Understanding and appreciating the history of women’s football, and the evolvement of the English game’s league system, is “super, super important” insisted England star Beth Mead when discussing the creation of this Archive for The FA Women’s National League. 

That word ‘super’ could describe Mead’s playing career, which began in the FA Women’s Premier League as a 16-year-old at Sunderland and 16 years later had brought her an incredible array of winner’s medals in every area of the game.

After helping the Black Cats to the FAWPL double of League title and League Cup, then the FA Women’s Super League 2 title, she became part of the Arsenal team that won The FA WSL’s top flight and its League Cup, the FA Cup, the UEFA Champions League and the FIFA Champions Cup, plus with England the UEFA European Championship and the Women’s Finalissima. Only the World Cup, in which she was a losing semi-finalist in 2019 and missed out on due to injury in 2023, had eluded Mead by the time she was aiming to be part of the national squad for the FIFA competition’s 2027 finals.  

As she looked ahead to hopefully completing what would be a unique trophy haul, Mead could perhaps be forgiven for keeping her eye on the big prize and other potential achievements.

But she nevertheless vowed to never forget her footballing roots. “I love reminiscing back on my Sunderland days,” she said. “I have a lot of fond memories of that time. 

“It was very, very daunting as a 16-year-old (when) I went up and trained with Sunderland, and they were amazing with me. They made me feel so at home. It felt like a family straight away, and I couldn't wait to get started with them.”

And what a start Mead made with the Black Cats - she scored five goals in her first three FAWPL National Division games, finished that season with 23 goals and the League’s top scorer award, then hit 30 goals in the following campaign to collect another Golden Boot award after spearheading her team’s dash to the title and promotion to The FA WSL2.

She recalled: “The manager at the time, Mick Mulhern, gave me a lot of belief in myself and that I could achieve big things with the team. I think the way we played, it just clicked. It put everybody on the pitch into their super strengths, myself as well. 

“Yeah, an incredible team culture. It was really cool to be a part of and a really nice start to my senior career. Those days were super fun, and I was very proud to be a Sunderland girl.”

Mead’s back pages would, she said, always be important to her. And she hoped too that the many, many back pages of The FAWNL - founded in 1991 by the Women’s Football Association - would likewise be remembered as the pioneering competition which was a prime mover in spawning the 21st century’s huge growth in the women’s game. 

She said: “I think it's really important for current and future fans and players to understand the history of the game, including The FAWPL, how the WSL came about, what teams were in it, how teams got promoted - (initially) teams had to bid to get into the WSL.

“There's a lot of history behind the game and where it's got to. So for people to understand and know that, seeing how much growth the game has had, should be remembered.

“People most likely jumped in on the (England’s) 2022 Euro success. But what came before then, how it was structured and built, the players before me and how they paved the way to where it’s come: that's why I think it's super, super important.”