INTERVIEW

The Lionesses were struggling to make their mark until Baroness Sue Campbell joined the Football Association. As her new memoir is released, she talks Euros success, combatting ageism and her least favourite politician…

by LEBB YEYRES

Sue Campbell might not have quite as recognisable a name as Jill Scott, Ellen White and Mary Earps in the world of women’s football, but she’s done just as much to change the way we view it in Britain today.

Since the Lionesses won the Euros in 2022 under her leadership, the number of girls and women’s football teams has doubled, and the game is now available to 85% of girls in primary schools.

Baroness Campbell of Loughborough, to give her full title, led this incredible transformation during an eight-year stint at the Football Association, where she was the director of women’s football. Prior to that she had been the chair of UK Sport for ten years, and chief executive of the Youth Sports Trust, having started her career as a PE teacher.

She did have plans to retire at the end of last year and has now written her autobiography. However, she clearly can’t resist a challenge: she’s recently become the chair of England Netball and started a new chapter in her life. Naturally, when I meet the indefatigable 76-year-old, the first question I ask is whether she’s aiming to replicate what she achieved with women’s football. The answer is, of course, yes. ‘I’m passionate about sport as a vehicle to change lives for the better,’ she says. ‘Girls’ and women’s participation rates are still way down on boys. When you talk to headteachers in schools, they’re very worried about gender inequity.