Women's EURO 2022: Junior Senior with England's Hannah Hampton and Jill Scott
Saturday, July 2, 2022
Article summary
We compare the experiences of players at the opposite ends of their careers as they reflect on their journeys and what is to come at this summer’s tournament.
Article top media content
Article body
Goalkeeper Hannah Hampton (above right), 21, made her international debut in February this year. Her family moved to Spain when she was five years old, and her first taste of club football was with the Villarreal academy. Returning to England at the age of ten, she joined the Stoke City centre of excellence and spent six years at the club. The 21-year-old then joined Birmingham City in 2016, before moving to city rivals Aston Villa last year.
Jill Scott (above left), 35, is the second most-capped female England player of all time with more than 150 appearances. The midfielder has been a mainstay of the national team since her debut in 2006, and has been part of England squads at four FIFA Women’s World Cups as well as representing Team GB in the London and Tokyo Olympic Games. She began her club career in her hometown of Sunderland before moving to Everton in 2006. She spent seven years on Merseyside, before joining Manchester City.
How did you both start playing football?
Scott: I started playing young, five or six years old in the school field at play-time, probably the only girl for a while and then joined a boys’ team – from then, I was just obsessed with football. I was told I couldn’t play any more at the age of nine and my mum told me to maybe go and try netball, but I didn’t like it - there were a lot of tears! And then, I found a girls’ team and just went from there.
Hampton: It was quite similar. I started in Spain and I think the first time I kicked a football was on the playground with all the lads and my brother, and just straight from there I got a trial for Villarreal. I went to Villarreal not expecting anything, in my full West Bromwich Albion kit. No-one knew what the club was in Spain! But a couple of days later, I got a phone call saying I’d got in and then eventually, when I moved back to England again, I was just playing on the playground with all the kids.
When did you start thinking about a career in football?
Scott: I didn’t really. I think I say this in a lot of interviews, that I don’t think too far ahead and I think that’s why I ended up being successful in football. Because if I had thought too far ahead, I don’t even think there was a career to be made out of football. So, I kind of just took my chance each week, made sure I trained well and then this career did develop. I’ve felt very lucky for that. When I [started], we weren’t even part-time really, but now I’m sitting here playing for England, it’s fantastic to see that you can have a career in football. When central contracts came into play, England said we were going to get paid, and it just meant that we could ease off doing our other work. I think it was 2009, so I was very fortunate to get that contract.
Hampton: When I was in Spain I knew nothing about the women’s game. I didn’t know that there was a women’s team. I think it didn’t help the fact that I was in a boys’ team all the time in Spain and there was no women’s team there at the time, with Villarreal or any other club.It was only when I then moved back to England that I realised there was women’s football and there were Regional Talent Clubs or centres of excellence for girls. It wasn’t until I probably moved to Birmingham, when I was about 15 and [got] into the first team, that’s when I realised that I could hopefully get a career out of this.
Who were your role models growing up?
Scott: David Beckham. I loved him. And over the last few years, I’ve got to meet him and he’s such a nice guy. I think, although I loved him on the pitch – what a wand of a right foot – I think he’s a great role model to younger kids. He would always stay out, sign everything, take pictures, no matter how famous he is.
Hampton: When I was a kid, it was quite a few of the Villarreal players at the time, the likes of Marcos Senna, Diego Forlán, Fabio Fuentes. It wasn’t until when I moved back to England, it was more following my team, West Brom, with Ben Foster when I became a ‘keeper. And when I realised about the women’s game, it was definitely players like Jill and Carly Telford, when I was growing up, and to be able to be sat here with Jill and having been playing with her is definitely a good moment for me.
What were the facilities like when you first started out?
Hampton: My very first team, I think we had about ten astroturf pitches. We had all the changing rooms, the gyms. It was basically Villarreal’s men’s training ground where I was playing and training every single week.
Scott: Wow, that’s pretty cool! For me, I think it was just a random field somewhere, to be honest, and you had to run off to the trees if you wanted the toilet! I remember that quite a lot. But when I hear things like Hannah’s experience, it actually does make me pleased and happy that things have changed and there are opportunities like that. Our journeys are very different but I always say, when I go back I wouldn’t want to change a thing and I’m sure you wouldn’t want to change a thing either! The game has come a massive way and obviously, it’s good that younger players are getting opportunities where they’re looked after better, which is what we all want.
Jill, can you recall your very first tournament and how it compares to the present day?
Scott: It was 2007 in China, the World Cup. Hannah, were you even born then?
Hampton: Just about! I was seven.
Scott: I always describe it as, me and Carly [Telford] were best friends and we’d just made the squad, and it was like we’d won a competition and we were with all of our heroes: Rachel Yankey, Kelly Smith, Faye White. I went there not expecting to kick a ball, I was just a young kid, had about five England caps, and I ended up playing in every single game. The games were on TV back home, but there wasn’t loads of hype about it, not that we could see anyway. But women’s football now is in a great place and when I think back to 2007, it seems like another lifetime.
Hannah, as a member of the new generation, what advice would you like to get from older players in the team, like Jill?
Hampton: I just think about how you can really enjoy the moment that you’re in. Obviously, there’s going to be pressure and the fact that it’s a home EURO, it’s obviously going to add more with all the fans and the crowds that are hopefully going to come. But in the moment, you don’t really take in what you’re experiencing and I think that’s one thing I don’t want to miss out on this summer. I’m living a kid’s dream and living my own dream, but I want to try and remember as much as I can, take as much of it in as possible and not take anything for granted.