When Eniola Aluko first began playing football it was as a very small child, on her local estate with her brother and his friends. It didn’t occur to her that there was anything unusual about a girl playing football, not until several years later when she was playing in a boys team and a parent took umbrage.
When she read To Kill A Mockingbird in school it inspired her to want to be a lawyer and similarly she found nothing unusual in that. After all, she was regularly top of her classes and the idea of fighting the system and correcting wrongs greatly appealed. The career path therefore seemed entirely logical.
It was only when a career’s advisor displayed confusion at the idea of a black girl from Birmingham reaching the bar and instead suggested she aimed for nursing that it struck Aluko that society had already painted a version of her different to who she was. “I might as well have told her that I wanted to fly to the moon,” she later wrote.
Fast-forward a chunk of time and Aluko gained a first-class bachelor degree in law.
As for her love of football it continued and that parent – and let’s not assume for one moment that they were a singular road-block to her enjoyment and progress – will hopefully recall their small-mindedness and outright prejudice and feel deep embarrassment. For Eni Aluko went on to play for England 102 times, scoring 33 goals and starring in three World Cups. She won the WSL three times for Chelsea and attained a Serie A title with Juventus.
She was an attacking talent whose electrifying bursts and close control had spectators out of their seats and she did all this over two decades that saw a dramatic transformation take place in women’s football; a transformation that has led to a rise in prominence and a general lowering of ignorance. Aluko can match the gaze of anyone in making this happen.
This is a theory and only that, but perhaps those who change the world for the better don’t do so with a specific intention to. It’s just that they live their life, uncompromised and true to themselves, and their life differs to a world in need of changing.
In an article entitled ‘My Dear Friend Football, Thank You’ she announced this week her retirement from playing, drawing a close to a highly distinguished journey that began at Birmingham City and ended on the peninsula. Punditry now awaits; with opinions enriched by her vast and meaningful experience.
“I wonder what would have happened had we never met,” she pondered in her announcement, referring to a game that would have been all the poorer without her significant contribution. She was a role model; dignified and brilliant. She empowered while entertaining.
One of the very welcome bonuses to the growth of women’s football is that it is now beginning to produce legends that are fittingly recognized beyond the stadia and within the mainstream. We can add Eniola Aluko to that elite list and thank her right back.
