Girl footballers share experiences of discrimination.  

World Cup winner Rose Reilly and a squad of girl footballers have teamed up to share their experiences of discrimination.  

They have made a film with the Children and Young People’s Commissioner to inspire other children when it’s screened at a national assembly next week (Friday 24 April).  

In the film, girls from South Morningside Primary School talk to Rose about winning the Edinburgh Schools Cup last year, and being shocked when they received a much smaller trophy than the winning boys’ team.  

The girls – who were in P6 and P7 at the time – challenged the organisers and were eventually presented with a bigger trophy.  

Alex, who plays on the left wing, says: “We’d just won and we went up and said, ‘This isn’t fair’. The trophy size was completely different to the boys’. The next day at school we said, ‘Can we write a letter?’ So that’s what we did.”  

And winger Freya adds: “We want to inspire girls to not be happy with something that’s worse than what the boys get.”  

Rose Reilly, from Stewarton, Ayrshire, shares stories with the girls about the discrimination she faced as a trail-blazing female footballer. When she began playing in the early 1960s, she had to pretend to be a boy and faced ‘the belt’ for playing football at school. Later she was banned by the SFA for playing in, or for Scotland after she moved to France, then Italy, to become a professional. She won the World Cup with her adopted country Italy in 1984.   

Commissioner Nicola Killean will be hosting the online assembly with Oscar, 14, one of her Young Advisors, on Friday April 24, at 9.30am. Aimed at primary-aged children, it can be accessed live on Scotland’s online learning platform, eSgoil.   

She said: “All children have the right not to be discriminated against, and I’m sure that the girls’ and Rose’s stories will inspire and empower other children to stand up to discrimination. Of course, children should never be expected to have all the answers and adults must help support children when their rights are not being respected.   

“We aim to make the assemblies inclusive and accessible – they have full BSL interpretation – and they are a fantastic way of reaching thousands of children to talk about their rights.” 

To join the assembly live on MS Teams on Friday 24 April at 9:30am, please go to the eSgoil website – no need to register in advance!