Northumberland lass Lucy Bronze is 'inspiring all the teams coming through' at her former club in Alnwick.
The Berwick -born right back was instrumental in England's UEFA Women's Euro 2022 victory, starting every game and scoring in the 4-0 semi-final victory against Sweden on Tuesday. And nowhere was prouder than Alnwick, where she went to high school and kicked off her playing career.
Despite playing for Alnwick Town Juniors up to the age of 12, Lucy was forced to swap the club for Blyth as she wasn't allowed to play on the boys' team due to regulations at the time, though Alnwick now has a thriving women's side, partly inspired by her success.
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Louise Jones, chairman of Alnwick Town Juniors, said of Bronze: "She is absolutely amazing. All the girl and teams that are coming through now know Lucy was in Alnwick and they're all looking up to her now.
"They're seeing her on the TV and how far she's actually got, and they're saying we could be like that and it really shows where they can get to now. And as a club, we couldn't be any prouder of her."
Louise's 13-year-old daughter Jessica is one of those looking up to Lucy. She plays for both Alnwick and Blyth and hopes to follow in the footsteps of her England heroine.
And Louise is hoping to get Lucy, who is an ambassador for the club, back to Alnwick - though it's a long way to travel from her new club Barcelona.
She added: "She's been back to Alnwick a couple of time and met up with quite a few of the girls and has done a little bit of training with them, she still keeps involved a little bit. I would love to say she'll come back again soon but I know she's going to very busy - but you never know."
It's something that Alnwick Mayor Geoff Watson is considering too. He said: "She's a Northumberland lass and a wonderful ambassador for women's football and for the young girls so it really is marvellous.
"We need to use this as a springboard really for helping or encouraging young girls to get into football. We will probably be asking her to come back to Alnwick at some point!"
One of the things that may tempt the England international back to the county is if she is awarded the Freedom of Northumberland. Councillor Guy Renner-Thompson, who went to school with Lucy, is leading the calls.
He said: "It's phenomenal, I think there'll be a massive uptake in young people coming to clubs next week and that'll have an onward effect for the next 20 years. I think we'll see a big boost in young talent coming through Northumberland now based on Lucy and her long-suffering parents driving her all over Northumberland and the North East."
One person who has seen Lucy's development from an early age is her former PE teacher at the Duchess Community High School, Denise Drummond, who said: "She was an outstanding athlete and a very quietly confident player, not only playing football but hockey, netball rounders, tennis and athletics and running. All at Duchess are absolutely delighted and super proud of her as are all at Alnwick Juniors Football.
"She is an absolute inspiration to all boys and girls and it shows that you can be anything you want to be with a combination of talent, hard work, commitment and support. It was truly awesome to see her perform and achieve at the highest level - GO LUCY!"
And the Lionesses performance gave the town a boost during the final itself too. The Queen's Head Hotel on Market Street in Alnwick was decked out with England fans and had a "party atmosphere" with lots of "fresh faces" coming in to watch the match.
Manager Jason Gow said: "Obviously it was a bit tense when the Germans scored, but then we clinched the victory - it's a hell of an achievement and it brought in a lot of people and fresh faces. There was no difference in atmosphere to when the men's team play, and it meant more to everyone in Alnwick because of Lucy."
And barman Josh Elliott added: "Lucy's mam taught us maths and if we didn't want to do maths we just started talking about Lucy's football. If there was a game on she'd stop teaching us and put it on - though she wasn't on the TV as often then!"
What did you think of Lucy Bronze's performance in the UEFA women's Euro 2022? Let us know!
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