Spectacular Scottish Women is an inspiring new collection of biographies written for young people by Louise Baillie, with vibrant and dynamic illustrations by Eilidh Muldoon. A fascinating and uplifting celebration of iconic women from Scotland’s past and present, it introduces young readers to a host of inspirational women: from authors to athletes, scientists to singers and queens to campaigners. This extract shines a spotlight on pioneering footballer Rose Reilly, who was born in Kilmarnock in 1955.

Spectacular Scottish Women
By Louise Baillie and Eilidh Muldoon
Published by Floris Books

Smashing Down Hurdles
Rose Reilly – A Spectacular Scottish Football Hero

When Rose was three, she disappeared from her house in Stewarton, Ayrshire, and her mum found her on the nearby football pitch. When she was five, she asked for a ball for Christmas, but got a doll. She swapped the doll for a ball – and slept with it instead! ‘I slept with my ball for two reasons,’ Rose explains. ‘First, because I loved it, and second, I was afraid my mum would take it off me. People thought I was weird, because wee girls didn’t play football.’

Rose’s mum didn’t take her ball, but there were plenty of other people at the time who disapproved. Rose says, ‘I got the belt at school every day for playing football with the boys. I got abuse shouted at me in the street.’ The local boys’ team only let her join if she cut her hair short and pretended her name was Ross. She was their best player, and Celtic FC wanted to sign her – but couldn’t when they found out she was a girl.

Yet Rose never gave up. There were a few amateur teams for women, so she became a striker for Stewarton Thistle and won the Scottish Cup before moving to Glasgow team Westthorn United. She even played for Scotland against England. But Rose wanted to be a professional, which means being paid to play at the highest level. For that she had to look beyond her home country. In 1972 she had a trial for Reims, which was one of the first women’s teams in France and helped make women’s football popular there. She played a match and was signed at half-time, aged 17.

Before long, Rose moved to AC Milan, one of Italy’s biggest women’s clubs. In contrast to Scotland, Italy supported the growth of women’s football. Leagues and teams were well organised and well funded. Rose had been an amateur in Scotland, semi-professional in France, and now, in Italy, she was finally a professional footballer.

But the Scottish Football Association (SFA) was furious, and banned Rose playing in or for Scotland sine die – Latin for ‘without limit of time’. The SFA gave no official reason for the ban, but many believed they were angry Rose had criticised them and found a way to play elsewhere. Rose says, ‘I never wasted energy getting annoyed at the SFA – I just kept looking forward.’

And Rose had plenty to look forward to. Over twenty years, she played for ten Italian sides, winning eight titles in Serie A (the top Italian league), four Italian cups and two Serie A Golden Boots for top goalscorer. The Italian Federation even asked her to play for the Italian national team.

The pinnacle of her career was winning the 1984 World Cup. Her adopted Italy beat West Germany 3–1, and Rose even scored in the final. She remembers, ‘I walked around smiling for a week. I followed my dream, and I lived the dream.’

Scotland is finally recognising Rose as a pioneer in women’s football. In 2007, she was inducted into the Scottish Sport Hall of Fame and was also the first female player inducted into the Scottish Football Hall of Fame.

In 2019, before the Scotland women’s team played Jamaica at Hampden, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon presented Rose and other women from her 1972 Scotland team with the caps they had never received for representing their country against England. The SFA only started giving women caps – which had long been given to the men’s team – in 1998.

Rose is passionate about encouraging girls to play, and in 2021 she launched the Rose Reilly Football Centre with Ayrshire College to provide free sessions to girls aged five to twelve. Rose says, ‘There’s no reason girls can’t play, but we need the footballing world to open up to wee girls. Coaches at all levels have a responsibility to encourage and support them. I love it when girls realise they can play and be part of a team, and that football isn’t just for boys.’

You can see Rose Reilly, author Louise Baillie and illustrator Eilidh Muldoon in conversation at this year’s Edinburgh International Book Festival on Tuesday 15th August. Tickets are available now at this link.

Spectacular Scottish Women by Louise Baillie and Eilidh Muldoon publishes on August 17th 2023 with Kelpies, an imprint of Floris Books. It is available to pre-order here.