'I was the roughest' - Beth Mead on having to play football with boys in Yorkshire village

The Manchester City and England footballer says the women’s game is getting “better and better” as she looks back at her time growing up playing football in Yorkshire.

Less than a generation ago, football was seen as a male sport that was rarely played by women and girls.

But in recent years, women and girls’ football has surged in popularity, with the launch of the Women’s Super League (WSL) as a top-flight competition in 2011, and historic wins culminating in the England Lionesses winning back-to-back UEFA Women’s Euros titles in 2022 and 2025.

Beth Mead, the England forward/winger who was Player of the Tournament at Euro 22, and also helped England win their second Euro title in 2025, is one of the professional women’s footballers who’s helped spark the huge rise in the women’s game’s popularity, and she’s doing her best to make sure that growth continues by encouraging more young girls and boys to play the game she loves.

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Mead, who started playing football with boys when she was six years old, has been taking part in McDonald’s Fun Football sessions with girls and boys aged between five and 11 who are trained by qualified football coaches who aim to build their confidence, encourage inclusion and, of course, make football fun.

“I’ve loved every minute,” Mead tells the Press Association. “I’ve loved being a part of something special and being able to create memories for a lot of different children.

“For myself, growing up, I would have loved nothing more than to be able to have access to something like this.”

Sue Day, director of women’s football at the FA, points out that England’s recent European successes have driven more women and girls than ever into the game, and by the end of last year, the objective for 90% of schools to offer girls equal access to football through PE lessons at Key Stages 2 and 3 had been met three years early, with 2.6 million girls having equal access to football in PE lessons – an increase of 31% since the 2020-21 season.

She adds: “With record levels of participation in schools and clubs, there is so much to be proud of – but no room for complacency. We must use this momentum to drive the game forward, it’s up to all of us to keep building on the legacy of the Lionesses, ensuring the game continues to thrive for generations to come.”

Mead, who’s in the England squad for this month’s Women’s World Cup qualifying games against Greece (October 9 and 13), is keen to build on the momentum, and points out: “We’ve had a 60% increase in girls attending Fun Football sessions since 2022 – 60% is quite staggering, really. But being able to give the girls access to come and play is something we’re very proud of.”

The ease with which young girls can get involved in football today leads Mead, 31, to reflect on how she started playing the game herself. She says she had “a lot of energy” as a child, and when she was six her mum, June, took her to a Saturday morning football session on a field in their home village of Hinderwell, near Whitby in North Yorkshire, to get rid of some of her energy.

“There were quite a few hurdles to be jumped,” she recalls.

“Looking at the Fun Football programme, there was nothing like that for me. I went to a football session in my local village, and it was all boys except me. At the time, I felt lucky that I was able to be accepted and join in, and was quite good at football.

“I was the only girl, but I think I was the roughest out of all of them – well, that’s what the coach said to me anyway. But I enjoyed that part of my journey – it helped me develop. I learned different ways, and I wouldn’t change that.”

Unlike today, where there are clear ways for young girl footballers to progress, through schemes like the Girls’ Emerging Talent Centres, there was no such route for the young Mead, so she played for a girls’ team before joining a boys’ team for a few years.

“I’d get laughed at by parents and the boys on the opposite team,” she says, “but I was a kid and I just loved playing football, so I didn’t really care about what anybody else thought.

“I had respect from my own football team, and they all knew what I was about. And by the end of every game that I played, I got the respect I deserved. But I guess I had to prove myself to get that respect.”

Mead eventually joined Middlesbrough’s centre of excellence, and says: “I managed to get my route into football, but that was an hour away from where I lived, and it wasn’t easily accessible. I guess I was very lucky that I had the support of my mum and dad and family members to be able to get me there, and back.”

Mead went on to play for Sunderland and then spent nine years at Arsenal before signing for Manchester City this summer, where she says she’s settled in really easily with her “lovely” team-mates, and points out, “I’ve hopefully let my football do the talking”.

She’s pleased there are more routes into football for girls than there were when she was younger, and says: “It’s very refreshing to see that young girls have got a lot more access to different abilities of teams close to where they’re from – it’s nice to know that.

“But at the same time, I can’t complain about my journey.”

She says the women’s game is “getting better and better”, because of the supporters, girls playing from a young age, having more access to football pitches and teams to play in, and an easier way through for talented girls.

“But at the same time, it’s becoming difficult because more girls are getting access to it, and it’s becoming more competitive,” she says.

“But I think people are respecting the standard a lot more, and the competitiveness of the game. It’s a great game to be a part of, and I feel that when people come to watch, they fall in love with the women’s game. I think it’s quite real and honest, so why not be a part of it?”

She says becoming European champions in 2022 was pivotal to the rise of the game, and observes: “That helped springboard women’s football to a different level – we brought it home, something that hadn’t been done for a long time. So I’m proud of being part of the journey of the evolution of women’s football.

“But don’t get me wrong, there’s still a long way to go, and there’s still a lot of hurdles to keep jumping over. But it’s heading in the right direction.”

Beth Mead is an ambassador for McDonald’s Fun Football, where children aged from five to 11 can sign up for free local Fun Football sessions (the latest round of sessions run until October 25, and they will resume again in 2027).