“When you experience the things we have in the women’s game, it does open your eyes to the struggles of others,” says Millie Bright. “It makes you more aware of all kinds of different barriers people might face. You really appreciate the struggles that people have to go through and the constant barriers and battles that have to be fought every single day just to exist. Literally just to exist. You’re not asking to be better than anyone, you’re just asking to exist and be able to do what you love doing, whatever that is, in sport or beyond sport; things that are just part of living a full life, and everyone deserves a full life.”
The Chelsea and England defender is sitting in the small stand at Cobham FC’s brilliantly named Leg O’Mutton Field talking about the power of football. Last year Bright was back in Killamarsh, the village in north-east Derbyshire where she grew up, visiting the “Millie Bright pitch” at her childhood club, Killamarsh Juniors. The club had previously benefited from Football Foundation funding. Since then, 30 3G pitches dedicated to prioritising women’s and girls’ football that have received funding via the Premier League, the Football Association and the government-backed Football Foundation’s Lionesses Futures Fund.
