This third episode of BBC Scotland's Scottish football icons of the sport focused on female player Rose Reilly. I'm sure like many another viewer, i couldn't really have told you much about her, but with her personal profile in retirement rising alongside the greater exposure the woman's game is now achieving, she was certainly overdue a career review.
Unsurprisingly, there is very little actual footage of her displaying her skills and Wikipedia too doesn't tell how many career appearances she made or goals scored or created. And yet, as she runs down her career achievements near the end of the programme, you certainly become aware of what she did in the game. Banned from playing for her native national side because she went abroad to France and then Italy to ply her wares, she was such a good player she was capped by the Italian national team, going on to assist and score a goal in the team's 2-1 "World Cup" win over Germany in the final.
Reference is made to the hit Bill Forsyth-directed comedy movie "Gregory's Girl" of the time which starred Reilly-lookalike Dee Hepburn in a part likely inspired by Rose's football exploits.
Of course none of these programmes are overly critical of their subjects and while I mildly wonder why she played for so many teams in her career rather than settle down in the one place there's no question that Reilly is a deserving subject here and the one goal you do see her score direct from a free kick to win an important match is an absolute cracker.
One also hesitates to think about how little she probably earned in her glittering career compared to the stratospheric sums that the male and hopefully in future, female players uf the game now make.
To her credit, she doesn't even bring the subject up and instead talks about passing on her experience and knowledge to younger players today.
At least she has been recognised in her own lifetime with her inclusion in the Scottish Football Hall of Fame and and hopefully a few more people will know about her after this programme.
Unsurprisingly, there is very little actual footage of her displaying her skills and Wikipedia too doesn't tell how many career appearances she made or goals scored or created. And yet, as she runs down her career achievements near the end of the programme, you certainly become aware of what she did in the game. Banned from playing for her native national side because she went abroad to France and then Italy to ply her wares, she was such a good player she was capped by the Italian national team, going on to assist and score a goal in the team's 2-1 "World Cup" win over Germany in the final.
Reference is made to the hit Bill Forsyth-directed comedy movie "Gregory's Girl" of the time which starred Reilly-lookalike Dee Hepburn in a part likely inspired by Rose's football exploits.
Of course none of these programmes are overly critical of their subjects and while I mildly wonder why she played for so many teams in her career rather than settle down in the one place there's no question that Reilly is a deserving subject here and the one goal you do see her score direct from a free kick to win an important match is an absolute cracker.
One also hesitates to think about how little she probably earned in her glittering career compared to the stratospheric sums that the male and hopefully in future, female players uf the game now make.
To her credit, she doesn't even bring the subject up and instead talks about passing on her experience and knowledge to younger players today.
At least she has been recognised in her own lifetime with her inclusion in the Scottish Football Hall of Fame and and hopefully a few more people will know about her after this programme.