England’s men may have fluffed their lines at the European Championships in France this summer but the country’s deaf footballers certainly didn’t forget theirs at the Women’s World Cup later in the summer.

England’s women sealed a bronze medal at the tournament thanks largely to the goals and influence of Wiseman, who struck a memorable hat-trick against hosts Italy in the group stages. Wiseman scored again in the third-place play-off as England sealed a 2-0 win against Poland to complete a superb tournament that they were only able to attend as a result of significant fund-raising efforts and the largesse of two England footballers, Jack Butland and James Milner, who both made significant contributions to the costs required for Wiseman and her team-mates to take part.

Wiseman could, ultimately, count herself unlucky not to have had the chance of bringing the World Cup home, with England narrowly missing out against a fully-funded and largely professional Russian side in the semi-finals.

It’s a measure of how far England have come that in last year’s European Championships they had lost 11-0 to the same side.