Kelly Smith: I never had a female role model growing up... but young girls can see anything is possible now

INTERVIEW
Kelly Smith, who retired in 2017, at the match between Arsenal Women and Bayern Munich in July
Arsenal FC via Getty Images

Kelly Smith says she is pleased her new daughter will have female footballing role models growing up after she had only male players to look up to.

Former Arsenal player Smith scored a record 46 goals in 117 international appearances for England and has been hailed as a trailblazer in the women’s game.

Captained by Steph Houghton and managed by former England player Phil Neville, the current England team reached the semi-finals of the World Cup this summer and garnered an 11.9 million viewing record for their final match.

The players have since been praised for inspiring a new generation of girls to get into football, leading initiatives and going into schools.

Smith, 40, who lives in Muswell Hill with her wife DeAnna Dobosz and their two-year-old son Rocco Jude, just gave birth to four-week-old daughter Lucia - and said she knows the current England women’s team will be her new baby daughter’s sporting inspiration.

Smith told the Standard: “For me I enjoy it [being a role model] because I can help and inspire other people within the game to do the best they can and can consolidate their dreams.

"I never had a female role model growing up, it was always male figures, whereas now I can see Steph Houghton, Lucy Bronze, all these players are well known now and young girls are seeing them and want their names and numbers on the back of their shirts. That’s important because they see anything is possible now.

“My son Rocco is two and Lucia, my newborn, is just four weeks. I’m just pleased that the way the game is now, that my little daughter will have those opportunities at grassroots level, being involved as young as she can - whether it’s club football or organised football or whatever football it may be.”

But Smith insisted she will not be forcing her children into football, adding: “He [Rocco] is certainly at that age where he’s starting to kick a ball around now, and I will certainly encourage it, but if they’re not interested in football then I won’t push it too much.”

Smith, who played for Team GB at the London 2012 Olympics and was awarded an MBE in 2008 for services to women’s football, is acting as an ambassador for a new FA Girls’ Football School Partnership.

It will offer football hubs at schools where girls can take part in bespoke programmes, with the FA aiming to make football available to all girls at school by 2024.

It is a stark comparison to Smith having to pay for her own kit and referee subs in the early years of her career.

Role models: England's Lionesses reached the World Cup semi-finals in France this summer
AFP/Getty Images

She said: “The school partnerships will get FA qualified coaches to go into schools and coach the girls, trying to inspire young girls to play - for me that has been the most promising thing about this partnership with Barclays.

"It will be affecting young girls really, really early on and trying to get them into the game, and that’s the biggest target area for me. Young girls fall away and they don’t get interested in football because they probably haven’t had that opportunity so far… I hope to be a face just watching them and giving little points and encouraging them to progress in the game as far as they can.”

Smith thinks Neville’s team have a “great chance” of winning gold at Tokyo 2020, with favourites such as Germany out of the running. Going forward she plans to get her coaching badges and move into management - and maybe one day stand in Phil Neville’s shoes.

She said: “Hopefully that opportunity will arise and I’ll be ready for it.”

Originally from Watford, Smith retired in 2017 but regularly spends weekends watching both Watford and her old club - with whom she won the FA Cup five times - play.

She will be at Stamford Bridge for the opening FA Women’s Super League match of the season on Sunday - and admitted she is hoping for a draw between Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea as it will help Arsenal in the league.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in