’t allowed to watch sports, let alone participate, texted me to talk about “bra time.” She had moved her to tears; it represented freedom, she said. How had she been deprived, for so long, of the knowledge that sport could do that for girls, or the opportunity to emulate it or be a part of celebrating it, as a girl and now as a woman?
Source: www.vogue.co.uk