THE past month has been amazing. The rise in coverage of women’s football has been remarkable and you have to put it down to England’s terrific showing in the World Cup.

No-one expected them to reach the semi-finals and the 2.4 million viewers who stayed up to watch the match on BBC2 will forever remember the moment when Laura Bassett’s own goal went in.

The defender’s mistake brought tears to my eyes. I had never been that emotional over an international game.

But her reaction after the final whistle was difficult to watch and you couldn’t help but feel sorry for her. She had been one of England’s best performers and to be the person to deny her country a spot in the final is something she will live with forever.

As she walked off the field, BBC cameras tried to get a close-up and her teammates pushed them away. It was heartbreaking.

Then seeing Natasha Dowie in the studio with a red face from the tears made it that much harder. Presenter Jacqui Oatley couldn’t talk to her and had to turn to Trevor Sinclair first.

Japan were outfought, outmuscled and outplayed for 93 minutes and knew they struck gold when Bassett’s attempted clearance bounced in off the crossbar.

Those tears turned to joy days later when England defeated Germany to win bronze. Fara Williams’s penalty meant that the Lionesses are technically the best side in Europe.

They were treated like they had won the tournament when they arrived at Heathrow on Monday morning. Who would have thought that women’s football would bring such a crowd of fans and the media a month ago?

But have times truly changed? Were people really riveted or were they just glad that the football was on?

The BBC didn’t hesitate to relegate the England v Germany match to BBC3 on Saturday. Here you had a huge rivalry, the chance for England to win a medal and the nation excited for the match, yet the Beeb’s bosses felt it was only good enough for a part-time channel.

Were Casualty on BBC1 and Wimbledon highlights on BBC2 so important that they couldn’t be moved instead? If it was the men’s side playing the game would have received hours of build-up on BBC1.

It felt that the broadcaster was ready to move on, to put women’s football back in the garage for another four years.

The BBC still had the actual final, but just 30 minutes of punditry beforehand. The men’s final last year had a full recap of the tournament and a lot more time to get spectators ready for the match.

On the newsstands, the Women’s World Cup slowly got more and more space in the papers but it took England defying the odds for editors to properly notice.

The tournament in Canada was a joy to watch. Kick-off times made getting match reports in difficult — as our paper experienced as well.

But at the Star we managed to get regular round-ups of the games, so what are other papers’ excuses?

There will be a few interviews with the players over the next few days and a few editorials about what is needed next for the good of the game.

But will anyone report on the Women’s Super League, which returns this weekend? I really hope some papers do take more of an interest in women’s football and have regular coverage.

A few journalists have been tweeting about the England side and come across as if they have been watching women play for years.

But we know they haven’t. You don’t see them at matches on a Sunday at 2pm. Press boxes for the Women’s Super League often have one or two reporters in them. Years ago I was one of them.

I recently came across an old team sheet for Chelsea v Everton, dated Sunday September 4 2011. A few names caught my eye. Everton’s No 4 Fara Williams, No 8 Jill Scott, No 9 Natasha Dowie, No 11 Toni Duggan, No 21 Lucy Bronze.

I’d just finished university and was covering the league for a sports agency. The access I got to players and managers was remarkable.

I was given their personal mobile numbers and still have a few of them, including manager Mark Sampson’s — though I doubt it still works.

Could you imagine trying to speak to Jose Mourinho or Louis van Gaal and have the club give you their number? Never.

At the match it was me and an ESPN journalist. But that was it. Us two. Numbers haven’t really increased since then but that might change after performances in Canada.

The Women’s FA Cup final is a few weeks away and I for one will be in the press box at Wembley. It will be interesting to see how crowded it is.