Australia, who have been away for nearly three months after last month’s World Cup bronze, were finally rewarded when Malone beat Hinch from a last-ditch penalty corner. It took one of the tournament’s longest video referrals for the goal to be given, but England soon cared not one jot as “Hockey’s coming home” chants rang out.
“I laughed and thought I must run on the pitch to celebrate and then the goal went in and I thought: ‘oh no, have they just jinxed it?’ But thankfully it has just come home,” said Peel. “We had messages from the Lionesses who said that previous groups of ours had inspired them and they hoped they had done the same for us. They definitely have. It wasn’t quite as long to come home but we’re glad it did.”
The BBC News at Ten moved for Team GB in Rio. Here, a Super Sunday afternoon slot guaranteed more television eyeballs after England women’s netball and cricket semi-final defeats. Yet, despite the Rio profile, hockey attendances are still underwhelming at club level. The sport must now look at how to change this perception over their desire to shift international tickets.
“Hopefully this will keep raising the profile,” added Peel. “You see for the Lionesses what it will do for them. But we have amazing groups of players and altogether we are hoping women’s sport continues to grow.”
