News

An Evening with Rose – Part Two

(Rose with Iain McMillan sharing the real story of her journey)

In the second part of our feature with Rose Reilly, a Scottish women’s football pioneer who went on to win the ‘unofficial’ World Cup with Italy in the 1980s, Rose continued to share her journey into football with our Blantyre Club members at a recent Sporting Memories session.

In this part, Rose reflected on learning tough lessons in her childhood about sport and making the decision to follow her football heart over a shot at competing in the Commonwealth Games.

Hard Lessons 

Rose attended St Columba’s Primary in Kilmarnock and, of course, as was the way of it in the 1960’s, there were two playgrounds, one for boys and one for girls and never the twain would meet. 

But Rose wasn’t aware of those silly rules, so headed over on her first day at lunchtime to play football with the boys.  No, not allowed – she got the belt from the headmaster.  Sounds brutal now but that was just the way of it then. 

She did cry because it was sore and also because a wee boy was laughing at her. However, from that she learnt a lesson that she decided would stay with her all her life - Showing emotion was a show of weakness. 

Subsequently, every day she went to the boys’ playground, everyday she got the belt and she just stared at the headmaster out until one day he said: “You’re never going to learn Rose Reilly, are you?” – to which she replied: “No sir, you’re never going to learn, I’m going to keep playing football”. 

Secondary school wasn’t any better as she ended up being expelled for following her passion. She also endured much abuse locally for her boys’ haircut and preference for football, but she again learned at an early age to ignore it, thinking to herself: “I’m going places, you’re not, you losers.”   

St Andrews Showdown 

It wasn’t just football that Rose excelled in.  All sports seemed to fall naturally to her and in fact, fast forward a few years and she was short listed for the Pentathlon in the 1970 Commonwealth Games. 

She went off to St Andrews in Fife for a week’s training session with the Scotland team. Unfortunately, Rose stood out like a sore thumb as all the other girls there were ‘private school’, who had athletics gear with spikes and kit.  Rose only had her “black sannies with elastic gusset to hold them on.”

Anyway, it was time for the 400 yards practice and one of the other girls said to Rose: “Did you hear what the coach said?  You’ve to go slow at the start and save your energy for the last 100 yards.”

So, the starters gun was fired and “all the other girls were offski and I was jogging along when I realised that b**** had set me up!” So, Rose simply changed gear and won.  Then it was the shot putt and the same girl asked what her putt weight was. Rose replied that she didn’t have one, she just used a rock but that rock must have been heavier than anyone else’s putt as she won that event too. 

As a result, she was picked for the Scottish team and her coach, John Anderson, said she’d have to stop playing football as she had developed ‘fitba’ legs – too much thigh muscle. 

Rose did stop playing, much to her parents delight as they saw a career in Athletics blooming. Indeed, she managed to stop playing… for a week - then she threw the new career path to the four winds and kept playing the game she lived for - football. Let’s just say her mother was not best pleased again. 

Time for work 

Determination undaunted, Rose ended up working at the BMK carpet factory where there was – yes,  you’ve guessed it - a football team, that played at lunchtime.

The blokes played still wearing their working steel toe-capped boots and Rose reckoned this is where she really honed her skills.  But that same old prejudices raised its ugly head as Rose ended up getting sacked for playing football.  Needless to say, her Mum was seriously unimpressed, not even a glimmer of sympathy when Rose said: “But Mum, I was playing for the Johnnie Walker Warehouse Bond Team, the Real Madrid of factory football.” 

I want to be a professional footballer 

So there’s Rose, 16-years-old, no job, no school, no future - when she spotted in the newspaper an article by Stan Chivas about European football.  She travelled up to the newspaper office in Glasgow at Anderson Quay and sought out Stan. 

It was a typical 1970s news office packed with shouting men clacking away at their typewriters with the perennial ‘fag’ hanging out their mouths.  She spotted who she thought was Stan, went up to him and announced: “I want to be a professional footballer.” 

Instead of the expected brush off, Stan asked her to come back in a fortnight. She duly did so and that’s when her international career took off.  She signed up with Reims in France and the rest is history as they say. 

All Rose knew was that she was living the dream although she does now concede that she must have put her parents through hell.  A wee lassie off to France with not a word of French, but such was Rose’s determination nothing like a bit of language would stop her. 

Her footballing career stratospheric success across France and then Italy allowed her to play at the top of the sport at the time, eventually winning the Mundalito with the Italian national team in 1984 – the unofficial Women’s World Cup of the time.

But Rose knew she couldn’t go on forever, so when she turned 39 she prepared her mindset for retirement from the game and looked to athletics again taking up marathon running and opening a sports shop in Italy. 

However, she injured her calf muscle at 43 and this led her to Norberto Peralta who was from Argentina. Rose reckons she fell in love with him as he spoke Italian like Diego Maradona.  A marriage and baby quickly followed, to which her Mother was finally thrilled to bits with her daughter.  

Back home to recognition

Rose ended up staying back in Scotland at the turn of the century to look after her now elderly Mother. Happily, acknowledgement of her incredible achievements started to unfold with induction into the Scottish Sports Hall of Fame, Scottish Football Hall of Fame, an honorary Doctorate from Glasgow University and, for Rose the pinnacle, the MBE for services to Women’s Football. Her proudest moment…until 

Two years ago, when Rose was invited to Celtic Park to become the Celtic Women’s Ambassador. She received a presentation box with a Celtic scarf and a green and white Hoops jersey with the No 7 and Reilly on the back, and a note that said: “Sorry Rose, we’re 60 years late. Will you sign for Celtic?” -  That was one of the most emotional moments for Rose – finally the recognition she yearned for after all of these years. 

Rose remains a passionate advocate for women in general across Scotland. Her grit, determination and stubbornness paid off and she wants all women to be inspired by her journey in football to be their best, always. 

Thank you Rose, that was a wonderful, frank and searingly honest evening with our Blantyre Club members.