Female football trailblazer gets National Portrait Gallery honour
WHEN she first started out, she had to cut her hair short and change her name to Ross just to get a game with her local boy’s team as women’s football was banned.
But such was her talent, Rose Reilly soon attracted scouts from Celtic, who had heard of the brilliant young “boy” playing in Ayrshire local football.
Now, exactly 50 years ago today since Rose Reilly played in the first ever Scottish women’s international match, the National Portrait Gallery has announced it has acquired a portrait of her.
A true trailblazer of the national game, Reilly won the inaugural Scottish Cup with Stewarton in 1971 before joining French club Reims.
She then signed for AC Milan at the age of 18, and in 1984 captained Italy to victory in the World Cup, scoring in a 3-1 victory against West Germany in the final.
Voted the world’s best female footballer that same year, the striker won eight Serie A league titles, four Italian Cups, two Golden Boots and a French league title in her playing days.
The subject of a BBC Alba documentary in 2019, Reilly was inducted into the Scottish Football Hall of Fame in 2007 and awarded an MBE in 2020.
Scotland took part in their first official international women’s football match on November 18, 1972, against England at Ravenscraig stadium in Greenock.
On the anniversary of that historic occasion, the National Galleries of Scotland (NGS) have acquired a portrait of Reilly and in the first half of 2023, it will hang in the Modern Portrait exhibition.
“This is the conclusion of everything”, says Reilly. “I gave my medals and cups away and never dwelled on what I’d won, but these kind of honours sum up my career. It’s more than an honour, because it’s in my home country, where I was a wee bit pushed out before, and I just think that’s great.
“A lot of tourists come to Edinburgh, a lot of sporting personalities, and if I’m up there it gives a voice for women’s football.”
“Ever since the BBC Alba documentary aired, we’ve had consistent feedback from visitors to the Portrait Gallery saying we should have a portrait of Rose Reilly”, explains NGS curator Imogen Gibbon. “Hers is such a wonderful story, and she’s making her story count now. A lot of people in Scotland know about Rose Reilly but a lot of people don’t know about her, so it’s incredibly important for us to be able to offer another platform to tell her story, to make her visible.
“She’s part of the history of Scottish football.”
Photographer Jeremy Sutton-hibbert
said: “I’ve photographed for newspapers and magazines for 32 years, and it’s not often I come out of assignments thinking ‘I wish that person was my friend’.
“I’m delighted for Rose. She is a pioneer not just of Scottish women’s football, but of Scottish football in total. Her story is incredible and inspirational.”.
Today, the Scottish women’s game looks very different to Reilly’s early experiences.
She said: “It was an abyss. We were banned from playing 50 years ago by the SFA in stadiums, so we played in public parks. We didn’t have any referees because they weren’t allowed to referee the game.
“They did everything to stop us playing football. Our changing rooms were behind a tree in some random park, but we insisted, we persevered, and such was the love for the game that we went on with it.”
Italy was altogether more welcoming. She adds: “As soon as the plane arrived in Milan’s Linate Airport I felt at home. It was like a mother’s embrace. I’d come away from the red ash pitches of Scotland – I’ve still got some glass in my knees to prove that – and was playing in the majestic San Siro. The difference was day and night.
“The Italians embraced the women’s game entirely, because for them football is a religion. Maybe at the start they came over to see our legs, we got all sorts of snide remarks, but then they saw that we could play. I didn’t even jump over hurdles or go round them, I just smashed them down.”
For young women inspired by her achievements, she offers these words of encouragement: “Follow your dream. If you want to play football, don’t let anybody stop you. Never, ever, ever take no for an answer.”
She’s part of the history of Scottish football