Wembley Stadium. Sunday July 31. 8:00 p.m. England and Germany are headed for extra time after a disputed Women’s Euro Cup final. The game is tied at one goal. The English, nicknamed Three Lionesses (Three Lionesses), are facing their big opportunity after finishing third in the 2017 Euro and fourth in the 2019 World Cup.
In the 109th minute, a corner kick in favor of the local team put the German goal in danger. Manchester City attacker Lauren Hemp throws it, up to four teammates go to the shot near the penalty spot and the ball ends up in the small area where fellow citizen Chloe Kelly picks it up to score the winning goal.
Kelly doubts for a moment if they are going to annul her target, but when it is confirmed that the goal is valid, the madness in the stadium is unleashed and she, overwhelmed by euphoria, takes off her shirt and begins to run madly waving her jacket and the English shield under the London sky.
The match ends 2-1 and certifies the first European title for the English. The Three Lionesses finally reign in continental football. Almost 1,000 years before this feat, the same heraldic form with the three felines was used to forge a pendant that was probably used to decorate a horse’s harness.
Archaeologists from HS2, the company that is building the controversial high-speed line that will link London to the north of England, discovered this rare decorative piece just days before the final of the Women’s European Championship in Wormleighton (Warwickshire), in a site it was once a settlement from the Iron Age or Roman period.
The iconic pendant of the three golden lions on a field of gules (which in heraldry is the name used to refer to the bright red color) was probably forged in the 12th century, specialists explained in a statement.
“The HS2 archeology program has given us an unprecedented opportunity to discover, excavate and study British history. The whole country has supported the England women’s team and we hope this great find will inspire the Lionesses to create their own history.” said a company spokesman.
The shield was in use by the English Crown between 1198 and 1340. It was however William the Conqueror (1028-1087) who used two lions on a red background as his coat of arms and brought the symbol to the English throne.
Henry II Plantagenet (1133-1189) first used the three lions on a red background, adding a lion to William the Conqueror’s two when he married Eleanor of Aquitaine, probably to represent his marriage into that family of the house of Poitiers.
As of 1189, Ricardo I Corazón de León introduced the definitive version: In a field of gules, three passing lions of gold, armed and lapped with azure. The most accepted theory is that he did it by versioning the emblem of the Duchy of Normandy, formed by two leopards. Although the figures on both crests were identical, in England the felines depicted were considered to be lions.
