Women’s football

TWO sisters who made history by becoming the first twins to play for Queen’s Park Rangers Women are backing the club’s efforts to fight racism and improve diversity in football.
Afiya Johnson and her sibling Eshe, who joined the team this term, revealed they were on the receiving end of racial slurs outside of the sport during their childhood.

Afiya (left) and Eshe Johnson say are they proud of the diversity in QPR’s women’s team

And the team-mates, who live in Farnborough, and whose Jamaica-born grandfather served in the British Army after moving to England as an orphan, believe more education is needed to tackle bigotry.
Speaking to SunSport Eshe, 24, who is studying accountancy said: “We experienced racism at school and we heard a lot of different words including the N-word.
“People didn’t really know our background, so we got it from all angles and got told ‘go back to your own country’, even though we were born here and so were our parents.
“When I look back now, I think when you are a child people just say certain things and they don’t really understand how hurtful these words are or the actual history behind them.

“I think more needs to be done in the education system to help children to understand and learn.
“We can’t change history, but we can change the future. And we can only do that by learning, understanding and educating.”
“We are lucky we have parents like our Dad, for example, who is a big role model for us in terms of our footballing career.
“He experienced racism as well but he’s a strong person who always taught us to work really hard and be the best we can be.”

Afiya Johnson and her sister Eshe left Watford to sign for QPR in September this seasonCredit: Instagram @afiyajohnson

The Johnson sisters currently juggle their semi-professional football careers at QPR with their full-time jobsCredit: Instagram @afiyajohnson

This week QPR, whose ladies team play Chichester City in the fifth tier on Sunday, joined more than 40 clubs in signing up to a new FA charter aimed at improving diversity in the game.
Targets include widening the numbers of employees from ethnic minority backgrounds in coaching and executive roles.
The side’s support for the FA’s code comes a month after club director Les Ferdinand called for action on boosting diversity within the ranks of football’s most powerful bodies.
The Johnson sisters, who grew up in Hampshire, say the club’s diverse make-up is an aspect of QPR they are proud of.
And the former Watford players have been using Black History Month, marked in October every year, to raise more awareness of the club’s efforts.

Les Ferdinand’s club are among more than 40 football sides who have signed up to the FA’s Diversity Code Credit: PA:Press Association
Afiya, 24, who works for an audio-visual firm said: “When you look at QPR as a club, there is so much diverse talent within the squads, whether this in the women’s team or men’s side.
“This month they have been educating players in the academy about QPR’s history and the club’s first black player Tommy Best.
“We’re so proud to represent a side that really does embrace diversity within women’s football and the men’s game.”

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Megan Rapinoe has got engaged to Seattle Storm basketball player, Sue Bird, after four-years together.
The USA World Cup winner, 35, was pictured getting down on one knee, in a cute snap on Bird’s Instagram page.

Megan Rapinoe (left) and Sue Bird (right) have got engaged Credit: Getty Images – Getty

The post did not include a caption, but just a picture of Rapinoe proposing to the basketball ace, poolside.
The snap has sent fans into meltdown, and one Twitter user said: “Sue Bird and Megan Rapinoe getting engaged is the one and only bright spot of 2020.”
Another added: “Sue Bird and Megan Rapinoe are engaged, which means I’m going to spend the evening crying into ~several~ glasses of wine.”
The duo, who became an item in 2016, are the ultimate couple goals given their glittering trophy cabinets.

Bird won her fourth WNBA title earlier this summer as the Storm defeated Las Vegas Aces.
Rapinoe has an equally impressive resume, considering she is a back-to-back Women’s World Cup champion with the United States Women’s National Team. 
In 2019 she won the second ever Ballon d’Or Feminin – awarded to the best female player of the year.
In her acceptance speech she called out Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Zlatan Ibrahimovic for not speaking out against sexism.

She has publicly stood up to racism, homophobia and sexism, and she also said on the night: “On the one hand, I am a very good footballer.

The sporting icons became an item in 2016Credit: Getty Images – Getty

Megan Rapinoe’s fiancee, Sue Bird, is an WNBA basketball starCredit: Getty Images – Getty

“On the other hand, my action off the field attracts support because people understand that I’m trying to find solutions to the problems of society.”
Rapinoe also won the Golden Boot at the last World Cup, finishing with six goals.
But she ruffled feathers calling English fans “uptight”, after Alex Morgan’s “perfect” tea-sipping celebration when the USA beat England in the semi-finals of the tournament.

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ALEX MORGAN has spilled the tea on why she has had to wait over a month for her Spurs debut.
The USA World Cup winner arrived in North London midway through September from Orlando Pride, in a remarkable coup for the club and the WSL.

USA World Cup winner Alex Morgan signed for Tottenham Women on a short-term deal but still hasn’t played for the club

The strike sensation penned a short-term deal until the end of December in a bid for regular game time to win a place in the USA squad ahead of the postponed Tokyo Olympics.
The 31-year-old has not played competitive football in over a year due to pregnancy, and she only gave birth to her daughter, Charlie, six months ago.
She told AP Sports: “There’s times definitely where I think stress builds up or I kind of get a little too anxious.
“But I think that I’ve handled it quite well.

“Hopefully in the next two weeks I’ll get on the field with team because we’ve had quite a tough run, especially in the month of October.
“So, I really want to help the team.
“The amount of decelerations (in training) and that puts a toll on your body, especially my body, that’s just gone through building and creating, growing a human.
“So, I kind of had a little setback with my knee. It’s nothing too serious.”

Morgan was named on the bench for Spurs’ FA Cup quarter-final tie with rivals Arsenal at the end of September, but she hasn’t been included in the squad since.
The clock is ticking, given that her contract only runs until the end of 2020.
And the Orlando Pride ace dropped a huge hint that she won’t be sticking around in the WSL on a permanent basis after her loan deal expires.

She added: “I have a plan to go back for the holidays, but you just don’t know if I’m planning to continue on here or not
“It all really depends on Covid, and the NWSL as well and what their plans are for next season so I feel like I’m taking it week by week.
“One thing I know is that I want to go home and introduce Charlie to my family because I’ve kind of snatched her away and took her to England with me.”
Orlando boss Marc Skinner reportedly hopes Morgan will return from her contract in England in time to join the Pride next spring for preseason ahead of the 2021 NWSL season.

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BETH ENGLAND praised grassroots football for influencing her rise to the top of the women’s game after giving away new playing gear to her childhood club in Barnsley.
The Chelsea ace is backing an Adidas campaign aiming to provide up to 10,000 European amateur sides with kits produced by the sports brand.

Beth England is backing a campaign aiming to equip 10,000 grassroots clubs with new football kitsCredit: Getty – Contributor

And the Blues forward, 26, who returns to WSL action on Tuesday with Chelsea facing Tottenham in a league cup clash, kicked things off by sending apparel to her old Sunday side Junior Tykes FC.
In an Instagram post, accompanied by a childhood image of the striker clutching a trophy, England said: “Grassroots football helped me fall in love with this game.
“Without it I would never have known the potential I had.”  

It was while playing for the Tykes, at the age of seven, alongside her twin sister that Barnsley-born England says she discovered her ‘love for football’.

And the former Doncaster Belle, named the PFA’s Women’s Player of the Year in September, recalls experiencing a particularly heavy loss during one of her earliest matches for the Yorkshire-based boys’ team.

Far from putting her off the game, the Blues attacker reckons the unforgettable drubbing she and her twin experienced made her even more determined to get back out on the pitch.
Speaking to the FA’s website England said: “When it came to our first-ever game for them (Junior Tykes FC), it didn’t go so well and we were brought down to earth with a bump.
“We played against a team called Spy Rangers and we lost quite heavily, something like 21-0.

“I remember our Mum and Dad being worried that we’d probably never want to go back, but we loved it that much we couldn’t wait to play again.
“Funnily enough, there was a girl on the Spy Rangers team called Meaghan Sergeant, who now plays for Bristol City in the WSL.
“We used to play against her regularly so she’d probably look back at those days with fondness too.”
CHARITABLE CHELSEA
England’s generous act comes as her fellow Chelsea star Reece James joined Marcus Rashford’s battle to prevent children from hard-up families going hungry during school holidays.
The Blues right-back, whose team take on Sheffield United in the Prem on Saturday, has donated £10,000 to a London food charity with the hope of raising ten times this amount by December.
And the Daily Mail reports the 20-year-old England international has teamed up with the Felix Project – a charity delivering surplus food to people in need of it in the capital.
It is thought that James is aiming to raise £100,000k before his 21st birthday on December 8 this year.

Beth England (left) says the grassroots game helped nurture the football talent during her younger yearsCredit: PA:Press Association

Chelsea ace Reece James is aiming to raise £100,000 to help fight hunger and food poverty in LondonCredit: Getty Images – Getty

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KIRSTIE LEVELL wears the “special” number 28 at Leicester in a moving tribute to her older brother Dan, who died five years ago.
In an interview with the BBC, the former Everton ace opened up about her brother’s sudden heart attack on 28 September, 2015 – a year after his shattering bowel cancer diagnosis.

Kirstie Levell wears the “special” number 28 at Leicester in tribute to her older brother Dan, who died five years ago.Credit: Getty Images – Getty

Dan suffered a sudden heart attack on 28 September, 2015 – a year after his shattering bowel cancer diagnosis.Credit: Instagram / @kirstielevell

Dan was born with epilepsy which left him unable to speak, but he could still understand “pretty much everything”.
Their father, Shaun, cared for him full-time, having quit his day job.
Levell told the BBC: “The 28th is my mum’s birthday and I found that really mad,
“Dan had this terminal illness for such a long time and it was like he waited for her birthday to come round before saying, ‘right, that’s it now’.”

The Levells were a family unit, and they loved taking Dan to theme parks to ride rollercoasters and on dream trips to meet Disney characters in Paris, when they were kids.
Kirstie continued to pursue her dreams of becoming a professional footballer and Shaun would always fly out to England camps to show support.
She added: “Dan was my dad’s best mate as he had someone to travel with.
“The most difficult thing was when Dan fell ill, there was always a decision over whether my dad should come and support me or stay and look after my brother. We worked around it.”

Kirstie was hit with a huge blow when her dad, Shaun, was diagnosed with cancer in 2019Credit: Instagram / @kirstielevell

Levell was studying at university and playing for the Toffees when Dan was diagnosed with bowel cancer.
She was told it would all be fine, but chemotherapy failed and her brother’s shattering illness became terminal.
The Leicester goalkeeper said: “I just thought, ‘no, this can’t be happening.’
“I still carried on with my football though. Even the day after he died, I went to training at Everton. He passed away in the house so I felt the worst place to be in was the house.”
But Levell was left broken when her dad was hit with mouth cancer in 2019.
She continued: “That was an even bigger challenge for me. I just thought, ‘not again. I can’t lose another one.’
“My brother and my dad were the two who always came with me to football so I couldn’t lose them both,
“It was a hard one to take. I took him to his hospital appointments and the day he went in for his operation, I was there to pick him up. He wanted to get on with it and didn’t want a fuss.”
Thankfully, Shaun has recovered – and Kirstie, who arrived at Leicester this summer, chose a new number 28 as tribute to her beloved family.

View this post on Instagram

At 24 years old my beautiful brother Daniel Levell came into the world with brain damage meaning he couldn’t speak a single word. Around a year ago he was diagnosed with cancer, a cancer rare to any young person especially at 24, my whole world turned upside down, my defenceless brother, never harmed a single soul in his life had been given an illness which was irreversible on top of the problems he already had. Last night at around 20:15 I was forced to call emergency services after my brother stopped breathing. My dad was instructed over the phone to give CPR but he just wasn’t coming around, I prayed and prayed, he was taken to the hospital where his heart was worked on for another 40 minutes but his heart had fully stopped in our house. He was loved by everyone, I would never ever of changed my brother for anyone in the world, I pray there’s a heaven out there he deserves nothin but the best. I will never ever forget my gorgeous brother, cheeky smile and them piercing blue eyes around the house every day, everything I do as from today is for you, I will continue to make you proud in my career an life💪he fought for 24 strong years and this past year was absolute hell, he is my dan dan and he is out off all that pain and struggle. My absolute rock, inspiration and brother I love with all my heart till the end. I will never ever forget you, brightest star in the sky EVER love you so much ❤️💙❤️💙❤️😥😥👼💫
A post shared by KIRSTIE LEVELL (@kirstielevell) on Sep 29, 2015 at 8:44am PDT

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CHRISTEN PRESS and Tobin Heath have finally reacted to the bombshell news that their shirts outsold EVERY male star at Manchester United.
Shirts for the American superstars were so popular in the first three days of their release, that they even surpassed the likes of Paul Pogba, Bruno Fernandes and Marcus Rashford.

Shirts for Christen Press (left) and Tobin Heath (right) were the club’s most popular of any player, male or femaleCredit: Getty Images – Getty

The American superstars arrived at the Red Devils last month, in a major coup for the Women’s Super League.

When the pair were asked in an interview with CNN if they expected their arrival in Manchester to spark a fan frenzy and their shirts to sell-out, Press said: “Certainly not.
“I mean I wasn’t thinking about it at all honestly until I read the news.
“But it is something I’m really proud of because especially in the United States we fight a battle everyday to prove our value and prove our worth,

“So things like jersey sales doing really well is actually really important for us because it proves to the pocket that this is something worth investing in.”
The pair have made a combined 306 appearances for their country and were both members of the 2015 and 2019 World Cup-winning squads.
Los Angeles-born Press opted for the number 24 shirt in homage to late basketball legend Kobe Bryant.
Heath usually dons the number 17 but it was taken by Ona Batlle so she chose 77.

Heath added: “Just as we are pioneers in our sport, because women’s football is very young in comparison, we are pioneers in this global equality that needs to exist,
“And an opportunity that needs to exist for all and that’s the message that people want to see and that people want to root for,
“People don’t just want to root for a team anymore, they want to root for something more.”
Other big-name US arrivals who have made a temporary switch to the WSL include Tottenham’s Alex Morgan and Manchester City’s Sam Mewis and Rose Lavelle.

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CHELSEA star Sam Kerr has brutally shutdown an Arsenal fan claiming she is “jealous” of the Gunners and that she should have joined them over the Blues.
The Australian strike sensation, 27, coolly hit back at the North London supporter, given that Chelsea pipped Arsenal for the title last term.

Sam Kerr has savagely hit back at an Arsenal claiming she is “jealous” of the club Credit: Getty Images – Getty

Kerr wrote: “Nah all good mate” with a cheeky thumbs up to a fan saying she should have joined Arsenal instead of Chelsea on Instagram

Kerr brutally shutdown the Gunners supporter within seconds

The Chelsea star has been in scintillating form this term, already hitting three goals in just four WSL games.
And according to a recent exchange on the Instagram of her Australia teammate, Caitlin Foord, she takes no prisoners off the pitch either.
Gunners forward Foord, who arrived in North London in January, took to social media to post a snap of Arsenal’s collab with Adidas and Pharell Williams on the launch of a new kit.

The shirt is in homage to Arsenal’s famous bruised banana away shirt, worn for two years between 1991-93 by the likes of Ian Wright.

Kerr commented on the snap, saying: “Old school, new school”, to which a Gunners fan replied: “Don’t get jealous, should have come to Arsenal mate.”
But the Blues striker savagely KO’d the fan in just seconds, saying: “Nah all good mate” with a cheeky thumbs up emoji.
Kerr arrived in West London as part of a high-profile switch from Chicago Red Stars, in November last year.
The Perth-born ace’s two-year deal in West London is said to be worth nearly £1million – making her one of the highest earners in the women’s game.  

It’s no surprise that she has no regrets in regard to her transfer, given that the Blues went on to win the league in her first season at the club.
The high-flying West Londoners also equalled their longest ever unbeaten run of 25 top-flight games in a 3-1 blast of Manchester City in the league last time out – with Kerr finding the net.
Emma Hayes’ side also put City to the sword in the Community Shield at Wembley ahead of this term.
Kerr came under fire that day for failing to convert chances, and former England goalkeeper Rachel Brown-Finnis described the striker’s performance as “painfully bad”.
The Aussie ace revealed in an exclusive interview with SunSport that she quit “hostile” social media during that time.

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