I started watching football at the age of 12. If you ‘followed’ a Premier League team there was much discussion on why people couldn’t just support teams close to where they live – so I did.
Luckily at the time my local team played across the road. I could see from a bedroom window that if the advertising boards were up then it was game on! £2.50 to get in and a similar price for the matchday programme - my mum and I went!
However, on walking towards the usual standing area for the 2nd or 3rd home game I attended this was the discussion:
“Do you know any of the players?” “No”
“Do you like one of the players?” “No”
“Who is it you come here with?” “Errr, my mum”
“Just wondering why you’re here!”
As a 15 year old I was taken aback by this! From this day on I promised myself that if I manage to play then great but if I just win by watching the beautiful game then I shall continue to watch them especially the home matches – I will keep turning up (until you get your answer as to why I am here!).
So, I did until they went into administration. Then I stopped attending due to losing money during the administration process and by my principles- because the least they could do was to do something for all those who helped and supported during the challenging times. I was even there when we decided on the new name for the club! I think I can count on one hand the number of games I missed during those 20 years!
There wasn’t much of a girls’ team – they would meet for a few sessions then that would be that until someone else wanted to start it again – it would always be short-lived sadly. I remember a girl in my brother’s year at school managed to travel to Arsenal to play. I was always a little envious – there was no chance of travelling very far that 1) didn’t involve using the free train tickets and 2) didn’t take all day on the train to get there! Anyway, I played in 1 game as a forward and spent most of the time at the halfway line chatting. Training involved running up and down hills. Sitting here writing these words thinking – I think I touched the ball once in the whole time (including training) and that was in that 1 match and I almost scored a goal.
During the years of watching my local team – I began my teaching career. I led the Girl’s After school football team of which we were quarter finalists at a tournament. I also did my Level 1 in the hope to do more and this would help teaching and go down the avenue of coaching outside of the classroom. I left teaching during the Covid pandemic and started my 2nd Masters degree in Children’s Literature (the first is in Education). I did this in view that I could write a story about a female protagonist who plays football and to link it to the forthcoming Euros tournament. I spent some time during Covid reading books and researching into the number of fictional stories by women about sport (particularly football) with a female protagonist. During the time between submitting an application to starting the course, I started writing about the Peregrines at the Cathedral, the deer hidden in the field in a village close to where I live, a squirrel in the park, a girl who is a young sleuth and other stories written from one word prompts.
Now I watch football matches on TV and sometimes manage to get tickets to stadiums/football grounds. I’ve watched a few internationals at Wembley, Euros 2022 at St. Mary’s Vs Northern Ireland and in Stoke Vs Luxembourg. I am a season ticket holder at Southampton FC!
I have walked many places for charity including a part of the Great Wall of China, London Half and lots of Salisbury charity events. I began running in 2019 which has motivated me to go from running for 30 seconds to doing a half marathon. I have been to many running events such as London Vitality 10,000, Great South, Great Manchester Run, Jurassic coast run and Run Through – around Goodwood circuit. Some for charity... some to prove to myself that I can!
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