UEFA EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP
Sweden. Lauder finally settled at Glasgow City in 2014 and was the first Scottish woman to sign a professional contract with the club.
WITH as a little as 10-years between them, Ross and Lauder’s experiences of coming up in the sport have been markedly different, but both cite Julie Fleeting as someone who inspired them to keep going.
Former national captain Fleeting is one of the most recognisable names in women’s football and is a role model for the majority of the Scotland squad and young girls across the country.
The 33-year-old, who currently plays for Celtic, left her mark on Ayr United before turning professional with San Diego Spirit and then spending eight years at Arsenal Ladies, helping them become a force to be reckoned with domestically and in Europe.
“For me it was difficult finding a role model because women’s football wasn’t in the press,” Ross explains.
“I didn’t really know anything about women’s football when I was growing up.
“When I started to realise there was a women’s team, Julie Fleeting was the one as she was the best player in Scotland at that time.
“I always wanted to be where Julie was. She’s of similar age so to me so it’s strange, but she started playing for Scotland much earlier than I did.
“With us going to the Euros, I hope it will encourage more people to play and increase the game as a whole, increase the quality and keep it going.
“We’ve come so far, if we keep investing in it and offering people the opportunities to play it can only get better.
“We need people to come and see what we can do. People are training now as an actual sport, people are coming to watch, the media are starting to take notice,” Lauder adds.
“We’ve trained hard, so we just need to get together and get all the tactical stuff down.
“I’m confident we’ve put a lot of work in but it’s our first tournament in a major final, and our group is pretty tough, but we have to take it a game at a time.”
The UEFA European Women’s Championship will be broadcast on Channel 4.