Latest / A Level Playing Field / From Ireland to Edinburgh: Scarlett Herron's full-time football journey I A Level Playing Field I Episode 30

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From Ireland to Edinburgh: Scarlett Herron's full-time football journey I A Level Playing Field I Episode 30 · A Level Playing Field

• 0:00
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• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to a level playing field.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: I am Alison McConnell, joined by my host Shelle Smith, and delighted to introduce you to Scarlet Herod.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: Just to kick us off, why don't you you just give us a bit of your backstory?
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: What brought you to Leith and how did you end up at Ebbs?
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_02: So before this I was playing in the League of Ireland back home, played for a few clubs there and was introduced to senior football very early from maybe 16-17 years of age, so built up a lot of senior experience quite quickly.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_02: But um I moved to Shamrock Rovers in 2023, I think, and it's a very high standard of sort of professionalising the game in Ireland.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_02: It was the first club to introduce like part-time professional contracts, so that was kind of my first taste of what professional football would be like, and I suppose it's always it was always my dream to go abroad and play full-time football.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_02: It's unfortunately not something we have back home yet.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_02: Our league's just not at that standard yet.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_02: But I think when when Hibbs came in, it was a no-brainer for me.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_02: It was the next step, the natural next step for me to to come over here.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_02: It's obviously a very competitive league.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_02: We've seen that like the last few years, the league going down to the last day.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and obviously it's a really historic club of the Irish connection, too.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah, when I was chatting to the management staff, it was a no-brainer for me really.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: Was it always football for you?
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's actually it's funny because we have uh we have Gaelic football at home.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_02: Um so when I was younger it was kind of a toss-up between the two, but um, when you get to a certain age, it's you have to try just prioritise one.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_02: So I had to have to give up Gaelic football for probably about 14 years of age.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_01: So did you have a big football family growing up where your family and your mum and dad would be involved in football and involved in in your career or the start of your career?
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, my dad definitely was.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_02: My mum wouldn't know the first thing about football, but she just goes to support.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_02: But no, my dad would be uh heavily involved in both Gaelic football and in in football as well.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah, he always was kind of I wouldn't say he pushed me, but you know, introduced me to the game and um I suppose taking me up and down the road to to training, like where I'm from is not very central to a footballing hub.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_02: So I'd be travelling maybe two hours back and forth to training each night for four or five years during school.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_02: So um yeah, it was it's obviously great that he has an interest in it because to go and sit and be able to watch training or watch the games, I suppose, helped a bit rather than just be sitting in the car on a cold winter's evening.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah, no, I think he always kind of pushed me into it, but uh was always very supportive.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_00: You seem pretty busy, you get quite a lot going on aside from just uh the football, really keen interest in developing a a media career as as well.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: Do you like tell us a wee a wee bit about that and how it came about?
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so um when I finished up in in secondary school or high school at E Call It, um I went up to University College Dublin to study sport and exercise management and I was playing for Shamworkovers, as I mentioned, part-time as well.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_02: So um I was kind of balancing the two of them, and during my studies I kind of realised that media was an avenue that I wanted to sort of explore more.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_02: So as part of like my internship, and when I was in first year, I um sort of just messaged around, emailed around and managed to get some work experience with a media company back home called Off the Wall.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_02: It's primarily like sports radio reporting, podcasts, and things like that.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_02: So they were uh kind enough to let me come in and shadow one of their producers for a number of weeks, and then after maybe two or three weeks, they said, Would you want to get trained up in the sort of digital content creation side of things?
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_02: So I was happy with that, and then um managed to get some sort of freelance shifts after that a few weeks later, and then it kind of just grew from there.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_02: Uh I just kept getting more and more opportunities.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_02: Um, started reporting on on live games, both our League of Ireland men's division at home, um, Gaelic football, which is obviously huge at home as well, and then just like a number of kind of side gigs of the team was playing European football for press conferences for the Ireland men's national team uh going to games and stuff.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_02: So kind of just blew up from there, and yeah, really something I really, really enjoy.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_00: I saw um I saw you saying that you were covering a main uh one of the women's international games, and you're thinking, I don't know how if I want to ask too many questions here, because I have obviously have ambitions and aspirations of making it in to this team, so it's a kind of poacher-turned gamekeeper type role where you're thinking maybe I'm compromised ever so slightly, like I'm going to be quizzing this manager, but also actually I quite like you pick me.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, no, it's funny.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_02: Um I've done a number of the women's games and building up to the Europe European qualifiers a few years ago, and then now the World Cup qualifiers.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_02: So I actually never go into press conferences or never do anything with the players or manager, I just sort of analyze the game uh up in the press box.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_02: But it's actually my um the woman that I work with off the ball, Kathleen McNamy, she's the pro, so she goes down and um does all the interviews, so I kind of just stay away from that.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_02: But yeah, I think it's a it's obviously a great way to be involved.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_02: But as you said, like I have aspirations to hopefully be part of that setup one day.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_02: So I never wanted to put myself in a sort of position where I have to, you know, put that at any sort of risk by you know putting myself too much in the media side of things.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_00: Because it's quite an awkward balance, quite a tough balance to get.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_00: It's different when you're coming to the end of your career, yeah, and you're maybe thinking, no, media is is uh is maybe uh an avenue I'd like to pursue.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_00: It's a bit different when you're starting out in your career and you're thinking, I want to get to this level, it's maybe quite tough if you're having to make observations about a national team and people who could then become teammates.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, definitely.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_02: It's it's kind of one of those you you can't be too harsh on anyone, you don't want to be.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_02: Um I suppose if you look at any pundits nowadays, they're kind of free to say whatever they want and there's not really many repercussions for them.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_02: But yeah, I suppose I'm doing it the opposite way around, starting early in my career.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but it's just something that I have such an interest in outside of football, and I like to be busy, so I I know that obviously full-time professional football, but there is a lot of hours that you have free, so it's it's handy for me to keep my mind occupied and to put my focus into something else as well.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_02: That I finished my studies last year, so I think it's just a a good avenue for me to to go into.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_02: But as you said, yeah, it's it's a tricky one to manage, but you just have to be as honest as you can, but obviously not go into anyone too hard.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_01: Have you John?
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_01: Have you still managed to pursue it here, like when you've been at Hebs?
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_01: Have you still been able to do anything sort of media work?
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, well, um the company I work with back home off the ball, uh, they've been nice enough to obviously give me a few digital shifts, but of course, there's not too much I can do sort of uh on the ground living over here.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_02: So it's actually something that I'm looking to get into more.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_02: I'm I'm open to any opportunities that come my way.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_02: I've been um sort of looking into what I can what I can get involved in here.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_02: Obviously, I don't know if maybe the contacts that I would have gathered back in Ireland, but yeah, it's something that I'm kind of pursuing at the minute to try open new avenues for myself here.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_01: It's interesting to be actually on both both sides of the fence.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_01: Do you give the media guys at Hibs some tips when they're asking you questions?
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_02: No, no, no, I keep that to them.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_02: But no, to be fair, uh they've been great on you know, um saying that Hibbs TV have a few opportunities and stuff like that, so that could be something that um I suppose I involve myself in in the future.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_02: But no, I think they know what they're doing enough before me going to tell them.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_00: Uh in terms of that, your ambitions about going and playing international football, there's plenty of players that have come through the the SWPL that have then graduated to international honours with Ireland.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_00: Have you spoken to any of them?
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, well, I suppose Russia Littlejohn was one that she actually joined Chamber Covers um maybe 18 months ago now for a short period.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_02: So it was great for me to have her and be able to sort of talk to her about the setup and to learn off her while I was still playing in the League of Ireland.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_02: And I actually messaged her uh before coming here sort of saying what do you know about the Scottish League?
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_02: Because I wouldn't have known too much about it.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_02: Um so she was sort of one telling me, you know, go and pursue it, you know, play your full-time football.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_02: It'll only help you in terms of getting maybe some international recognition.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_02: And then of course, when I came here um during sort of this time last year, Kira Grant was here.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_02: Obviously, she's retired now, but she's been there, done that, represented Ireland uh on the world stage at the World Cup three years ago.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_02: So she was great for me to sort of, you know, just constantly quizzing her about things.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_02: So I'd say that's probably why she went into retirement.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_02: She was sick of me asking her questions, but uh no, that you know, Kara was brilliant here last year and um yeah, a great role model, I suppose, now going on to pursue her doctoral um career after this.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_02: So incredible.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_00: How how have we found the transition into full-time football?
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_00: I'd imagine it'd be quite a lot to take on physically as much as anything.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, no, it was definitely it was definitely a change.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_02: Um I obviously came here with Jess Fitzgerald, who sort of signed the same time as me.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_02: We would have um we would have played together uh at underage in in the League of Ireland, so it was nice to have a familiar face.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_02: But yeah, as you said, it's it's a different toll physically and mentally as well.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_02: Um it's definitely a massive step up.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_02: Um you're training an extra one or two days a week and it's obviously day training instead of as opposed to an evening.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_02: So it is easier as well in a way, like you're not balancing as much.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_02: You know, you you'd see a lot of players maybe still at the part-time teams in the league, you know, you go to work for the day or you go to college and then you come to train in the evening.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_02: You might get home until 11 o'clock, you know, you're tired, and then maybe on a game day, if you're if it's a you know, weekday kickoff, you're working in the morning, it's hard to fit in your meals and stuff.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_02: So it is it obviously was a difficult transition, but it's also made easier through a lot of those things as well.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_02: Like I'm very lucky to be in the position I am in and to be able to, you know, sort of live out my dream here is is great.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_02: So um from the physical side of it, I think it does take a few weeks.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you do get a few niggles, which is I suppose natural when you're transitioning.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_02: But I think the club here do a great job at helping with that transition, you know, keeping you off feet maybe a day a week to sort of just aid your body in in the change because it is it is a big change, not only in the amount you train, but the intensity of the training as well, and obviously the games.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_00: Is it uh is one of the fundamental changes almost in thinking, what do I do with this spare time?
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_00: You've probably been used to balancing studies, part-time work, football, training, and so you you'd probably not had a lot of downtime, and then all of a sudden you come in and you're thinking, I've got more hours than I I've ever had to fill in a strange city away from home and not surrounded by home comforts and familiar routines and familiar faces.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, definitely.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_02: And I think that's the thing with the media, is why I'm looking to pursue it now.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_02: Again, I suppose the first year is kind of just getting settled.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_02: I was finishing my degree remotely uh during last season, so that kind of kept me my mind occupied a bit.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_02: But yeah, you have a lot of spare time, and I don't think I've ever gone for as many coffees in my life, you know.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_02: It's it's just not in the time.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, we're you know, we're talking about different parts of Leith.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_02: Like I feel like I've seen every corner of the city at this stage just walking about.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_02: But yeah, it it does take a while to get used to it.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_02: But as I said, it is a privilege to be able to fully focus on football, and I suppose that is that was the point in in me coming over here and to to go away is to put all my efforts and energy into it because I suppose your your energy is being taken out by your university, your work, your friends, your social life when you are in a part-time environment, whereas you're here, your full focus and all your energy is on you know, building towards a game on a Sunday.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_01: What kind of response did you get then when you you told people, your friends and your family that you were going to come to Scotland, you wanted to do full-time football, and that was how you're going to do it now?
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it it's funny because it was, as I said, it was something I wanted for for so long.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_02: Um and it was kind of just I'd nearly built it up so much, and I it was something that I always expected I wanted to do, so it was nearly not a surprise to people.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_02: It was like, oh, like this is the time, like this is your time to now go away.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but obviously it's a massive change.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_02: Like I was leaving all my friends from university, from home, all my family.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so it is, it's it's a tough one.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but I think the support that I've got from you know my inner circle has been massive for me.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_02: Um I think people talk about that all the time in football, like your circle's quite small.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so it's it's hard to keep in contact with everyone at home, you know, when you're I mean, I suppose right across the water is not too far, but it is difficult.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_02: So um, but I think the support system I have is is great, and everyone was obviously just delighted for me to to get the move because I think they knew how much it meant to me.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_02: Are you flat shading or are you and in your own?
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, there's there's five of us in the in the flat from the team, so busy house.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_00: I know when do you go for a lot of coffee?
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_00: I know.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_01: Have you had many like visits?
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_01: Has your family, friends, come over here since you've moved to to see you?
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, no, my my parents are over all the time, especially my dad.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_02: He he hits missing any games, so um, he does come over a fair bit as well as my mum, and then um yeah, I've had a number of my friends come over and visit as well.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_02: So it is really nice.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_02: It's like it's a new city for all of them to explore as well.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_02: So I feel like the tour guide going around Edinburgh Castle, like showing them about.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_02: So it is nice, and it's obviously it's a new adventure for for my family and friends when they come over and visit me.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_02: And it's a new adventure for me, you know.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_02: It's it's so nice to live in such a gorgeous city, too.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and yeah, so I think it's just it's a bit of a whirlwind for everyone the first few weeks, but I'm I'm settled now, so I think uh yeah, it's just nice for people to come over and visit whenever they can.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_01: It's time for our player of the week, sponsored by Nutmeg Magazine, the home of brilliant football stories.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_01: Check out the latest issue at nutmegmagazine.co.uk.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_00: This week's player of the week, sponsored by Nutmeg, goes to Rangers Jodie McCleary for her showing as Rangers Dismantled Celtic 5-2 in the old firm meeting, the first one of the season, as Leanne Crichtonside came out on top.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_01: That was our Nutmeg Magazine Player of the Week.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_01: For more great football writing and to order the latest issue, visit nutmegmagazine.co.uk.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_00: Had you been away from home?
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so I I lived in Dublin, which is maybe an hour and a half from um from where I live originally, so I kind of had that transition of moving away from home uh to few years before.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah, it was it made the transition a bit easier.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_00: Just in a bit of a tangent, we've we've seen we talk often about the growth of women's sport and the exposure that it gets, but we saw the interest in Dublin for the Katie Taylor fight, 80,000 tickets sold out within an hour, huge publicity around that fight, like really dominated all the sports news for for that fight.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_00: Did what was that like for you growing up and seeing the visibility of one sport come into prominence?
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_00: And are there lessons at football do you think can draw from it?
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I think so.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_02: I think unfortunately, I think Katie Taylor's an exception.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_02: I think she's I think she is the Ireland's greatest ever athlete, not just as a female, but uh as male or female.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_02: I think she's incredible.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_02: What she's done for not alone women's boxing but women's sport uh is incredible.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, you'd say hear the saying, like she put Ireland on the map, like she did in a way, and to have I think 82,000 people watch her and her test not a testimonial, but her final fight was just incredible, and I think that's what she'll always strive to.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_02: She always wanted to finish off in Crow Park, which is obviously our the home of our uh Gaelic games, which was I think such a massive thing for her, and it's it's great that she got it.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_02: But I suppose to answer your question, like I think lessons can be made from that.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_02: I think like Katie Taylor isn't the most isn't probably the most outgoing personality, like she wouldn't stand out in in press conferences or like you look at the likes of what Conor McGregor did when he was in the UFC, like that's not her character.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_02: She very much kept to herself, and I think even at that, like her talents brought that crowd, not you know, obviously she has a a great personality, but it's not the maybe the fighting one that you would say for a lot of characters.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_00: It's interesting.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_00: So what when I was reading about it actually and the the build-up to it, and it's kind of fascinated.
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_00: I w it just it the impact it has had on a very routine, mundane, mundane, day-to-day level of women saying, I used to go into this gym and train there wasn't a female toilet or there wasn't female changing areas like 10 years ago because there were so few females in a gym.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_00: Um I just found that quite fascinating that you could have such a quite a big cultural hit and impact, even just at those levels, of thinking like women might they might not want a box, but they might want to come in and use it for fitness, for spanning, for for different reasons, and suddenly there's a an accommodation about it that you can that that that's just part of life, that it it changes.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_00: I also found a really interesting feature, and it was a a writer saying, you know, 24 25-year-old men are speaking about female athletes in a way that 25-year-old men never did, which I thought was really fascinating, you know, like this cultural change that you're part of and that you've seen, and it would be nice to think that that stretches down because I think there's probably still a bit of work to do when it comes to women's football and the direction that it takes.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I think to be fair as a whole, when the sport has come so far, like even just to finish on Katie Taylor, like she had to write her name down as K and to act as a boy to just get fights.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_02: Like, we've come so far from that moment where she was last Saturday, like really echoes.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_02: It's incredible.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_02: Like, so I think there's massive inspiration to be taken from that.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_02: Like, she has built the sport from the ground up, and it's taken obviously her entire career.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_02: But I think women's football has taken obviously massive strides in in that time too.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_02: But there always is lots of improvement to be made.
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_02: But it just shows that you can build a sport up to an 82,000 capacity for for one fight.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_00: You know, another third on top of it, and it's I think tickets sold out in an hour.
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_02: There was huge demand for it, yeah.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_02: There was I think you could they could have sold it out three times probably for the demand that there was.
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_02: It's incredible.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_02: It it is incredible, but who else were your heroes growing up then, your own sporting heroes?
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_02: Um well, I suppose when like when I was growing up, I didn't there wasn't that visibility in my hometown for women's football.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_02: Maybe if if you grow up in Dublin it might be different, but like I didn't even know there was a women's national team when I was growing up.
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_02: Like honestly, when like I would have looked just to the men's national team because I didn't there was no see it debate, I don't think, for me.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_02: Like obviously they were there, but just in the media or in whatever I was consuming as a kid, like there just wasn't that there.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_02: So um yeah, I like it was kind of male role models that I had up until I kind of understood more about the my league at home, about the women's national team at home, and about like obviously the leagues abroad too.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_02: So it took me until maybe I was like 13, 14 to realise you know the the growth of women's football across the world.
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_02: So um like I I think my my greatest one models probably my dad, but that's obviously just from home.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_02: Um but yeah, I think nowadays there's so many like opportunities out there for young girls, there's so many players for them to aspire to be.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_02: Like if I if you go to a women's national game at home, you know, there's 10,000 people there.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_02: If you go like they've been playing in the Aviva Stadium the last few, and there's like 30,000 people, which is amazing.
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_02: And the visibility there is class, and I think the amount of role models now you look at the likes of Katie McCabe, who obviously came through at Glasgow City, um, and like there's just like Caitlin Hayes as well, obviously played for Celtic a number of years, she's now Brighton.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_02: Like, there's just so many girls who, you know, are those role models uh now.
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_02: So I think it's it's brilliant.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_02: I don't think that was the visibility for them was necessarily there a few years ago, so I think it's it's class that's there now.
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_00: How good is that playing at the Aviva, or how important rather is it?
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_00: Do you think as a player playing in the the shading the stadium, sharing the facilities and and trying to drive people along to go and in interrogate games?
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_00: Because we've seen issues in Scotland where maybe the national team are based at Hamden and they're struggling to to sell tickets and attract thumbs on seats for for want of a better word, it's been a it's been a particularly challenging uh conundrum for the for the SFA and I suppose it must be tough for players as well because you think you want as many people for an atmosphere.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_00: And for optics, it's probably important to have it at the national stadium, but you can also appreciate an argument of saying let's take it somewhere else, just to try and create an atmosphere within a game.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I think for our national team at home, they have sort of three base stadiums now.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_02: So the Aviva's a 50,000 capacity, um, you'd maybe get 30,000 there, which is obviously incredible.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_02: And then you have uh Parky Kiev, which is in Cork, and then Talla Stadium, which is a Dudden.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_02: So they kind of alternate between the three, which I think is really, really good.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_02: So if you have maybe a game that's not as high in demand, like they're playing Kazakhstan in the qualifiers now in October, that game's gonna be at Parky Keeve.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_02: But when they're playing uh maybe the likes of France or you know Spain, they'd probably put it in the Aviva for for that demand.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_02: But I think it's it really is to make like I've heard Michelle Kang's obviously speak about speak about London City and the investment she's put in there, and she was saying like if you build it, they will.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_02: Come.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_02: Obviously, they sold out uh Bromley for their first game against United last weekend, and I think that can go that could you know we can take a lot of sort of inspiration from that, and even what Arsenal women have done.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_02: I know this is a massive thing to live up to, but I think they're making their players into superstars.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_02: And if you know young girls or boys are are looking at on you know, everyone's on YouTube these days, all the kids are on YouTube looking at you know fun interviews with their WSL heroes and stuff like that.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_02: I think that's something that we can maybe build on a little more.
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_02: Um, not just like in Ireland but here and wherever.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I think it is massive for like people.
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_02: I feel like kids go to see their idols, they don't necessarily might go to see a club team or even a national team, they might go to see individuals, yeah.
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_02: So we've spoken away that before, haven't we?
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_01: Like Caitlin Hayes is one of those players because we've seen it at Celtic for so many years, and then she leaves to go to Brighton and there's bustloads of Celtic fans going down to Brighton to see her because and I think the affiliation that she had with the with the fans and stuff, um that's a really prominent example of it as well.
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_01: But can I just take you back to when you when you were growing up, you were saying about you know there wasn't a lot of visibility for role models for you?
• 23:09
  SPEAKER_01: Did you was there any opposition?
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_01: Did you feel like any opposition to you playing football where where you were?
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_01: Because I'm imagining that you maybe played with boys up until a certain age and things like that.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, um I would have played with boys until 15 maybe.
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but as I said, I just didn't know that there was even a League of Ireland for women at that stage.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_02: Um not that I was sheltered from it, but I just wasn't aware of the opportunities that maybe were around me until I went to try to explore them.
• 23:33
  SPEAKER_02: But yeah, I I think everyone probably growing up in in as a girl in in football would have faced opposition at some stage.
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_02: I think that is changing now.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_02: Like if you my hometown, for example, day my home club now has I think seven girls' teams, whereas when even like I'm only 21, so this is maybe eight to ten years ago, like there was no girls' team.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_02: So even that is is massive.
• 23:55
  SPEAKER_02: But I think you're always gonna face some opposition, um, especially when maybe you're playing over someone's son, there's gonna be a bit of maybe squabble about it.
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_02: But no, I think people are used to it now, which is great.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_02: I don't think we're gonna see as much of that now.
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_02: I think there's a as you said, like there's a growing respect for for women in sport and for young girls playing sport, and I think the opportunities that are now coming up are fantastic, and there is that growing respect for, you know, if a girl goes into a boys' team, I don't think she's gonna be shunted to the side.
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_02: I think people are on on the on her team and on the sideline are gonna respect her even more for that.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_00: Was it was there a sea change that you feel in Ireland when when Ireland qualified for the the World Cup in 2023 at Scotland's expense, we might add to that.
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_00: But what was there a change then?
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_00: Because you think that does bring a level of exposure, uh global exposure, from being in being part of what up till that point I think was the most commercially successful women's football tournament?
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I think there was a massive uptake.
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_02: Um I think in participation, especially uh at a grassroots level.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_02: I think there's there's never been more obviously girls involved in in football at home, and I think that's worldwide too.
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_02: So I think for a s a smaller nation to qualify obviously brings massive things at home.
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_02: Um I obviously our league at home took a massive uptake in in attendances for a short period, but I just don't know if we built on it enough.
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_02: Um, my club had two players who are part of that squad, Abby Larkin, who was at Glasgow City as well, and then um Anyo Gorman as well, who's recently retired.
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_02: So we built on it massively for maybe six to twelve months, and then after that it kind of died off a wee bit again.
• 25:31
  SPEAKER_02: So that's a familiar story.
• 25:33
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I suppose that's the importance as well of Scotland and Ireland consistently qualifying for major tournaments.
• 25:38
  SPEAKER_02: So I mean, hopefully we're both at the World Cup uh next year.
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_02: But uh yeah, no, I think it just puts women's football on that pedestal again and it makes people want to watch it.
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_02: It it puts it on national television, it makes it accessible for everyone.
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_02: Everyone's watching it, and I think um like football tournaments have a weird way of bringing people together and bringing a nation together, whether I suppose it becomes a social event because you do go and watch the oh, what you do today?
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, go and watch the game, have a couple of drinks, or have some tea and watch the game, it it becomes part of the fabric of day-to-day life.
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and then we talk about the players again, like they become household names.
• 26:13
  SPEAKER_02: Like Katie McCabe is now a household name in Ireland, as is Denise Sullivan, as is Caitlin Hayes, you know.
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_02: So I think to build on that is so so important, and hopefully by qualifying for more and more tournaments, you know, it brings more people to the games.
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_02: There's obviously a growing interest in it then.
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_02: Well, the team's doing well, so I think that's so important as well.
• 26:31
  SPEAKER_00: Before we let you go, have you had any feedback from the national manager?
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_00: Have you spoken to her about coming here and and you know, are are you on it either?
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_02: To be honest, I've never I've never spoken to to Carlo Ward directly, uh no, but I suppose I've I have a few people now who I know inside the the national team setup.
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_02: So um I know it's obviously a massively competitive squad to get into, and especially in a in a qualification year, like they're next, obviously they're playing Kazakhstan, and then either I think Poland or Belgium, so it's a massive, massive period now for the national team.
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_02: So it's one of those it's it's difficult to put a foot in when the games are so important.
• 27:06
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but obviously it's it's something that I've always dreamed of and hopefully it can can break in at some stage in the future.
• 27:11
  SPEAKER_01: Where do your aspirations lie then?
• 27:13
  SPEAKER_01: Because you've got quite an unusual thing with your full-time professional, but you want to pursue media.
• 27:19
  SPEAKER_01: So where do you see or how do you see those two things coinciding together?
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I'm not I'm not totally sure yet.
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_02: I think for me, like football is obviously always at the forefront.
• 27:29
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and if it was ever a case of the media was hindering that, the media would be pushed aside immediately.
• 27:35
  SPEAKER_02: I think for me at the minute the media is just a side, sort of like a side hustle.
• 27:38
  SPEAKER_02: It's something I enjoy doing.
• 27:40
  SPEAKER_02: Um like that can be on a casual level as well.
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_02: Um, it doesn't have to be, it's not gonna ever be a full-time job for me until maybe I retire, and hopefully that's a number of years away.
• 27:49
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah, it's just something to keep me occupied for now.
• 27:52
  SPEAKER_02: It's it doesn't have to be football either.
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_02: There's a number of other sports that I have a massive interest in too.
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_02: So um yeah, I think for them to be able to go side by side for the next few years would be brilliant, but as I said, it's my priority is always going to be football, so Scarlett.
• 28:07
  SPEAKER_01: Great, thank you so much for giving us your time.
• 28:09
  SPEAKER_01: It's great to speak to you, and I'm sure that everyone listening will be really interested to hear your story and your take on all these various topics.
• 28:15
  SPEAKER_01: It's been really good.
• 28:15
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much for your time.
• 28:17
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you to Alison and thank you to you for listening.