Euro 2022: Meet the young England fan who captured the nation's hearts dancing along to Sweet Caroline
- Published
As England hammered Sweden 4-0 to reach the final of the European Women's Championship, one little girl from Wakefield captured the nation's hearts by dancing and singing along to Sweet Caroline after the final whistle at Bramall Lane.
Eight-year-old Tess, who wasn't even born when the Lionesses reached their last major final in 2009, became an overnight superstar after she was caught on camera showing her support for England - and the clip went viral.
"I found out when Sweet Caroline finished. My mum kept getting texts from people saying, 'Tess is on telly, Tess is on telly!'" she told BBC Radio One.
"When I'm older I want to be a footballer so I was looking at how they were celebrating and thinking of how I was going to celebrate."
It's become tradition to belt out Neil Diamond's 1969 hit, a song 45 years older than Tess, at the end of England games.
"At school we have an end-of-year last day disco in the classroom and we pick songs, and there are always a few people that pick Sweet Caroline and then we all sing the song," she explained.
Allow Twitter content?
This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’.
Asked what it was like to watch England's superb 4-0 victory inside the stadium, Tess said: "It was amazing. I have no words."
A young player who has just been scouted by Leeds United, Tess had the perfect view to watch all the action unfold and see her favourite player, Alessia Russo, score an audacious backheel flick.
"We had brilliant seats right behind the goal," she said.
"Russos's thing [backheel] was right in front of us. That was probably my favourite moment."
Tess' brilliant dance moves earned her a chat with England legend Ian Wright on BBC Breakfast, and the former Arsenal striker was interested to hear if the Lionesses have influenced the youngster's ambitions.
"When you see the girls playing, do you think, 'Oh I could do that one day?' Does it make you feel that?"
"Yeah definitely!" Tess replied.
Allow Twitter content?
This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’.
Tess also appeared later on BBC One's coverage of the second Euros semi-final between Germany and France, to be told that she has been given two tickets to the Wembley final on Sunday.
The young fan was speechless and nodded excitedly when Gabby Logan asked her if she would like to attend the final and come and visit the pundits in the BBC studio.
'It's just funny that he had these insecurities': Hear Sean Ono Lennon's chat with his dad's former Beatles bandmate Paul McCartney
How did gambling become a game of life and death?: A powerful documentary on the devastating personal consequences of gambling addiction