Bobby Moore, Paul Gascoigne, Michael Owen, David Beckham and Ryan Giggs. They’re the one 5 footballers to have been topped BBC Sports activities Character of the 12 months within the award’s 68-year historical past.
On Wednesday evening, if the bookies are to be believed, Beth Mead is ready to turn out to be No 6 and the primary lady on that record of legends.
‘They aren’t unhealthy individuals to be alongside, are they?’ grins the Lioness over Zoom on Tuesday. ‘I might take that. I believe I might die comfortable if I went alongside them.’
Beth Mead is the runaway favorite to win BBC Sports activities Character of the 12 months on Wednesday
Solely Moore on that record has achieved what Mead has managed, nevertheless – successful a significant match with England. The Arsenal striker scored six targets and contributed 5 assists because the Lionesses triumphed within the Ladies’s Euros in the summertime, being named participant of the match and claiming the Golden Boot.
That’s the reason Mead is the odds-on favorite for SPOTY out of a six-person shortlist, which incorporates England’s T20 World Cup closing hero and Take a look at captain Ben Stokes, snooker world champion Ronnie O’Sullivan, world 1500m champion Jake Wightman, Olympic curling gold medallist Eve Muirhead and world champion gymnast Jessica Gadirova. Golf’s US Open winner Matt Fitzpatrick is the notable omission.
‘It’s one thing I by no means thought I’d be in rivalry for,’ admits Mead. ‘It is just a little bit surreal to be alongside a few of these individuals. I watched Eve Muirhead in a variety of the Olympics after I was youthful. She captivated me and made me watch curling. She would have gotten my vote.
Bobby Moore (L) and David Beckham are amongst solely 5 footballers to win the SPOTY award
‘Sports activities Character is one thing we at all times sat down as a household and watched. I understand how proud it will make my mum, dad and brother.’
Mead’s father will attend the present at Salford together with her, as will her companion, Vivianne Miedema. Sadly for the Arsenal team-mates, although, they are going to be accessorising their clothes with crutches having each ruptured the anterior cruciate ligament within the final month. ‘It will not be my most engaging look,’ laughs Mead. ‘We’ll seem like a proper pair.’
It was introduced final week that Mead – who suffered her damage in a 3-2 defeat towards Manchester United on November 19 – had signed a brand new contract with Arsenal. ‘The timing (of the contract) couldn’t have been any higher for myself as a result of I’d signed it simply earlier than my damage,’ she says.
Mead was participant of the match and high scorer in the course of the Lionesses’ Euro 2022 triumph
However time is just not on Mead’s aspect on the subject of the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand subsequent July, with ACLs normally taking at the least 9 months to recuperate from.
Does she fear about lacking the match? ‘Yeah, I do as a result of I believe it may be troublesome for me to play a soccer match earlier than then, which isn’t ultimate heading right into a World Cup.
‘It is a troublesome thought to take, however my motivation is to attempt to get as shut as potential. And if I can’t, I do know that I’ve achieved every thing in my powers to attempt to get there.’
Mead does at the least now have Miedema – who has already dominated herself out taking part in within the World Cup for the Netherlands – to maintain her firm in the course of the lengthy highway to restoration.
Mead bounced again in type after being neglected of the Workforce GB squad for the Tokyo Olympics
‘We have got our protein bottles with “Beth ACL 1” and “Viv ACL 2”,’ she smiles. ‘Clearly it’s not a super state of affairs, but it surely’s good that she’s going be there so we are able to inspire one another within the gymnasium.’
Mead and Miedema’s accidents have, although, additional shone a highlight on participant welfare within the girls’s recreation. Mead factors out that at the least 5 of the ladies who completed within the high 20 of this yr’s Ballon d’Or vote – her, Miedema, winner Alexia Putellas, Catarina Macario and Marie-Antoinette Katoto – have suffered ACL accidents.
It was hardly welcomed, then, when FIFA president Gianni Infantino introduced final week that there can be a Ladies’s Membership World Cup in 2025. ‘It sounds thrilling, but it surely’s one thing else that you will be concerned in,’ says Mead.
‘I do suppose the scheduling must be checked out. We went into the Euros and two and a bit weeks later we have been straight again right into a camp once more. It is no time to modify off as a footballer, each mentally and bodily.
The Arsenal star ruptured her ACL in November and is now a significant doubt for the World Cup
‘Ladies are six instances extra prone to do an ACL. You marvel why it occurs when there are gamers taking part in on the high of the sport. Is there something we are able to do to forestall it? I believe that much more analysis wants to enter it.’
On Wednesday evening, at the least, Mead can overlook concerning the rigours of rehab and luxuriate in an evening of celebration together with her fellow Lionesses, together with Queen of the Jungle, Jill Scott. ‘I used my 5 free votes each evening for her!’ says Mead.
Would she prefer to emulate Scott on I’m A Superstar in the future? ‘I might like to. I’m not a fan of all of the creepy crawlies, however I might like to see if I might conquer my fears and provides it a go. However I do not suppose I am coordinated sufficient for Strictly!’
In addition to Mead being up for the primary SPOTY award, the Lionesses will virtually definitely be named Workforce of the 12 months and their supervisor, Sarina Wiegman, ought to be topped Coach of the 12 months. ‘Sarina would undoubtedly get my vote,’ says Mead. ‘It’s massively all the way down to her that it got here dwelling.
Mead and her companion, Arsenal and Netherlands star Vivianne Miedema, will each attend the ceremony on crutches
‘It’s so laborious to elucidate how and what she did in such a small timeframe. She had this unimaginable energy at making us all so clam earlier than the largest video games of our lives.
‘After the ultimate, all of us gave shirts to a member of employees and I acquired Serena and acquired known as the instructor’s pet. I mentioned that to her in my little speech earlier than giving her it, however she did not truly perceive what a instructor’s pet was, so I needed to clarify it!’
Not a day goes by when Mead doesn’t replicate on that wonderful Wembley day in July, when England beat Germany 2-1 after further time to win the nation’s first main trophy since 1966.
‘There’s at all times a reminiscence that goes by way of your mind,’ she says. ‘We have been driving to the Emirates the opposite day and I used to be in a automobile with my team-mates Kim Little and Teyah Goldie. We noticed Wembley and I mentioned, “Oh look, there’s Wembley, I received the Euros there”, simply to wind them up. It’s not one thing I’ll ever get tired of saying.
‘These reminiscences will follow us women and hopefully the nation for the remainder of our lives. It will likely be good to see that on a giant display and relive it just a little bit, however God is aware of how emotional we’re all going to be on the evening.’
Simply think about how emotional Mead can be, then, if she succeeds 2021 winner Emma Raducanu to be voted Sports activities Character of the 12 months. ‘It could be unimaginable if I received such a prestigious award, not even for me, however for the ladies’s recreation,’ she provides.
‘After the Euros, individuals mentioned, “You’re a nationwide hero”, and I used to be like, “I am not, I am simply Beth Mead, I play soccer, I kick a bag of wind round”. It doesn’t actually really feel actual that what I am doing has acquired me so far.’
BBC Sports activities Character of the 12 months 2022 is on BBC One from 6.45pm on Wednesday evening
