Dublin's last England international goalscorer to be honored on Football Blacklist

As the European champion Lionesses prepare for their first game in Dubin this week in 37 years, the city's last goalscorer Kelly Davies has been praised for his achievements.

More than 30,000 tickets were sold for the Republic of Ireland vs England match at the Aviva Stadium. Significantly, this will be the first time the teams have faced each other since March 1987, when the two sides met at the old Irish National Football Stadium at Dalymount Park. Kelly Davis, one of the few professional players on the pitch full-time, scored the only goal of the game, securing a 1-0 victory.

In 1982, Davies became the first black woman to play for England while playing for Crewe Alexandra Ladies. Two years later, she scored for England against Denmark in her first official Women's European Championship semi-final at Gresty Road. This goal made her the first black player to score for England in a major tournament, predating Sol Campbell, the first black man to score in the Championship, by 28 years.

Davies was born in Stoke-on-Trent to a Jamaican father and British mother and continues to be a pioneer for women of color in the game. She played 82 games for her country and scored 44 goals, setting her country's women's scoring record at international level until she was surpassed by Kelly Smith in 2012.

Two years ago, England finally won the Women's European Championship, but their starting XI was all white, raising questions about whether enough is being done to identify female talent within the country's ethnic communities. occured.

Describing attitudes towards women's sport in Britain in the 1980s, Davis' mother said of her, “I think at first I really wanted her to do something more feminine.I'm not interested in sport myself, so I didn't realize that.'' There wasn't,” he said. “She didn't have a big interest in women's football until later in life, so I thought she would be interested in something else when she got older, but she didn't. , I decided to follow it.”

Davis revealed, “I've been playing football ever since I was little. My brothers took me to play with them. All my friends were boys. They played football, so I played football, and that was it.'' .

Speaking to the BBC in 1987, Davies lamented the lack of coverage of women's sport at the time, saying: “I think the English media covers (women's) football badly. If the men had made it to the European Championship final, It would have been widely reported.” English newspapers reported extensively. When we played against Sweden (in 1984) they didn't want to know about us. ”

A year later, Davis scored against Italy in Caorle in a four-team tournament known as Mundialito. This led to professional clubs in Japan asking about her true identity. It took another three months before she finally signed with Roy Lazio in Rome. A year later, she moved to ACF Trani 80, where she played alongside England captain Debbie Bampton.

At the time, Davies was combining his unpaid playing career with a job earning $57 (about £45) a week at a sports center in his hometown of Stoke-on-Trent. After his return, he returned to that work. “It was a perfect fit for me because I could train during the day and outside of work.”

When she signed for SS Lazio, she was able to get paid for playing in the game she loved for the first time, receiving a take-home pay of $158 (£125) a week, plus her accommodation in Rome was covered. She said: “There's more money in men's football so I didn't expect to be in the same league as Ray Wilkins and Mark Hateley (England players who played for AC Milan at the time), but that's fine by me.'' Ta.”

Last month, Davies was honored for his lifetime achievements at the Football Black List Awards in London. She received the Keith Alexander Award for her “her work as a pioneer in women's football”.

Football Black List co-founder Leon Mann said in an interview with The Voice: “The fact that we're putting the first black lion on stage is really special and it's something we've been working towards for years. So I said this,” he said. I'm so happy that Kelly got up on that stage. And she received a huge round of applause, not just on the pitch, but because she opened the door for all the great Black women who have followed her and many who will follow in the future. But also off the pitch. ”

“We need more black women to be involved in football in all areas, from the media to the dugout to during matches, and we hope that by having Kelly on that stage we can send that message to the industry. I am.”