July 6 – Stand-in England captain Millie Bright has called for improved scheduling in the women’s game after a raft of players were ruled out of the upcoming World Cup with anterior cruciate ligament injuries.
“There always needs to be more done,” said Bright in the wake of three of her teammates missing the tournament that starts this month.
Bright replaces regular England skipper Leah Williamson, one of those ruled out, and says the toll on female players is increasingly damaging.
The Chelsea centre-back, who helped England win the Euros last summer and played for Great Britain at the Olympics the summer before that, said: “It’s tough. I’ve been doing it for several years now. Playing back-to-back tournaments, it’s hard, when you’re playing every single minute for your clubs.
“That’s the demands of the game now, especially with how competitive it is getting. The quality has gone through the roof and the games are getting harder to win, especially when you’re competing for every trophy.
“I still think there’s work to be done in terms of scheduling, making sure we can compete in every competition and do back-to-back tournaments, but also we are not robots, we need time to recover. We want to perform, to be at the highest level. For me, I think the scheduling of everything needs to be looked at so we can keep the quality at the highest it can possibly be.
“We obviously know the (female) body is very different to the male, so the research needs to be done in that sense.
“We don’t want to see this amount of injuries. I guess it will be a topic where the conversation will never die really until we see change and something done.”
On the chances of Sarina Wiegman’s team adding to their Euro glory Down Under with so many absentees, Bright added: “For us it’s making sure we keep two feet on the ground, which I think we’ve always done, and know the challenge ahead will be even harder than any other tournament. We will be prepared and ready to fight for the badge.”
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