“I said no, because I didn’t want anyone to think I got it for being the only girl.
“They asked if they should change it to ‘Player of the Match’”, remembers Scott. “If I beat their precious son, they’d shout stuff at us like: ‘Kick her, hack her down.' I’d come off the pitch literally in tears,” she says.Ī few years later, when she was playing for a boys’ team, she was awarded ‘Man of the Match’. Aged five, Scott was unstoppable – so much so that she barely noticed she was the only girl playing competitive games with the boys, though some of their parents took umbrage. One of four children, Scott’s sporting life began early at her christening she kicked her legs so much that her grandmother predicted she would be a footballer. Not every girl will go on to play for England, but they will gain so much simply by being in a team.” There are floodlights and changing rooms and that will encourage so many more girls to take part. “Girls used to be an afterthought, who would have to play from eight to 10pm, when all the boys had finished. “Everyone can use it, but women and girls will have priority,” she says. 'Girls used to be an afterthought – that's not going to happen here' Eventually, each of the 23 Lionesses will have a similar facility named after them. Following the Lionesses’ Euros victory – the first English football team to win a major trophy since 1966 – the Government, Premier League and the Football Association’s Football Foundation unveiled a commitment to naming grass-roots facilities in honour of the squad. We meet the day after she opened the Jill Scott Pitch, a new floodlit facility just five miles from her hometown of Sunderland. And yet her (sometimes downright scary) ability to instantly switch from frivolity to focus remains legendary. Phil Neville, the former England coach praised her buoyancy, saying she brought “some cheekiness to the squad”. Wry, dry and self-effacing, the 36-year old superstar, one of the most respected and influential players in England’s history, who, like the rest of her cohort, struggled to access football facilities as a girl, is now, in retirement, tirelessly ensuring a new generation won’t have to.Ī “morale magician”, exuberant midfielder Scott was a hugely popular player among her team-mates. Since winning the Women’s Euros football tournament with England last year, taking the top honours in I’m A Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here! and receiving a handwritten letter from the Prince of Wales on her retirement, Scott has become a national icon. That’s the difference between men and women for you.”
“My mate Owen is exactly the same height and he says he’s 6ft 2in. “I’m bang on 6ft but I always say I’m 5ft 11in,” she grins. Then a glamorous figure in a lime-green top, wide-legged cream pants and white trainers stands up. The Lioness and Queen of the Jungle is – unlikely though it sounds – perfectly camouflaged among the hipster clientele. It’s a busy, buzzy coffee shop in Manchester and Jill Scott is nowhere to be seen. Jill Scott interview: I'd rather be known for my football than as 'that girl from the jungle'Īfter winning the Euros with England and I'm A Celebrity on retirement, the former Man City midfielder is nurturing the next generation
0 kommentar(er)
