England’s Lionesses have revealed the shocking abuse they suffered on the long road to their historic Euros victory this summer.
As talented young players, they had to endure male rivals trying to break their legs and were kicked out of teams simply for being girls.
The women’s team may now be household names after winning England’s first major tournament since 1966, but they faced adversity at every turn.
They speak candidly about the abuse in a new documentary with previously unseen pictures, shared exclusively with the Sunday Mirror.
England captain Leah Williamson, 25, talks about the shocking threats she received from parents in her first team as a child.
The Arsenal ace says: “At the end of games I remember the boy would be crying and their parents would be saying, ‘I can’t believe you’ve been beaten by a girl.’
“It’s not normally the boys. It’s the parents that are uncomfortable with a girl being so good. That year was an eye-opener for me – parents screaming to their kids, ‘Get the girl!’
“I’d get a kid that would be riled up by his parents that would then try and snap my legs, basically. My mum made me wear a gum shield for a while. I used to love it when my grandma took me to football as she didn’t make me wear it.”
Leah got into the sport by playing football at the end of therapeutic gymnastics sessions. In Lionesses: When Football Came Home, to air on Sky this month, she recalls: “I couldn’t walk very well – my toes pointed in. I was told to go to gymnastics and I loved it.
“It gave me discipline and I noticed I was brave. If they told me to jump, I would jump. We played football at the end of the session sometimes. And then I realised, actually, I quite enjoyed this. I went home and told my mum, ‘I’d like to join the football club’.
“My mum took me down to a team and the coach basically said, ‘I will let her on the team if she’s good enough but I’m not giving her any favours’.”
This summer, the Lionesses defeated England’s old football nemesis Germany 2-1 in a nail-biting final, but their victory also marked a watershed in the development and growth of the women’s game in the UK.
The team members hope their achievements will now pave the way for other women and girls in football.
I’m A Celeb winner Jill Scott, 35, from Sunderland, reveals how she was reduced to tears when told she could no longer play because she was a girl.
Jill, who retired after the Euros win, says: “My first club was Fulwell Boys. Jordan Henderson played for the same team, but he’s a little bit younger. I was definitely the only girl.
“And then when I got to nine, I got a phone call saying, ‘Girls can’t play with the boys any more.’ I was devastated. I was crying and I ran home from school.
“My mum was like, ‘Well, there are other sports… netball and stuff like that’.
“But all I wanted to do was play football.”
Of her early games with Sunderland Academy, Jill says: “When I came on, the captain of the team was, like, ‘Why are you bringing her on?’ I was already scared because I was only 14. But I knew I had to stick up for myself and I knew I had to work hard.
“Pre-season, there’d be a bag of kit just arrived from the men’s last season.
“There was a physio called Jockey Scott. So I knew we had the ‘JS’ initials and I used to rummage through that bag until I found it.
“I didn’t care that it was worn down, I didn’t care that my shorts were three sizes too big. I was just so happy to be in Sunderland kit.”
Manchester United forward Nikita Parris, 28, from Toxteth in Liverpool, says she only got into the game after a local coach called Kelvin heard her mum ticking her off .
The player, known as Keets, says: “Kelvin was my first coach... like directly next-door. He got fed up with my mum saying, ‘Stop it at my windows with that ball!’ He came out one day and said, ‘Do you want to come to the session later on?’ It was a team of like 18-20 just boys.
“I didn’t think football could be a career, to be honest. I had speed. I had pace. I had hunger, desire, but I just didn’t have the footballing brain. But football never really judged me for being an inner-city kid.”
Manchester United goalkeeper Mary Earps, 29, who conceded only two goals in the entire Euros tournament, says: “My parents were really supportive of everything I wanted to do. I wouldn’t be in the position I am in if my parents didn’t drive me up
and down the country playing football. I was doing homework in the car, or getting up really early, going to bed really late.”
Of the Wembley final, she adds: “It felt like a life’s work… my whole life into 120 minutes.”
Midfielder Keira Walsh, 25, says: “I’m just a girl from Rochdale. I never thought I was going to be here – a European champion.
“I never thought I’d even be a professional footballer.
“So I think just that visibility and knowing it’s possible is probably the most important legacy we can leave.”
Captain Leah adds: “The medal, the top spot on the podium, that was for us – but everything else we did, I hope, was enough to show how much we wanted to do it for everybody who had come before us.”
Jill says: “One thing I wish I’d been better at throughout my career, I wish I’d owned my achievements a little bit more. If I can’t do that, how can a young girl be proud when she wins a football match?
“Our job was to inspire the next generation – and I feel like that was done.”
- Lionesses: When Football Came Home is out on DVD and digital download on December 19 and will air on Sky and NOW TV later this month.
