I write tomorrow's fish and chip paper in my back garden with a sore head, the day after the Lionesses roared to victory in the Euro final.

We rightly bask in the glow of a gutsy and characterful 2-1 win at Wembley, against a German team who had won an astonishing eight of the 13 tournaments contested thus far.

As a lifelong football fan, and having attended three Women’s FA Cup finals, I cheered heartily as the goals flew in, and yet, the morning after the night before, there is a bittersweet taste in the mouth which has buffed some of the gleam from the most glorious of sporting victories.

Read more: Don't laugh at women's football

The negativity commenced after we stuffed the Swedes 4-0 in the semi, as the modus operandi of various stakeholders became apparent: Kier Starmer, who spends his time either as a shiver looking for a spine to run down or keeping an eye out for a bandwagon to jump on, called for an extra bank holiday should the ladies ‘roar’ to victory.

With female voter bases being blatantly courted, similar calls have not been made for other sports for either gender, where England have excelled not just on a European but world level, be it darts, cricket, rugby, athletics or boxing.

The moment the final whistle blew yesterday, when we should have been at our patriotic peak, united in celebration at grinding down the German machine, the fuel on the negativity fire was thrown predominantly by those ‘identifying’ as female.

Agreed, there were a number of men posting ‘misogynistic’ memes showing tea towels hung out of windows or ‘three irons on a shirt’ badges, but these were few and far between.

It seemed to be the women, inexplicably, doing most of the social media bating when we were all batting for the same team anyhow.

Many of us chaps were posting congratulatory messages online, whereas legions of ladies took the tack of misandry through the medium of goading, as they declared the ladies were ‘showing the men how it’s done!’

Imagine the furore if the menfolk were to win this winter's sham of a World Cup in Qatar, and the headlines screamed similar aimed at women?

Then we faced the infantile calls for communist style ‘equal pay’ for female footballers which fly in the face of basic economic principles.

The sickening, obscene pay levels the male Premier League stars receive is, like it or nay, are directly related to their popularity and marketability: ticket prices are sky high yet most Premier League games are box office sell outs.

The ladies’ game, still relatively in its infancy, offers tickets for vastly discounted rates to get bums on seats (I paid £1 on average for each FA Women’s Cup final I have attended thus far).

Millions of shirts are sold with men’s names on as opposed to a handful for the ladies. TV broadcasting revenue accounts for billions for the men’s game, as opposed to a pittance for the ladies, many of whom hold down ‘regular’ jobs outside the game.

Should a women’s WSL player, playing in front of a couple of thousand fans every week, be on £300,000 per week like a Premier League male superstar? And who will pay for it? It's nonsensical and is an idea, at this stage of the women’s game, touted by idiots, for idiots.

Why can’t we just enjoy it without snarkyness and ‘demands’ for X, Y and Z? The ladies performed magnificently: They received an unprecedented 17.4 million viewers at their peak on the BBC, inspired legions of young girls to get active and take up the beautiful game, as well as instilling some post-Brexit national pride, which is always a collective shot in the arm.

We had back-heeled goals, thirty-yard screamers, biting tackles and a skill level that has come on exponentially since I became a convert to the lady’s game a decade or so ago. More so, the togetherness of the team and the abundance of humility, coupled with the sheer down-to-earth spirit of the girls in the post-match interviews, are the foundation stones to build on for a rosy future.

What’s that saying? One swallow does not a summer make. The men’s game has been part of societal fabric for over a century. The women’s game is relatively new and is making huge strides to improve its prominence, but it takes time. It’s a marathon, not a sprint.

Let us just enjoy it, laud the girls and their manager Sarina Wiegman, and leave the one-upwomanship at the door. Anything else would be a travesty and will damage the women’s game, when this is truly a moment to relish and unite, not snipe and fight.

  • Brett Ellis is a teacher