Women stars to make history at awards night
FOR the first time in the history of PFA Scotland, the Women’s Player of the Year and Young Player of the Year awards will be crowned at Sunday’s gala dinner in Glasgow alongside the men’s awards. The quartet in the running for player of the year are Lizzie Arnot (Rangers), Priscila Chinchilla (Glasgow City), Jacynta Galabadaarachchi (Celtic) and Charlie Wellings (Celtic). Chinchilla and Galabadaarachchi are also shortlisted for the young player award, along with Aberdeen’s Bayley Hutchison and Maria McAneny, on loan at Hearts from Celtic. PFA Scotland chief Fraser Wishart said he was delighted to incorporate the women’s game into the union’s end-of-season awards system. ‘It’s a huge thing for the union and for the female players,’ he said. ‘We now have female members and I think an award like this being the first one that’s voted for by the players is a huge event, and I’m really delighted to be able to facilitate that.’ Meanwhile, far from dwelling on individual plaudits, Arnot insists Rangers will not take their foot off the pedal as they drive towards the SWPL title. The Ibrox side have a fivepoint lead over Glasgow City going into the final three games. Rangers have never won any silverware in Scottish football but having dropped just two league points all season, they have shown a steeliness and impressive consistency. ‘It is a cliché but we are trying not to get too excited. Until we do it, I won’t relax,’ said Arnot. ‘We have not won anything yet. ‘The two wins over Celtic and Glasgow City were very big wins for us because we had struggled against Celtic last season and City’s dominance in the league is obvious. ‘We still have to play them both before the end of the season and it won’t be easy at all but as a group of players those results gave us a real boost and belief about how capable we are.’