Ian Herbert: For women’s football to mature, it must recognize that elite sport is a world of darkness and light

It was a distance England covered in 48 hours.

On Saturday night here, amid the isolation of the fir trees and lagoons of their northern Sydney media hub, the players talked about how they formed a girl band called the Meringue tangs, singing songs by Whitney Houston, Natasha Bedingfield and Natalie Imbruglia.

On Monday night, Lauren James was sent off in Brisbane for deliberately stepping on a player lying on the pitch.

Some would say they prefer England’s meringue shape – reasonably arguing that intentionally treading on an opponent is not the work of a role model. But the problem with too much meringue is that it becomes sugary and sickly, totally too sweet.

Somewhere along the road to adulthood, women’s football is confronted with the fact that competitive sport is a world of darkness and light, not all sweetness and light – in which flammability, misconduct and, yes, bad behavior will play a role.

The prevailing image of unwavering niceness will not lead to the fascination and drama in a women’s game that this World Cup has revealed is growing. The athletes are the ones for whom winning is an obsession. It just can’t be a tea party for them.

Stepping on a player’s back in a moment of red fog is not welcome in any way. But at least this player cared passionately about the way a shapeless, foggy-minded England went down against Nigeria.

Wasn’t there something life-affirming about someone shattering the shiny veneer of a team that had been PR’d to death?

James is so wonderful that her profile is fiercely protected, but there are indications that she has very human complexities. Her mentor at Manchester United, Casey Stoney, has described spending time researching youth psychology to help her find her way. “I had to learn a lot to make sure I could manage her in certain ways,” Stoney said. “If she’s off track, try to get her back on track.”

It is abundantly clear that James is a troubled soul, who has constantly challenged her surroundings. She is 21 but already on the books of Chelsea (twice), Arsenal and Manchester United. The level of investment and professionalism was just not acceptable for her at United.

None of this even remotely validates the nonsense put forward by her teammates in James’s defense.

David Beckham said he was sobbing uncontrollably after being sent off at the 1998 World Cup

Most of them seem to suggest that she shouldn’t take any blame for her sacking – removing the team’s only meaningful offensive threat from at least one game and possibly three, if they reached the finals – because “the busy’ got hold of her. Isn’t the point of top sport to put pressure on a competitor – and especially when carefully laid plans don’t work, as was the case when England played Nigeria?

Pressure cannot be separated from the sport, as a kind of external factor. Chloe Kelly was under pressure when asked to take the decisive final penalty and when he had a goalscoring chance to win the European Championship last summer. She succeeded fine.

Sarina Wiegman said James was devastated and will learn from the experience, which is certainly true. But that’s not to say England are best served with a James who doesn’t play on the edge for years to come, never getting into trouble.

David Beckham and Wayne Rooney were also remorseful after their World Cup dismissals in the 1998 French tournament and Germany 2006. But they always had something of the night – and they didn’t do too badly.

Beckham says he was sobbing uncontrollably after that night’s events in Saint Etienne, but two years later he was sent to Manchester United at the Club World Cup for leaving his studs on a player during a game against Mexican club Necaxa.

The prevailing image of unrelenting niceness will not provide the fascination and drama in a women’s game that this World Cup has revealed is growing

And Rooney? Take your pick from some of his subsequent misdeeds after his own dark night of the soul in Gelsenkirchen.

The point Sir Alex Ferguson always made about Rooney was that he wouldn’t be the same player if he lost something to those devils. Towards the end of his career it kind of faded away. He was poorer for it.

The next few days will be tougher for James than either of these men because, unlike them, she hasn’t been exposed to the kind of spotlight that comes with being fired in a World Cup knockout match.

No one would want to say that such behavior is in her nature, but it is better that it is than that she fit the description of her given by Wiegman in the aftermath.

James, the manager said, was “the sweetest person I know.” You’d rather hope that’s not the case. The sweetest people don’t tend to lift World Cups.

Why banning fans won’t end vile tragedy chants

The Crown Prosecution Service’s legal guidance on what has come to be known as ‘tragedy chanting’, published this week, says it could be seen as a public order offense from which fans could be barred.

Good luck with the police. What is a ‘Tragedy’? And how do you deal with large groups of offenders? The only way this will stop is from within, with the majority refusing to tolerate this. It means that Liverpool fans are challenging those who sing about Munich. And United fans who refuse to tolerate Hillsborough’s hatred.

To sing about the tragedy of a rival is to humiliate the memory of the victims of yourself. That must be the message. Treating others as you would like to be treated after an immeasurable loss doesn’t seem like too much to ask. Even in the parallel universe of football.

Mini-Mead is England’s lucky charm

England’s Beth Mead’s World Cup edition figurine, kindly sent to me by McDonald’s, arrived after I left for Australia to cover the tournament. It was meant for my granddaughter, although I’m afraid it will terrify her. ‘A bit grotesque’, my wife described it when sending the photo. Beth’s feet are still in the cardboard packaging, which doesn’t help the overall effect, but from a distance I’m rather attached to it, not least because of its eccentricity, always welcome amidst the relentless sheen of women’s play .

Mead is injured and not in the England squad, but my colleague Kathryn Batte produced hers as a lucky charm as the round of 16 went to penalties. And it worked. Four-inch-tall Beth will be a part of our lives for a while, though I suspect she may not be enough to take home the trophy.

The host country could be better chosen for viewing

Australia could not have done more to equip its host cities for the Women’s World Cup and there is a deep national attachment to the home team, but the absence of traveling supporters is undeniable. The English and Colombians who number here are largely expats.

The ratings will undoubtedly rise, but it’s hard not to think that the momentum of the women’s game would be better served by a host nation with less challenging time zones for Europe and the US.