A home World Cup started today, and you'd barely know

There are two World Cups on right now, and only one of them woke up the country. The men's football tournament opened on Thursday at the Azteca and dominates every back page; England's footballers wait until Wednesday to begin, against Croatia in Dallas, a rematch of the 2018 semi-final that still smarts. But the one that started today, here, on grass you could drive to, is the ICC Women's T20 World Cup — the tenth edition, hosted across England from this afternoon until 5 July, twelve teams, thirty-three matches, seven grounds.

A home World Cup is a rare thing. The last time England hosted a global cricket tournament the country half-noticed and then, when it got good, fell in love. The pattern repeats because the alternative — caring from the start about a women's tournament given a fraction of the billing — still asks something of us that the culture hasn't quite taught. The cricket will be excellent regardless of whether we're watching. The question is whether we choose to.

And it is a choice, which is rather the point of this desk. Sport produces nothing; its entire value is the meaning we agree to pour into it. We are about to spend a month pouring an ocean of it into men's football — staying up for 2am kick-offs, rearranging Saturdays, caring enormously about the meaningless. None of that is wrong; it's among the best things we do with our free hours. But meaning is a thing we direct. There's a tournament on your doorstep this fortnight that will reward the same passion and ask far less of your sleep. The grounds are a train ride away, not eight time zones.

◆ For your diary — Women's T20 World Cup: today until 5 July, seven grounds across England — a home tournament you can actually attend. Men's football: England v Croatia, Wednesday 17 June, 9pm BST (ITV1). One of these needs you more.