Late flowering
in Scotland
Fame came late in the day for Rose
Reilly, Scotland’s only World Cup winner
- who was victorious when playing
for Italy in 1984 – but the pioneer will
complete a move from anonymity to
centre stage when a play about her life
travels her home nation in April.
The production of Rose is another
indication of the belated flowering of the
women’s game north of Hadrian’s Wall.
Reilly, 65, has been inducted into the
Scottish Football Hall of Fame and in
January was made an MBE in The
Queen’s New Year Honours List.
But as a player she was banned for
life by the Scottish FA for pursuing a
professional career overseas and only
last year did she receive her cap for
representing Scotland in their first
international, in 1972. The decades-long
delay was because the SFA refused to
recognise the match as women’s football
was banned in Scotland until 1974.
Long after the ban was lifted
misogynistic attitudes persisted.
As recently as 2013 a well-known
media figure described the sport as
“a turgid spectacle” and suggested
Motherwell’s Fir Park home should be
“torched to cleanse the stadium after
it played host to women’s football –
face it folks, nobody cares.”
However, those comments met
strong criticism and in recent years
there has been a change in attitude.
Government pressure and funding
has helped – First Minister Nicola
Sturgeon presented Reilly and
colleagues with their cap – but
the main driver has been the
performances of Rose’s successors.
Last summer Scotland’s women
became the first Scots team of either
gender to reach a World Cup since 1998.
This followed on from being the first to
reach a European Championship finals,
in 2017, since the men in 1996.
Success has created a surge in
support. In May a record 18,555 watched
at Hampden Park as Shelley Kerr’s team
beat Jamaica.
Scottish men’s football is dominated
by the Old Firm, their support founded
on centuries-old religious rivalry.
Protestants affiliate with Rangers,
Catholics with Celtic. But in the women’s
game the team that has held sway for
more than a decade is an independentnon-partisan side. Glasgow City, founded
in 1998 by players Laura Montgomery
and Carol Anne Stewart, who are still
involved, have won the last 13 titles.
For years, frustrated by the slow
progress of the Scottish game, they
looked covetously south, only for the FA
to rebuff their plea to join the WSL. Now,
though, they will finally have competition
at home from the Old Firm.
Both Celtic and Rangers have beenaround for more than a decade but their
sole silverware has been the League Cup
won by Celtic in 2010. Hibernian, from
Edinburgh, have been Glasgow City’s
main rivals in recent years.
Rangers, who first fielded a women’s
team in 2008, have gone full-time and
are intent on making an impact. Former
Liverpool and Rangers defender Gregory
Vignal has been appointed joint head
coach with Malky Thomson, with 15
players released and a new squad
recruited. Among the arrivals are
goalkeeper Jenna Fife from Hibs and
Kirsten Reilly from WSL’s Bristol City.
There have also been the eye-catching
arrivals of Canadian-born Venezuela
international Sonia O’Neill from Fleury
91, in France, and 29-year-old forward
Bala Devi, who has scored 52 goals in
58 internationals and becomes the first
professional Indian female footballer.
Celtic, who tried to sign the young
Reilly in the 1960s, only to withdraw their
offer when they realised she was a girl,
founded their women’s team in 2007.
The club seemed happy to let it tick
modestly over until the humiliation of
a 9-0 defeat by Hibernian in the 2018
League Cup Final seemed to prompt a
re-think. They have also gone full-time
and appointed Fran Alonso, a former
coach to Lewes women and previously
on the senior staff at Everton and
Southampton men.
The Spaniard will not have to wait
long to gauge his squad’s ability: they
start the campaign on February 23Glenn MooreWomen’s Football
Honoured...Rose
Reilly (right) with
Nicola SturgeonAs recently as 2013 a well-known media figure
suggested Motherwell’s Fir Park home should
be “torched to cleanse the stadium after it played
host to women’s football”Recognition for the team of 1972
and high hopes for domestic game