Football legend Rose Reilly joins schoolgirls in powerful new film tackling discrimination

A footballing icon from Ayrshire has joined forces with a group of young players to shine a light on discrimination in sport as part of a new film set to be shown to children across Scotland.

World Cup winner Rose Reilly, from Stewarton, has teamed up with pupils from South Morningside Primary School to share their experiences and encourage other young people to speak up when something is not right.

The film has been made with the Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland and will be screened during a national online children’s assembly next week on Friday, April 24.

In the film, the girls speak to Rose about their shock after winning the Edinburgh Schools Cup last year, only to be handed a trophy far smaller than the one given to the boys’ winning team.

Rather than staying silent, the players challenged the decision and took action. After raising the issue, they were later presented with a bigger trophy.

Alex, who plays on the left wing, said the team knew straight away the situation was unfair.

She said: “We’d just won and we went up and said, ‘This isn’t fair’. The trophy size was completely different to the boys’. The next day at school we said, ‘Can we write a letter?’ So that’s what we did.”

Freya added: “We want to inspire girls to not be happy with something that’s worse than what the boys get.”

Rose, one of Scotland’s greatest football trailblazers, also shares her own experiences of discrimination in the film.

When she first started playing in the early 1960s, she had to pretend to be a boy in order to take part and was punished at school for playing football. Later in her career, she was banned by the Scottish Football Association for playing professionally abroad and representing Scotland after moving to France and then Italy.

Despite those barriers, Rose went on to make history by winning the World Cup with Italy in 1984.

Children and Young People’s Commissioner Nicola Killean will host the online assembly alongside Oscar, 14, one of her Young Advisors, on April 24 at 9.30am. The event is aimed at primary-aged children and will be broadcast live on Scotland’s online learning platform, eSgoil.

Ms Killean said the stories shared by Rose and the girls would help inspire children to stand up for their rights.

She said: “All children have the right not to be discriminated against, and I’m sure that the girls’ and Rose’s stories will inspire and empower other children to stand up to discrimination.

“Of course, children should never be expected to have all the answers and adults must help support children when their rights are not being respected.

“We aim to make the assemblies inclusive and accessible. They have full BSL interpretation and they are a fantastic way of reaching thousands of children about their rights.”

The film is expected to send a strong message to young viewers across the country that unfair treatment should never be accepted, whether on the football pitch, in the classroom or beyond.