Before Lucy Bronze’s whirlwind year, there was the storm.
13 months ago, Storm Arwen ripped through the north-east of England leaving a trail of devastation in its wake. In the market town of Alnwick, 30 miles north of Newcastle, tucked just inland from the yawning Northumberland coastline, Louise Jones woke up to bad news.
Jones is the chairman of Alnwick Town Juniors, Bronze’s hometown and first ever club. The high winds had lifted the roof off their new clubhouse, causing hundreds of thousands of pounds of damage and rendering the pitch unplayable for the hundreds of children who make up their teams.
“It was devastating,” she said.
“We woke up after Storm Arwen to find the club house roof had been blown off and was on the 3G pitch. Everything had caved in, the brick work was gone, there was water damage inside. It was totally devastated.”
Bronze heard about this and had to do something. Alnwick Town is where it all started for one of England’s best ever right-backs, the start of a journey which has taken her to the top of the women’s game.
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So she sent an email offering to help out in any way she could. “Hi, I’m Lucy and I used to play for Alnwick Town,” the message started.
As a former Ballon D’Or winner and one of the most decorated English footballers of her generation, the introduction probably wasn’t needed.
“At first, we thought it might be a scam it was such a surprise,” Jones says. “But it is so typical of her to think of us when we needed this help. She’s never forgotten where she came from.”
On a freezing Friday night a few days before Christmas, Bronze came through on her promise of help, jetting in from Barcelona to personally hand over boxes of state-of-the art equipment on behalf of her sponsors Nike.
The storm damage – still only partially repaired – drained vital funds from the club for equipment but a donation from Bronze’s sponsors Nike will help make up the shortfall. A “lifeline” Jones called it.
Ask Bronze about the gesture, and what her presence means to the girls and boys who have attended, and she remains suitably humble. The steeliness that has turned her into such an icon in the women’s game has never threatened to curdle into arrogance.
The mercury hovers perilously close to freezing on the night but she has time for everyone, signs every autograph and answers every question of an impromptu Q&A arranged with the boys and girls whose parents beam proudly on the sidelines. One of the coaches tell her the under-11 girls team are more excited about seeing her than they are about Christmas Day.
“It was such a crazy experience. I’m still not used to that kind of reception. It’s so nice to give something back and come back to my roots,” she tells i, black Nike hoodie pulled up to protect her from the icy wind whipping the side of the 3G pitch.
“I’m sponsored by Nike so I asked them if they’d be kind enough to let me donate some equipment to help the club and the teams here. I’ve always wanted to give back to Alnwick, it’s a place that played such an important part in my journey and it doesn’t have as much as some other clubs. So it feels nice to be able to put something back into a club that is so important to me.”
It is bizarre to think that 19 years ago, Bronze’s mother Diane had to ring the club secretary to ask if her football-mad daughter could play with Alnwick’s boys team because there were no girls sides in the area.
If you want to consider the legacy of Bronze and her team-mates, there are now girls sides from under-6 to under-18 in Alnwick. Interest from young girls in playing for the team “exploded” after the Lionesses’ win. Trailblazer Bronze helped to lay these foundations, as her first coach Ray Smith says.
“I gave her a chance and she just took off. She was shy at first but she was just brilliant,” Smith, who is still close to Bronze, tells i.
“You would tell her to do something and then she’d get a football and go and practice it for two or three hours until she got it right. I used to come back from work in the car and there was one person stood in the middle of the field doing drills, practising. It was Lucy Bronze.
“I gave her homework and she would go and do it. None of the boys would do it, they’d just say ‘Oh aye’. I said back then she’d play for England. I knew she would.”
When she reached under-11s, she was barred from playing for the boys team by Fifa regulations. The club protested and her parents went to the local paper to try and find a loophole. But it was to no avail. Bronze was not put off but you wonder how many more potential Lionesses were back then.
“We had no role models but now they’re everywhere,” Bronze reflects. Beth Mead becoming the first women’s footballer to win the Sports Personality of the Year award obviously stands out.
“Beth is the girl that won it but all the girls, we’re obviously so proud of her that she won it. It shows how far we’ve come,” Bronze says.
“I was the first women’s footballer to be nominated for it five or six years ago but I didn’t stand a chance, I don’t think anyone thought back then a women’s footballer could get that kind of recognition. But to go from me, Kelly Smith and now Beth smashing it and actually winning it is phenomenal.
“She’s such an inspiration to me and the rest of the girls so I can imagine what it means for young girls just starting out to see something like that. It was a moment, wasn’t it?
“Beth is going through a lot at the moment [Mead’s mother has been diagnosed with incurable cancer] so to pull out the performances she did in the Euros was just incredible. We’re all right behind her for her recovery because we want her back on the pitch with us as soon as possible.”
Mead and Bronze were both made MBEs for their part in the summer’s triumph.
“2022 was an unbelievable year for me. The Euros were amazing but to go to Spain, to join Barcelona and wear that famous jersey, I don’t think I’d ever have believed that was possible.
“To think it started in a small town like Alnwick but I’ve been around the world, won the biggest trophies. 2022 has been the pinnacle of it all but I hope there is more to come yet.”
Hopes for 2023 are suitably elevated. “I think we’re confident going into the World Cup,” she says.
“We know we’re now one of the favourites and we’re not afraid of that. It tells you how far we’ve come as a group.
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“But the same applies for some of the other teams that are going to be playing in the World Cup. We’re excited, we’re working hard because to win a World Cup – that’s the ultimate dream.”
Bronze expects to play her part. Fears over her chronic knee injury – which ruled her out of her recent friendlies against Norway and Japan – can be played down.
“I feel good. Obviously my knee is something I’ve struggled with, right back to when I was playing here at Alnwick. It’s part and parcel of the sport but things are going well with it,” she says.
“I’m getting on track with Barcelona, everything there has been amazing, their help has been incredible and hopefully I can get back to feeling on top of the world with it again soon.” Given her journey to this point, few would back against her next year.
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