Williamson says conversations on how to approach social media during the Euros – “posting, not scrolling” and “absolutely” avoiding the comments – have taken place in the Lionesses camp.
“At the 2019 World Cup, I didn’t play, so I was fine,” she explains. “I was on every [social media platform], I didn’t care.”
Williamson says this time she will be much more careful, though will still use it: “I’ll be posting and I want to be engaging, because it’s a nice time of my life and I want to celebrate with my people and share my story.”
Players had originally got on board with social media to help grow the game, she says, “but a lot of the girls have been hit hard by it”.
“They’ve had to go backwards to remove themselves from it. And I don’t know many now that are involved on their socials, because it’s nasty.”
Many female footballers face a constant stream of messages from people who want to put women’s football down. “I think women footballers take the patronising personally, because it’s my game, I’m here to protect it,” says Williamson.
“I don’t particularly like watching fencing, but I don’t tweet to say that I don’t like it.
“If you are a football fan, not a rugby fan, you don’t want rugby to not exist. You just think that football’s better, so you just watch football. But if it’s women, then it means we need to remove it.
“But we’re not going anywhere,” she adds.