Leah Williamson: England captain on World Cup dreams and life away from football

Kelly Somers: Leah, nice to see you, thanks for your time. Let’s start with football. I want to know the first time you played football, your first memories, and also – because of something you just told me on camera – how good you were.

Leah Williamson: When I first played football, my memory was in gymnastics. I must have been five or six years old. We were finally waiting for our parents to pick us up and the coach was a football fan so we brought out a soft ball. The first memory that comes to my mind is playing for the local team, but my mother says it was painful.

What are you doing? Because you’re not very good?

– Leah: Yes. He says: ‘You go and support your children but at the same time it wasn’t exciting to watch. ‘I wasn’t suggesting that you would be a football player.’

What are you doing? But that probably wasn’t something she would have envisioned for her daughter when you were little, right?

– Leah: No, definitely not. He had to act like a man, especially since he couldn’t play football, and he thinks, ‘well, let’s see how far this goes.’ I used to finger tap. I couldn’t hit the ball properly until I was 10 years old.

What are you doing? This gives hope to any parent with young children, listening to this!

– Leah: Yes, no stress.

What are you doing? What was the name of your first team? What can you remember about him?

– Leah: Scottish Youth FC. I was the only girl, but I was very well protected within my team. Still… it wasn’t so good with the other teams.

What are you doing? Do you think they targeted you because you’re a girl?

– Leah: More parents were saying: ‘Don’t let her do this to you, she’s a girl.’

What are you doing? I wonder what they say now. These parents are probably saying: ‘I remember that.’

– Leah: If I saw them they’d probably say: ‘Oh, we’d play together.’ And I would say: ‘No, you would give me trouble.’

What are you doing? Was there a point where you thought, ‘OK, I can do this’? Is this something that could actually be a career? I guess – going back to being a girl – it’s probably not something that’s been given that much thought…

– Leah: When I was about 15, I talked to my mother and said: ‘I’ll probably stop now.’ He said: ‘Okay, you tell me then.’ I was very scared too…

What are you doing? Have you really, really thought about it…

– Leah: Yeah, we chatted in the car park and I said: ‘I’m tired, you’re tired, we travel a lot, it costs a lot of money and I’m not sure… it’s a bit of a gamble, it’s not professional.’

My father always said that I might get a salary one day. I don’t know where he got this idea, but he was a ‘go ahead, follow your dreams’ kind of thing, whereas I was a little more pragmatic, I’d say. I’m a bit worried and at the same time I can’t say I’m not a very loud football player. A few of my team-mates were getting chats from the first team and it wasn’t really my thing, so I was being a bit realistic, thinking: ‘Maybe it’s not for me.’ But I took the risk.

What are you doing? It’s really a good job, isn’t it?

– Leah: I’m glad I did it. But yeah, when I got into the first team I was still a bit like ‘alright, let’s see what happens’ and then I decided I didn’t want to go to university. I think that’s why I’m so fully committed. Then, on my 18th birthday, I signed my professional contract. The other option for most of us was to go to America and get a scholarship.

What are you doing? Have you thought about this?

Leah: Yeah – like Bend It Like Beckham… I watch that as a kid and think ‘yeah, I want to do that’. So it was an evaluation and then the game picked up and picked up and I thought: ‘I don’t want to let this go, this is too exciting for me not to be a part of.’

What are you doing? Was there a turning point? Other than that conversation with your mom, is it like a moment where maybe all the success wouldn’t have followed if that hadn’t happened?

– Leah: 2015 World Cup. Like training camps; Normally you bring in a bigger squad and have those substitutes play alongside you. I was playing for Arsenal and had a season… so let’s say I caught the attention of a few people.

What are you doing? Did people know who you were?

– Leah: Yes, I got a call from the manager. It was Mark Sampson then. I had just been injured, but he called me and said: ‘I was going to take you to the training camp, but don’t worry about your injury; I hope there will be a next time.’ It didn’t work out that way for me then. I came back and the same thing happened again. I’m not sure I missed my opportunity. I think it was in my head at that moment… then I realized how much I cared about this. Instead of letting things happen to me, I thought: ‘No, I’ll try.’ Then the call came from England and I think that’s when I thought: ‘This is like a career thing now.’