We talk to Simone Magill, already a stalwart for Everton Ladies FC at just 23. Her single-minded ambition to excel at the sport makes for a compelling story.
It’s spring in Magherafelt, Northern Ireland. Cloudy, windy, cool. It could rain and it still wouldn’t matter to this bunch of mini-football participants, ruddy-cheeked from the exertion. All they can see is that football and all they want to do is play. She’s immediately noticeable in her full Man Utd kit, in and out of focus among all the boys, just four years old. Her older brother, Kris, plays every Saturday and one weekend, this little girl decided that she wanted to go too. She doesn’t remember too much of those early days, but she does know for certain that it’s where her love for football started.
“I knew very early on that I wanted to be a footballer. That’s all I ever wanted to do.”
That four-year-old was Simone Magill, currently plying her trade as a full-time professional footballer for Everton Ladies, and she knew right then that she wanted to play football for the rest of her life. Which six-year-old knows what they want to do, you’d say. I’d ask, how many five-or-six-year-olds do you know with a determination to learn ‘how to be a better footballer’? Simone went to Kris, wise in his 10-11 years, and asked her brother for help. One particular incident sticks in her memory even now –