Concerted lobbying on the part of the England women’s football team has prompted the Football Association to switch the colour of the Lionesses’ shorts from white to blue. This kit change assuages players’ longstanding concerns about wearing white during their periods and comes in response to an unofficial campaign on the part of senior squad members, perhaps most notably the striker Beth Mead. Mead talked to Nike, England’s kit manufacturer, about the problem during last summer’s European Championship in England. “It’s very nice to have an all-white kit, but sometimes it’s not practical when it’s that time of the month,” said the Arsenal striker, who is recovering from a serious knee injury. “We deal with it [menstruation] as best as we can but we discussed the shorts issue together as a team and fed our views through to Nike.” Although some internationals circumvent potential problems by using the contraceptive pill in a manner that means they do not menstruate, and others have light periods, it has been a significant problem for those experiencing heavier flow or whose periods start unexpectedly mid-match. When that happens, they may have no immediate access to sanitary protection. The new shorts will be worn at Wembley on Thursday when England, the European champions, meet Brazil, the Copa América winners, in the first women’s Finalissima at Wembley. In abandoning white shorts, England are following women’s football teams including Manchester City, West Brom and Orlando Pride and the Ireland women’s rugby union side. Similarly, female players at this year’s Wimbledon will be allowed to deviate from the tournament’s all-white dress code for the first time by wearing dark undershorts. It seems the message that not every elite female athlete wants to use oral contraceptives to block menstruation or is physically suited to using them has finally sunk in. Equally, there appears a belated recognition that the timing of periods can be unpredictable. Georgia Stanway, the England and Bayern Munich midfielder, has said. “We have a good doctor when we’re with England who looks after us but sometimes [when periods start during matches] it’s hard.” After facing Brazil, England play Australia at Brentford next Tuesday as they finalise preparations for the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, where they will alternate between their “gym blue” home shorts and a “coast blue” away version. That change marks a victory not merely Mead and company, but for Sue Campbell, the FA’s director of women’s football. For some timeshe has been a powerful advocate of the case for eliminating white shorts in the face of opposition from traditionalists among the governing body’s executive. Whatever shade of blue they wear at the Women’s World Cup in July and August, England will benefit from another innovation, an “ultra thin short liner” designed by Nike and intended to absorb any leaking blood. What matters most to the Lionesses though is that those unloved white shorts have disappeared. Their removal represents a significant victory for a squad who, led by the Arsenal defenders Leah Williamson and Lotte Wubben-Moy, persuaded the UK government to offer girls equal access to all sports in PE at school. This, it appears, is an England women’s team increasingly finding its feet on the pitch and a powerful voice off it.