Lioness Leah: Period agony nearly cost me Euro victory
LIONESSES captain Leah Williamson has revealed how her period pains from endometriosis nearly ended her dreams of Euro victory.
The football star, 25, said the condition has had a ‘debilitating’ effect on her career, leaving her in agony on the bathroom floor.
Ms Williamson, from Milton Keynes, led the Lionesses to victory at the Women’s Euros this summer – but revealed she suffered from anxiety during the competition, fearing a bad period would keep her from performing. She also criticised the Football Association, saying that the FA’s refusal to share men’s facilities with females in recent decades had left the women’s game ‘50 years behind’.
Endometriosis is when tissue similar to the lining of the uterus
‘The pressure made me a wreck’
grows in other places, such as the ovaries and fallopian tubes, causing painful periods.
Speaking in the January edition of Women’s Health, Ms Williamson said: ‘Before the Euros I had a concussion, which they say can really impact your next period, and it was really bad. You know when you’re on the bathroom floor and... it’s too late to take the tablets.’
The prospect of a bad period was highly anxiety-inducing, especially before England’s semi-final against Sweden, she said.
‘I was like, it cannot happen. I actually won’t be able to play,’ she said. And while Ms Williamson said she tried not to let her condition affect her game, the issue has grown harder to ignore.
‘I’ve always been like, let’s get on with it. But you get to a certain age when you actually say, “this is a really big f****** problem”.
‘I’m pretty sure that if men had periods we would have figured out a way to stop them by now.’
She also revealed how the pressure of representing both Arsenal and England took a toll on her mental health. ‘I felt like I needed to win for my club and country, and if I felt that was under threat, I’d be a wreck.’
And speaking about whether women’s football has been held back in the UK, she said: ‘No s***. [The FA] stopped us playing [on Football League grounds] so we were 50 years behind.’ But this didn’t stop her leading the Lionesses to victory after England won 2-1 against Germany in a nail-biting final.
The full Leah Williamson interview can be read in the Jan/Feb issue of Women’s Health UK, on sale now.