England women's all-time record goalscorer Ellen White was banned from football when she was nine, before going on to win Euro 2022 with the Lionesses.
White started up-front for Sarina Wiegman's team at Wembley on Sunday as England defeated fierce rivals Germany. The Manchester City has scored 52 goals at international level since making her Lionesses debut in 2010.
She has been a key part of Wiegman's side across this summer's tournament, which many hope will be the catalyst to further growing the women's game in England. It marks a huge change from when White was starting to fall in love with the sport as a child.
A resurfaced newspaper report, published by Twitter user Scott Ottway, from September 1998 provides the story of how White was banned from playing in her local league aged nine. The reason given to The Bucks Herald was that girls were not allowed to play alongside boys.
The piece was headlined 'Soccer girl banned by league for boys' and reported that White had been prevented from playing. That was despite the striker having already captained Arsenal at Under-11s level.
The Chiltern Youth League had banned her from playing due to concerns over the use of mixed changing rooms. In response, White appeared in her Arsenal kit on the front page of the Herald with a glum face as she lay down with a football.
League chairman Chris Davidson told The Herald at the time: "Our league has made the decision and we are standing by it." He did admit that the decision could be appealed to the Bedfordshire FA.
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According to the article, White had scored more than 100 goals the previous season. But the Chiltern Youth League then refused her registration and were accused of sex discrimination because of that move.
White's father led the protests from his role as chairman of the club where his daughter was playing. He told The Bucks Herald that White had been left very upset by the decision, with Aylesbury Town's then-secretary, Julie Oxley, adding her outrage, believing the league was "not moving with the times".
Little would league chairman Davidson know then that White would go on to become one of the Lionesses' biggest stars. The 33-year-old would help her country to win their first major tournament since the men's team won the World Cup in 1966.
She scored two goals during this summer's tournament, both of which came in the hammering of Norway in the group stage. Wiegman made her the starting striker for the final on Sunday, which was played in front of a European Championship-record 87,192 crowd.
Her two strikes means that she is now just one goal behind Wayne Rooney for the overall scoring record for the England national teams. White's next opportunity to overtake the Manchester United legend will come in September's World Cup qualifiers against Austria and Luxembourg, though for now she will be happy to continue to celebrate the Lionesses famous win.
