FOOTBALL ICON BETH MEAD CHATS WINNING THE WOMEN’S EUROS, EMBRACING HER LGBTQIA IDENTITY AND PENNING HER MEMOIR, ‘LIONESS: MY JOURNEY TO GLORY’

WORDS ELEANOR NOYCE

PHOTOS MARK HARRISON

The date is 31 July 2022.The lights are glis tening, the grass is green, and Wembley Stadium is buzzing with the excited murmur of a record-breaking 87,192-dense crowd. After an energyinducing, history-making few weeks, England’s Lionesses are playing Germany in the UEFA Women’s Euro 2022 Final.

It’s a tense moment. We’ve been here before. In 2009, Germany and England went head-to-head in the final of the Women’s Euros. Sadly, it wasn’t meant to be: Germany took home the trophy with a 6-2 win.

It’s 13 years later and the Lionesses turned that around. Pulling in a peak audience of 17.4 million viewers on BBC One, the 2022 final was the most watched women’s football game on UK television in history. On a Sunday afternoon in the midst of a heatwave, the outside world stood still, quiet and reflective. We laughed as we lip-read Jill Scott’s incredible exclamation of “fuck off, you fucking prick”, sat on the edge of our seats as Germany scored that nail-biting first goal, and cried, “Football’s coming home” as Chloe Kelly kicked the final, victorious goal into the net 10 minutes from the end of extra-time. It was a moment of universal pride. We did it.

At the centre of that victory was 27-year-old Beth Mead. A forward for Arsenal and the England Women’s team, Beth was named UEFA Women’s Euro 2022 Player of the Tournament and secured the coveted Golden Boot. The competition’s top goal scorer with six goals and five assists, she featured in all six of England’s matches. Her hat-trick in England’s stunning 8-0 victory against Norway saw her awarded her first Player of the Match title of the tournament, claiming her second for her impressive techniques deployed against Sweden in the semi-final.