The secret weapon of the English lionesses… their loyal band of brothers

Two decades have passed since Jorge Bronze played ball with his sister Lucy in his parents’ backyard in rural Northumberland.

“We were both competitive from a young age,” he says. “We played everywhere: backyard, street, local fields, school. We played wherever there was a ball and a surface.’

But it wasn’t long before Lucy, then 12, started showing off her big brother.

“Lucy always had the advantage,” Jorge admits. “She played on the boys’ team, because that was all that was available at the time, and there were often comments (about her gender) from other teams.

But those comments soon stopped after she started scoring hat-tricks against them. She won player of the season several times. Especially her passion started to become visible at a young age.’

Alessia Russo’s big brothers Luca and Giorgio traveled to Australia to cheerlead for her. She is pictured with Giorgio on Saturday

That drive led Lucy to a starring role in the Lionesses, where the 31-year-old defender helped lead them to the semi-finals of the Women’s World Cup, where England take on Australia on Wednesday in Sydney.

An entire country stands behind this 23-strong team of brilliant women, admired not only for their talent and passion for the beautiful game, but for inspiring a generation of younger girls to realize they can play football too.

And cheering from the stands Down Under, you’ll find a group of men who totally agree: the proudest supporters of the Lionesses, their brothers.

Fifteen members of the team have male siblings, some of them several – like Chloe Kelly, who grew up in a home with not just one but five soccer-crazy boys – making them something of a secret weapon in the women’s success.

They’ve gone from their sisters’ backyard rivals to their biggest fans – and they couldn’t be more relieved that their siblings have better ball skills than they do (even if it means getting the mickey out of them by their buddies) .

In fact, many of the players appreciate that their brothers brought them into football.

Jorge, 33, a risk manager who lives in Sheffield with his wife and two children, tells the Mail exclusively that he and Lucy nudged each other as children.

“Lucy and I were born 22 months apart, so we grew up very close together. We were both athletically gifted, played every sport possible and always made a game of it.’

But football did not run in the family. “My mother had never watched a minute of football and my father is one of the least coordinated people you can meet,” says Jorge.

Two decades have passed since Jorge Bronze played ball with his sister Lucy in his parents’ backyard in rural Northumberland. The couple is pictured together

Fifteen members of the team have male siblings, some of them several – like Chloe Kelly, who grew up in a home with not just one but five soccer-crazy boys – making them something of a secret weapon in the women’s success. Chloe (left) is pictured with her family in 2017

Midfielder Georgia Stanway, 24, thanks her brothers for getting her into football as a child. She is pictured with her half-brother Sol (left)

“However, he was a very good runner and she was a talented badminton player. Fortunately, we have his condition and her coordination.’

Once, while on a family vacation in North Carolina, the couple attended a football camp together. Jorge recalls, “She was the youngest – only 12 at the time – and the staff selected her to undergo special training with the elites. It was clear she was going to be a great athlete.’

Playing alongside Lucy is Alessia (Lessi) Russo, the 24-year-old Arsenal striker who scored England’s winning goal in the quarter-final against Colombia on Saturday. And who were there to cheer her on from the sidelines? Her big brothers Luca and Giorgio, who also traveled to Australia to cheerlead.

The boys grew up in Maidstone, Kent, and nicknamed their little sister ‘Lionel Lessi’, after the Argentine football legend. Luca, 30, who now works as Alessia’s agent, remembers “showing her who’s boss with a football” when she was younger, but admits: “Oh, how times have changed!”

“I remember when Giorgio and I let (her) go into goal in the backyard and tease (her) with shots. Now it’s the other way around.’ She is the star of his Instagram account, where Luca shares photos of his sister, whom he calls “a boss,” almost daily. “I will shout and sing proudly from the stands,” he wrote ahead of one of her recent matches.

And older brother Giorgio, 34, describes watching his sister play as “sensational,” adding: “The way they’ve brought the whole nation together has been incredible.”

Giorgio, himself a former semi-pro soccer player, thinks his sister picked up a thing or two from him when they were younger. After her goal against China in the group stage, he joked, “I must have taught her that, didn’t I?” There’s plenty more of this kind of banter in Australia, where the Lionesses’ devoted siblings have formed a kind of brotherly band on the sidelines.

The Russo boys enjoyed a night out in Byron Bay with Georgia Stanway’s half-brothers, Sol and John Paul (JP).

For her part, 24-year-old midfielder Georgia thanks her brothers for getting her into football as a child.

“I had to get involved or the ball would get kicked to me, but it was something I fell in love with right away,” Georgia Stanway said in a recent interview. Georgia is pictured on Saturday during the quarterfinals between England and Colombia

Lucy Bronze’s brother Jorge said she “always had an edge” and described how she “played on the boys team because that was all that was available at the time, and there were often comments (about her gender) from other teams” . Lucy is pictured on Saturday during the quarterfinals between England and Colombia

“I had to get involved or I’d get the ball kicked at me, but it was something I fell in love with right away,” she said in a recent interview. And rough and tumble was common in the Kelly household in Ealing, west London, where Chloe, 25, the intrepid striker whose 69mph penalty against Nigeria secured England’s place in the quarter-finals, grew up with five brothers.

Chloe, the youngest of seven children, remembers playing with Jack, Daniel and triplets Ryan, Jamie and Martin on a caged gravel field on the Windmill Park Estate. “I was always around the cage with the boys as soon as I was allowed, about seven years old,” she said this week. “My brothers took me in even though they were older and playing with their friends.”

Meanwhile, sibling rivalry is something teammate Lauren James – who didn’t play on Saturday after being sent off and given a two-game suspension for stomping on Nigerian Michelle Alozie’s back last week – knows all too well . Her older brother, Reece, 23, also plays for England, making them the first brother-sister duo in British history to be selected for their country.

If the Lionesses beat the hosts on Wednesday, they will meet Sweden or Spain in the final on Sunday.