England’s Kelly Smith was a once-in-a-generation champion who revolutionised women’s football

In what was one of the saddest days for women’s football in England, legendary Kelly Smith decided to hang up her boots on January 11. Smith, one of the best women footballers of all time and definitely the finest English woman footballer, called it a day at 38 but had by then, made people fall for the aura she created with her magical feet and a cabinet full of trophies.

Born on October 29, 1978 in Watford, Smith was quick to fall in love with football and fancied kicking it around. Probably born with the art to control the ball at her feet, Kelly started as early as seven and was a part of the Garston Boys Club team. But as fate had it, after staunch opposition from the rivals’ parents, Kelly had to be left out of the team.

The parents reportedly expressed concerns about their sons playing with a girl but in honesty, they probably could not face a girl dominating their boys at a sport that is sterotyped of being “too tough”.

Taking the game by storm

But nothing would daunt Smith’s spirits. Soon there were teams that came calling for the talented teenager and she went on to represent her hometown side Watford , followed by spells at Pinner Park and Wembley Ladies.

She took women’s football by storm and impressed one and all. Such was her domination that the Arsenal Ladies also came calling for Smith when she was 18. And she did not disappoint one bit as she helped the Arsenal side lift the Women’s Premier League title in her first stint with the Gunners.

The youngster then departed for the United States as part of a football scholarship at the New Jersey’s Seton Hall University. The US was one of the biggest centres for women’s football and their Football Association among the most powerful.

The striker with her innate ability to dribble the ball, run past defenders and score goals, gave evidence of the belief being put in her as she netted 76 times in 51 games wearing her darling No. 6 jersey. But when the striker decided to depart, the No. 6 jersey was never seen again for the team as they retired the jersey in her memory and as an accolade to her great performance during her time at the club.

The Women’s United Soccer Association just around then had launched a professional women’s football league and the young Smith was inducted in the Philadelphia Charge where she mesmerised fans with her irresistible display.

There came a time when even the US women’s team coach April Heinrichs publicly expressed that she wished that Smith was available to them for selection, the forward had a major setback, suffering cruciate ligament injury followed by a broken leg.

Difficult times and a resounding comeback

Times were difficult and as they say, difficult times call for drastic steps. Unfortunately for Smith, these steps were the ones pegging her back as her absence from football got her into a downturn in her life. First, it was depression and then, a drinking problem arrived, threatening to cut short the talented footballer’s glorious career.

Yet Smith never gave up. Mentally tough and determined to pursue her love and make it big, Smith headed back to England to join the Sporting Chance Clinic for rehabilitation. The therapy worked well and Smith was ready for her second stint at Arsenal back in 2005. But fate seemed to not be in favour of the striker sprinkling more magic on the field as she was pegged back further by a stress fracture in her feet just as she was set to fly again.

But the doubters were given a smacking reply by a scorching strike from Smith, 30 metre away from goal against the Charlton Athletic Ladies to help Arsenal lift the 2004-‘05 Women’s Premier League title.

She built on from there and without any more pullbacks, wrote some beautiful chapters for her and Arsenal Ladies on the way to becoming the 2007 European champions, the only English club to do so, in a season that was full of trophies, adding to a quadruple.

Smith was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire in 2008 for her achievements and contribution to the game and showing the other ladies of the nation a way in football.

A once-in-a-generation champion

Smith then made a move back to the US in 2009 to play for Boston Breakers before returning to Arsenal in 2012 for a third spell at the club. Her final spell saw her play for another four seasons, winning a number of trophies in total, and in what now proves to be the perfect farewell, helped beat Chelsea to the FA Cup in Wembley in the May of 2016. She totalled six league titles with Arsenal in addition to a Champions League medal and three FA Cup titles.

Not that Smith was only successful at the club level. The forward represented England just three days after her 17th birthday and continued to do so for over 20 years, playing 117 games and scoring 46 goals. She played in two World Cups, four European Championships and represented Great Britain in the 2012 Olympics where she helped her side with a 1-0 win over Brazil, something that is remembered till date.

Smith had a host of memorable moments while representing England with a special moment after hitting a crucial goal against Japan in China in 2007. Her other special moments included another stunner where she scored from around the halfway line in the group stage in Finland in 2009.

“She’s one of those players who come along only once or twice in a lifetime. In the men’s game you’d think of the likes of Maradona, Messi, players with a unique talent, and that’s what Kelly has,” was how Hope Powell, a former player and subsequently Smith’s coach for 15 years till 2013, described the genius, in a quote that perfectly sums up the illustrious career.

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