Arsenal Women’s team fed leftovers that Mikel Arteta’s men and youth players don’t eat
England hero Beth Mead has revealed that the women’s team at Arsenal get fed the leftovers that the men’s team and youth players don’t want.
She might have helped the Lionesses to glory at the Euros last year – the country’s first senior trophy since 1966 – but she said that women’s football is still treated as a poor relation. And Golden Boot winner Beth, 27, and fellow football stars have taken their concerns to bosses at her club to demand better conditions.
She said: “We scheduled a meeting with Vinai Venkatesham, the Arsenal CEO, and he took our concerns on board, and committed to building the women’s team our own area with our own ice baths and a bigger changing room. From now on, we will go with confidence to the decision-makers and outline what we need.
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“That doesn’t make us divas – just athletes who want the game to go in the right direction. We need things like our own chef cooking food tailored for us, instead of making do with the leftovers from the men’s or youth teams or food that’s been sitting there for a few hours. We need more.”
In her new book Lioness: My Journey to Glory, BBC Sports Personality of the Year winner Beth said that she and her team-mates have had issues over their facilities in the past. She explained: “For a long time, many of us in women’s football – players included – have been grateful for training at the same training ground as the men or getting breakfast and lunch served to us at the club.
“Two or three years ago, we would have been happy with a subpar pitch. ‘Thank you,’ we’d have said. ‘That’s fine.’ Now, though, we will ask for better. Crucially, we’re not scared to make demands. We’re not happy to settle. We will fight for what we think we deserve – and we do deserve more.
What do you make of the requests from the Women’s team? Let us know your thoughts.
“We know what the men get, whether at Arsenal or at England. Throughout our careers, we’ve all had to fight for all kinds of things. Not so long ago at Arsenal, we had to wait until early evening to use the swimming pool because the men were on site, regardless of whether they even needed to go in the water.
“Our players were either sitting around and waiting or going home to then come back for an ice bath. Why couldn’t we have our own time slot during the day? The kitman at Arsenal asks us every day to put our boots in the box if we want him to wash them for us, but most of us don’t bother.
“We can either wash them ourselves or cope with the dirt. We’re not babies and we never have been. After all, we used to wash our own kit. The male players have someone sat scrubbing their boots or they receive a new pair for every game. It always surprises fans to hear that I don’t, they ask me for mine after matches and I have to tell them that I need them for the next game.
“I’m a Nike athlete, but I can’t be wasteful – and who needs to break in a new pair of boots every game? We’re not being difficult or petulant for demanding what we deserve. We’ve fought so hard to make it to this level – and we’ll never forget where we came from.”
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